Former President Bill Clinton’s friends did not receive special treatment when Hillary Clinton led Foggy Bottom, according to the State Department.
“I see no evidence that preferential treatment was given to anybody based on their association with the Clinton Foundation or with the former president himself,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing.
State Department staff involved with Haiti relief efforts in 2010 treated messages from “friends of Bill” differently than those sent by other individuals or corporations who wanted to help, according to emails obtained from the Republican National Committee.
Kirby was challenged to explain that practice as well as other apparent aspects about the Clinton’s team operations after hackers published thousands of emails stolen from campaign chair John Podesta’s account.
“With President Clinton being designated by the United Nations as the special envoy for Haiti, I don’t think it comes as a shock to anybody that the people associated with or friends of him or the Clinton Foundation would also, in a time of great need, want to contribute,” Kirby said. “But I see no evidence that any preferential or special treatment [was given].”
He refused to provide more direct comment on questions that pertained the leaked emails, however, starting with a message apparently written by Hillary Clinton shortly after she left the State Department that suggests Saudi Arabia and Qatar — two U.S. allies — are funding the Islamic State.
“I’m not going to speak about the veracity of leaked documents,” Kirby said. “What I can tell you is that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are members of the counter-ISIL coalition and have been contributing members of that coalition pretty much since its founding and we rely a great deal on their efforts to help us counter terrorism in the region.”
Kirby also denied that the State Department gave the Clinton campaign advance notice about which Clinton emails would be released on a rolling basis. “No,” Kirby said. “We are under no obligation nor have we given the campaign a ‘heads up’ or specific idea of what’s being released before it gets released.”
