Washington Post finds donations may have secured access to Secretary of State Clinton

The World
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at a gathering of law enforcement leaders at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, U.S., August 18, 2016.

The Washington Post reports that access to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have been influenced by donations to the Clinton Foundation when she was secretary of state.

The Post's Rosalind Helderman got ahold of the emails after a lawsuit made them public. An excerpt from Helderman's story:

The release of the correspondence follows previous disclosures of internal emails showing a similar pattern of access for foundation contributors, and it comes as Republicans allege that Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, used her perch in the Obama administration to trade favors for donations. Clinton and the foundation have vigorously denied the charge.

"What we found was that there is this worldwide network of friends and supporters of the Clintons," Helderman says. "They've been on the world stage for a long time. People who have given them political donations and also people who have persistently given donations to the Clinton Foundation, who did appear from these emails to have a sort of back channel, direct line in to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state."

Essentially, Clinton Foundation staff could get people meetings with the Clintons, specifically the secretary of state.

For example: the crown Prince of Bahrain. Not unusual for a US ally to get a meeting with the secretary of state, but an indicator that someone who donates to or is a "good friend" of the Clinton Foundation could get a meeting more easily than someone who isn't.

However, Helderman notes, a donation to the foundation did not guarantee a meeting with either Clinton.

Full disclosure: Public Radio International is among a number of news organizations that had donated to the Clinton Foundation.

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