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<\/a>The Clinton family discusses the Clinton Global Initiative.Bob Unruh<\/p><\/div>\n
WND.com<\/p>\n
A lawsuit has been filed against the State Department<\/a> demanding information about its cooperation with the Clinton Foundation, as \u201cpay-for-play\u201d allegations swirl around the Democratic candidate and the possibility a Hillary Clinton victory could embroil the presidency in the same activities.<\/p>\n \u201cAnswers to these questions are extremely important to the American people, as they involve potential pay-for-play corruption at the highest levels of government. Furthermore, it is critical that government officials, at every level, know that they are not above the law \u2013 they are accountable to the people,\u201d the American Center for Law and Justice explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n ACLJ previously filed several lawsuits over the State Department\u2019s failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests, and the latest \u201cratchets up our litigation efforts against the Obama administration by asking the federal district court in Washington, D.C., to deal with the administration\u2019s pattern and practice of flouting the law.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/i>\u201cIt\u2019s no longer just about getting the records and the truth. We are fighting back against repeated and unabashed lawlessness. We\u2019re now demanding that our federal judiciary get to the core of the problem here \u2013 where the Obama administration claims openness and transparency, it continues to practice a pattern of lawless corruption,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n ACLJ said the information already obtained raises more questions.<\/p>\n \u201cOur friends at Judicial Watch uncovered key emails that showed requests for special treatment. Our FOIA requests take the next step: What happened next?\u201d the ACLJ said.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s a summary of what we know. In one set of emails, Doug Band, a senior Clinton Foundation official, forwarded a request for \u2018a favor\u2019 for someone who apparently had joined former-President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon on an infamous trip to Haiti in 2009. That person\u2019s name was redacted.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Important to take care of [redacted],\u2019 says Band.<\/p>\n \u201cThen Secretary Clinton\u2019s top aide at the State Department, Huma Abedin, responds: \u2018Personnel has been sending him options.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in a different set of emails with the same players, we learned that the Clinton Foundation \u2013 on behalf of a businessman who had donated between $1 to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation \u2013 asked for access to the State Department\u2019s \u2018substance person\u2019 for Lebanon,\u201d ACLJ explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did the Clinton Foundation donor need access to the State Department\u2019s \u2018substance person\u2019 on Lebanon? What resulted from that access?\u201d the group asked.<\/p>\n \u201cAs to the other email chain, what was the \u2018favor\u2019 the unknown person asked for? Why did the Clinton Foundation official insist to State Department officials that it was \u2018[i]mportant to take care of\u2019 that person? What \u2018options\u2019 had State Department \u2018personnel\u2019 been offering that person, and why? What happened after<\/i> the Clinton Foundation applied pressure for favors \u2013 apparently above and beyond the \u2018options\u2019 he had already been offered?\u201d<\/p>\n ACLJ explained in the complaint that it wanted \u201crecords, communication or briefings created, generated, forwarded, transmitted, sent, shared, received, or reviewed by Jeffrey David Feltman\u201d referencing several subjects.<\/p>\n The subjects include Gilbert Chagoury, Chagoury Group, Grand Moulins du Benin; Port Harcourt Flour Mills, Ideal Flour Mills, Nigerian Eagle Flour Mills, Niger Delta Flour Mills, Tin Can Island, Ragolis Waters, Glassforce, Pirotech, Silhouette Furniture, Ideal Eagle Hospital, C&C Construction, ITB Construction, Hitech Construction, Felltwood Transportation, Eko Atlantic, Ocean Parade, Eko Hotel, The Clinton Foundation, The Clinton Global Initiative, The Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Clinton Climate Initiative.<\/p>\n The information had been requested through FOIA, but the State Department ignored its obligations to respond, the complaint contends.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendant has a reputation for flaunting and disregarding its public accountability and FOIA obligations. For example, plaintiff has filed two prior FOIA lawsuits against defendant over its failure to respond as required by statute. \u2026 In [one] case, after it received plaintiff\u2019s FOIA request, defendant publicly announced on June 9, 2016, that it would not comply with requests from the House Oversight Committee for emails concerning [a] deleted or altered video, unilaterally deciding, apparently, that the emails it reviewed \u2018aren\u2019t relevant.’\u201d<\/p>\n It seeks a court order that the information will be produced by a certain date.<\/p>\n The Clinton Foundation has been a major focal point of critics of Hillary Clinton. One recent report said less than 6 percent of the foundation\u2019s 2014 budget was used for charitable purposes \u2013 with only $5.2 million for grants \u2013 and $91.3 million for other expenses, including salaries.<\/a><\/p>\n Also, several foreign millionaire and billionaire donors to the foundation have been convicted of criminal charges<\/a> who have been \u201ctreated as international celebrities.\u201d<\/p>\n Independent investigations have concluded the Clintons personally profited from the charity and its donors have given millions of dollars with the expectation they would get access to the secretary of state.<\/p>\n Bill Clinton was paid tens of millions for speeches while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state by states, individuals and organizations lobbying the State Department.<\/p>\n The Clinton Foundation donor conviction list headlines with Nigerian-Lebanese industrialist Gilbert Chagoury<\/a>, whose name turned up in an email exchange released by Judicial Watch<\/a> in which Teneo head Doug Band pressed longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin to put Chagoury in touch with the State Department\u2019s \u201csubstance person\u201d on Lebanon.<\/p>\n Chagoury is also notorious for having been denied entry into the United States last year<\/a> because of suspected terrorist ties as well as for having been placed on the TSA \u201cno-fly\u201d list in 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chagoury\u2019s name appears near the top in the 2008 list of more than 200,000 donors to the Clinton Foundation. He contributed between $1 million and $5 million in 2008 and again in 2009. He also pledged $1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative in 2009.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> in 2008 that Chagoury contributed to Bill Clinton\u2019s 1996 presidential campaign and to Hillary\u2019s 2004 presidential campaign, and paid \u201ca lucrative speaking fee\u201d to the former president.<\/p>\n