A longtime aide to Hillary Clinton is disputing allegations from the State Department inspector general that she “embezzled” taxpayer dollars while working for the agency.
Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff, was investigated by the State Department watchdog in 2013 after accepting more than $33,000 for unused leave time that, according to the inspector general, she had spent vacationing and on maternity leave.
That investigation, highlighted previously by Sen. Charles Grassley in letters to Secretary of State John Kerry, was criminal in nature and focused on whether Abedin had committed “embezzlement,” according to a report by the Washington Times.
But Abedin’s attorneys have fiercely contested the inspector general’s report, calling its decision to tile the report “Huma Abedin, Embezzlement” an “unnecessarily provocative” move.
The State Department watchdog referred the matter to the FBI after ratcheting up its inquiry from a preliminary probe to a criminal investigation, according to a report by Politico.
However, the FBI ultimately decided not to pursue the matter — a fact Abedin’s allies have cited as proof of her innocence.
Abedin’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
They have long denied Abedin engaged in any illegal or unethical activity during her State Department tenure, despite a barrage of allegations to the contrary.
Abedin was given a “special government employee” designation in 2012, which allowed her to work simultaneously for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation and a consulting firm with close ties to the Clintons called Teneo Strategies.
Her unusual personnel arrangement is the subject of several Freedom of Information Act lawsuits and an inquiry from Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Critics have argued Abedin’s special government employee designation opened her up to potential conflicts of interest involving her three employers.
By law, officials are not allowed to work under special government employee status for more than 130 days.
But the inspector general reportedly concluded Abedin worked 244 days as a special government employee, violating the federal limit.
Abedin’s attorneys have argued she did not work that many days under the employment arrangement.
However, they have argued that she worked during all of the leave time for which she was paid, denying that she knowingly declined to file timesheets that accurately reflected her vacation time.
Grassley’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the inspector general report, nor did spokesmen for Clinton’s campaign.
