Review reveals contacts with influential people

McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON

Ninety people, including lobbyists for foreign governments, lawmakers, top Obama aides and State Department employees, communicated directly with Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state using her personal email address, according to a McClatchy review of thousands of her recently released emails.

Many people said they were surprised when it was revealed in the spring that Clinton relied on a private email account on a private server in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home to conduct official business during her four years as Obama’s secretary of state. But the review of emails shows influential people in Washington and around the globe not only knew she used a personal account, but corresponded with her on that personal account.

Jeffrey Farrow, a lobbyist for the nation of Palau, exchanged several emails with Clinton between June and October 2009 about U.S. aid and the transfer of Chinese Muslims from the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay to the sparsely populated island. Laurie Rubiner, vice president of public policy and advocacy for Planned Parenthood, asked Clinton in July 2009 to discuss abortion during an upcoming trip to Kenya. Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister, repeatedly urged Clinton in September 2009 to meet with her friend, Sheikha Mozah, the second wife of the then emir of Qatar.

And dozens and dozens of State Department employees used Clinton’s private email account to address a host of international issues, from a coup in Honduras and the draw down in Afghanistan to a conflict on the Azerbaijan border to security in Libya.

Revelations that her emails included classified “top secret” information, more sensitive than previously known, has drawn new scrutiny to her emails and the eclectic array of people who sent her emails or received them from her. Still, they may not have known she exclusively used a personal account for business or that she used her own server. Some may not have even noticed her address did not carry the usual state.gov address.

Her use of a private system has become the focus of multiple inquiries by the FBI, a pair of inspectors general and Congress, prompting questions about her judgment and motive for actions that potentially led to national-security risks. Several groups also have filed suit seeking access to the emails.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, called Clinton’s decision to use personal email “terrible” for national security, transparency and records retention reasons. “I can’t believe someone didn’t say something to her,” she said. “This seems so obvious.”