A conservative watchdog called on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to conduct a full investigation into the access Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton gave to Clinton Foundation donors while she was serving as secretary of state.
According to a new batch of emails released from the State Department, billionaire activist and Clinton Foundation donor George Soros was “impressed” with the level of access he was given to the former Secretary of State, saying he could always meet with her or give her a call to discuss policy issues.
Other examples include special meetings with Bill and Melinda gates whose family foundation has donated more than $25 million to the Foundation; Victor Pinchuk whose foundation has donated more than $13 million to the Clinton Foundation; Susie Buell whose community foundation has donated over $10 million, and Haim Saban whose family foundation has donated more than $10 million. All the donations were made to the Clinton Foundation through 2015, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) said.
“There’s a growing and disturbing narrative surrounding Clinton in the way in which she conducted business at the State Department,” Matthew G. Whitaker, the director for FACT said in a statement. “Essentially, if someone wanted access to her, they needed to be a significant donor to her political campaigns or to her philanthropic endeavors, the kind of treatment that ordinary Americans would not have.”
Last month, FACT called for a federal probe into whether Mrs. Clinton granted any special treatment to one of her son-in-law’s past business associates in granting a meeting where he lobbied his interests as the owner of a private mining company.
• Kelly Riddell can be reached at kriddell@washingtontimes.com.
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