Libyan President Mohammed Magariaf, alongside former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York City, on September 24, 2012. (Credit: Wikipedia)
“Internal State Department documents released on Tuesday as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch reveal a previously undisclosed meeting took place between the president of Libya’s National Congress, Mohamed Yusuf al-Magariaf, and former President Bill Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) function in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attacks in 2012.
On September 13, 2012, less than 48-hours after the attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, al-Magariaf sent a request to the Clinton Foundation that expressed his desire to meet with former President Clinton and to participate in a Clinton Global Initiative meeting later that month in New York.
The Clinton Foundation official then contacted Sec. Clinton’s Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills, and asked for guidance on how to respond to the request. Mills replied later that evening, “[The State Department] would not have issues.”
Nonetheless, the same e-mail chain reveals that Clinton Foundation official contacted Mills again four days later to seemingly double check into the State Dept.’s position on the meeting request. The e-mail, dated September 17, 2012, states, “al-Magariaf is asking for a meeting with [former President Clinton] next week. (He is confirmed to come to CGI) Would you recommend accepting of declining the [former President Clinton] meeting request?”
There is no record of Mills’ response to the September 17 inquiry in the documents, however, an e-mail from the Clinton Foundation to Mills and Sec. Clinton aide Huma Abedin, dated September 26, 2012, reveals that the meeting between the former president and al-Magariaf did take place. ( Law & Crime, 3/22/2016)