As Hillary Clinton is parrying questions about her ethics and transparency in using a private email system as secretary of state, a taxpayer watchdog group is raising concerns about a former top aide at the State Department and his success in raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the Clinton Foundation.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, which last week urged the Justice Department to probe Clinton’s use of a private email account, is now demanding emails and memos from her former state deputy protocol chief, who raised $248 million for the foundation, some from foreign governments, and who is now Clinton’s 2016 fundraising boss.
AP Photo
In focus is long-time Clinton associate Dennis Cheng, who worked with her at State before joining the foundation. He now is under fire for accepting so many foreign contributions while she was the nation’s top diplomat.
“Ours is part of an investigation of conflicts of interest he might have for the Clinton Foundation and State,” said foundation chief Matthew G. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney.
He told Secrets that his group has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for emails, memos and correspondence between Cheng and the Clinton Foundation.
Cheng, the Clinton Foundation’s chief development officer, joined Clinton’s pre-campaign last month.
While Clinton was President Obama’s secretary of state, her husband’s foundation restricted raising money from foreign governments, but they poured in anyway, raising conflict of interest concerns against Hillary Clinton.
While new to the scene, the foundation has moved fast to focus on Washington. In addition to its attention to Clinton, the group has filed an ethics complaint against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, claiming he wrongfully used taxpayer-funded offices for campaign work.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
