JW’s chief investigative reporter brought us up to date with more reporting about yet another Clinton front:
Then there is Teneo Holdings, a global consulting firm with deep Clinton connections. Teneo serves as a kind of private-enterprise satellite to Clinton Inc. Doug Band, Mr. Clinton’s right-hand man for many years, is a Teneo founder. Huma Abedin, Mrs. Clinton’s right-hand woman for many years, was a senior advisor to Teneo at the same time she held a top position as part of Mrs. Clinton’s inner circle at the State Department. Bill Clinton was both a paid adviser to Teneo and a client. Secretary of State Clinton’s former Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, is a Teneo co-founder and CEO.
I am not naïve about the difficulty of prosecuting Hillary Clinton over this scandal. The Wall Street Journal had a major story yesterday about how American banks and other corporations are complaining about the Obama Justice Department’s strict interpretation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribes of foreign officials. A Justice Department that would, correctly or incorrectly, ride herd on American companies engaged in alleged bribery of foreign officials has yet to move against Hillary Clinton over series of apparent crimes, including bribes she and her whole family were in on from foreign governments!
Kudos to our friend Peter Schweizer of the Government Accountability Institute whose new book has done so much to hold the Clinton machine accountable (“Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich”) Schweizer, I’m told, made smart use of our documents in his soon-to-be released book, which describes how money was funneled through the Clinton Foundation by foreign governments while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of state.
As I told you last week, your JW got the ball rolling on public exposure of this Clinton scandal:
Our dogged work forced the disclosure last year of documents that provided a road map for over 200 conflict-of-interest rulings that led to $48 million for the Clinton Foundation and other Clinton-connected entities during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. Previously disclosed documents in this lawsuit, for example, raise questions about funds Clinton accepted from entities linked to Saudi Arabia, China and Iran, among others. This is the story on these documents that got the ball rolling. The headline says it all: “State Department approved 215 Bill Clinton speeches, controversial consulting deal, worth $48m; Hillary Clinton’s Chief of Staff copied on all decisions.”
And we are keeping the ball rolling. As we note in this week’s Teneo report, the Clinton email cover-up is front and center, as there is “the dawning realization among media types that the Clinton Foundation, Teneo and the disappearing State Dept. emails really do signal that some sort of gigantic sleazy game is afoot.”
Now, we are pressing ahead with a new lawsuit to obtain the release of documents about Hillary Clinton’s “efforts” to gain approval for use of an iPhone or iPad to conduct official business while she was secretary of state. The lawsuit came after the State Department refused to respond to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking for:
Any and all records of requests by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton or her staff to the State Department Office of Security Technology seeking approval for the use of an iPad or iPhone for official government business; and
Any all communications within or between the Office of the Secretary of State, the Executive Secretariat, and the Office of the Secretary and the Office of Security Technology concerning, regarding, or related to the use of unauthorized electronic devices for official government business.
On March 2, 2015, The New York Times reported then-Secretary Clinton used at least one non-“state.gov” email account to conduct official government business during her entire tenure as the secretary of state. It also was reported that Secretary Clinton stored these records on a non-U.S. government server at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
All told, there are about 18 lawsuits, 10 of which are active in federal court, as well as about 160 Judicial Watch FOIA requests that could be affected by Mrs. Clinton and her staff’s use of secret email accounts to conduct official government business. In our various FOIA lawsuits, our lawyers have informed attorneys for the Obama administration that Hillary Clinton’s account and any other secret accounts used by State employees should be secured, recovered and searched. So far, we have filed over 20 requests about the Clinton email scandal. This new lawsuit seeking iPhone and iPad documents is the first of several we expect to file over the next few weeks, as the State Department and other recalcitrant Obama agencies have failed to comply with the federal transparency law.
JW is pursuing information first reported by our Corruption Chronicles in March:
Besides exclusively using a secret email account to conduct official government business, it’s likely that Hillary Clinton also used unauthorized electronic equipment—an iPad and an iPhone—as Secretary of State after being warned not to, a veteran State Department official told Judicial Watch this week.
On at least half a dozen occasions Clinton’s top aides asked the State Department’s Office of Security Technology to approve the use of an iPad and iPhone, according to JW’s inside source. Each time the request was rejected for security reasons, the source confirms. The only mobile device that meets the agency’s security standards is the BlackBerry, JW’s source said, adding that the Office of Security Technology—Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s Directorate of Countermeasures must approve all equipment such as cameras, phones and communication devices for all officials.
Evidently set on using the popular Apple devices, Clinton repeatedly challenged the ban and asked management in the Office of Security Technology to allow their use. The executive secretariat responsible for all communications and information technology always rejected the requests, JW’s source affirms. “From day one Hillary was trying to get the iPhone and the iPad approved,” the State Department official told JW. “She kept trying and trying to get us to approve the iPhone and the iPad, but we wouldn’t do it. Technology security experts tested the iPhone and the iPad several times because she constantly wanted them approved, but it never happened.”
The longtime State Department employee reveals that it’s common knowledge among government security tech experts that Apple devices don’t meet strict security standards so agency insiders were puzzled that the Secretary of State was hell-bent on using them. “There was a lot of head-scratching,” JW’s source revealed. Every State Department employee goes through a rigorous security training that includes strict warnings about using non approved equipment or personal email like Clinton did throughout her tenure as the president’s chief foreign affairs officer, the agency insider said.
Clinton’s persistent efforts to persuade the State Department’s technology security experts to approve the use of her favorite Apple devices led those in the division to conclude that she did in fact go through with it. “My guess is she did it and wanted approval after the fact,” JW’s source said. “But no waivers were ever issued.” JW reached out to the State Department for a comment on this latest potential scandal surrounding its former leader, but failed to get a response.
Three weeks later, March 31, 2015, The Associated Press also reported that Clinton while secretary of state, had used an iPad to email members of her staff, contradicting her statements that she had used a secret email account so that she could “conveniently” conduct official business on one electronic device alone. None of Hillary Clinton’s email records have been produced to Judicial Watch, or disclosed to the courts as required by law. Reports of Clinton’s use of both a secret email server based at her residence and of an iPad to conduct government business have also raised concerns about the security of Clinton’s communications. That’s a topic that does not get raised often enough.
It is apparent to us that the Obama State Department would rather violate FOIA requirements than give the American people simple facts about Hillary Clinton’s iPad and iPhone. The State Department is engaged in a cover-up, but we are determined to hold this administration and Mrs. Clinton to account for their apparent criminal violations of federal records laws and other laws.
This scandal is fast moving. To keep track of all of JW’s latest efforts, be sure to visit our website often. In the meantime, we’ll keep on shaming other media, Congress, and the Justice Department that don’t want to do the hard work of holding the government and obviously corrupt politicians accountable to the rule of law and the American people.
Please consider supporting the important work of Judicial Watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment