Bill Clinton’s office requested favors from the State Department related to Laureate University, a for-profit college in Kuala Lumpur that was paying the former president millions of dollars as a consultant at the time, according to emails obtained by Dailymail.com.
In the emails, Bill Clinton’s top aide Doug Band asked the US ambassador to Malaysia to attend a public event for Laureate University as well as a meeting between Bill Clinton, Laureate’s CEO Doug Becker and the Malaysian Prime Minister.
Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin was copied on the messages.
Bill Clinton earned nearly $18 million as an adviser and honorary chancellor for the international for-profit college network between 2010 and 2015.
Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Jones visiting Malaysia -2010. (Wikipedia via @clintonpay2play ) pic.twitter.com/7q7ir3wKu9
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Although the former president attended events at Laureate University’s overseas campuses, and the college network sometimes had interests before foreign governments, Bill Clinton’s spokesman told the Washington Post last week that the former president ‘never sought to influence any foreign or US official on Laureate’s behalf.
The emails, which were first obtained by the watchdog group Citizens United through a public records request, could raise new questions about Bill Clinton’s high-paying role with Laureate University while his wife was at the State Department – in this case extending invitations to a US ambassador to events with one of his high-paying clients.
The messages show that Abedin made the introduction between Bill Clinton’s right-hand-man Band and US Ambassador to Malaysia Paul W Jones on November 5, 2010.
Bill Clinton’s top aide, Doug Band (r), asked the US ambassador to Malaysia Paul Jones (l) to attend a public event for Laureate University in Kuala Lumpur. (Credit: Daily Mail)
Abedin told Band that the ambassador had ‘offered assistance’ for Bill Clinton’s upcoming trip to Malaysia, where Laureate University had an affiliate college called INTI International University that just months before had been granted ‘university status’ by the Malaysian government.
‘I’m connecting you with our ambassador Paul Jones by email. He has offered assistance, if you need it, from him or the embassy,’ wrote Abedin in the email to both Band and Jones.
When asked about Abedin’s involvement in the requests from Bill Clinton’s office, State Department spokesman John Kirby said State officials often field outside requests. (Read more: Daily Mail, 9/13/2016) (Archive)