A Clinton Foundation staffer asked the State Department under Hillary Clinton if former President Bill Clinton could deliver a paid speech at a fundraiser for the National Iranian American Council.
Amitabh Desai, director of foreign policy at the Clinton Foundation, reached out to Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff and other top aides in June 2012 to ask if the U.S. government would “have any concerns” about the former president getting paid to speak to the Iranian advocacy group.
The proposed event emerged in an email obtained by Citizens United, a conservative watchdog group, through the Freedom of Information Act.
Bill Clinton said in a statement he did not deliver the speech.
“As a matter of course, all requests were run by the State Department,” the former president’s office said in a statement Tuesday. “And most importantly, ultimately, the president did not give this speech.”
But the request shows Bill Clinton was considering the event during a critical point in his wife’s dealings with the Iranian regime.
In the summer of 2012, Jake Sullivan, a top aide to Hillary Clinton who was copied on Desai’s email, reportedly met in secret with Iranian officials to hammer out a dispute over the future capacity of Iran’s nuclear program.
Other emails uncovered by Citizens United reveal Bill Clinton had weighed possible speaking engagements in North Korea and the Democratic of the Congo — both of which would have proven controversial if he had accepted the invitations.
Under an agreement reached before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the former president was required to clear each of his speaking engagements with the State Department’s legal team before accepting payment.
“The most troubling issue with today’s email is that the event in question would not only have been a paid speech for President Clinton, but also a fundraiser for NIAC,” said David Bossie, president of Citizens United, of the Clinton Foundation email.
Bossie highlighted a previous email chain uncovered by his group that found Desai had pushed the State Department to sign off on a donation from a company with longstanding ties to Iran.
“It’s less surprising now to see that both NIAC and former Secretary Clinton are supporting the nuclear deal with Iran,” he said.
