Clinton Foundation paid Blumenthal $10K per month while he advised on Libya

Clinton Foundation paid Blumenthal $10K per month while he advised on Libya

By Kenneth P. Vogel
05/28/15 05:02 AM EDT
Updated 05/28/15 02:19 PM EDT

Some officials at the charity grumbled that his hiring was a favor from the Clintons.


Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, earned about $10,000 a month as a full-time employee of the Clinton Foundation while he was providing unsolicited intelligence on Libya to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to multiple sources familiar with the arrangement.

Blumenthal was added to the payroll of the Clintons’ global philanthropy in 2009 — not long after advising Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — at the behest of former president Bill Clinton, for whom he had worked in the White House, say the sources.


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Clinton, whose efforts to hire Blumenthal as an adviser at the State Department were rebuffed by top aides to President Barack Obama, last week defended her relationship with her old ally but also minimized his influence. Describing him as “a friend of mine for a long time,” Clinton, who also plans to testify before the committee, said “he sent me unsolicited emails which I passed on in some instances, and I say that that’s just part of the give and take.”

In his own statement last week, Blumenthal suggested that he did not write the memos on behalf of the foundation or any other entities with which he may have been associated, but rather as “a private citizen and friend” of Clinton’s.

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But Blumenthal’s work for American Bridge and Media Matters is described as ongoing, even as those groups come to Clinton’s defense by trying to neutralize attacks on her related to Benghazi and her use of a private email account and server for official business, while assailing the prospective Republican rivals leveling those attacks.

One source familiar with the work said Blumenthal regularly reaches out to suggest ways in which the groups can inject themselves into ongoing political fights

“I’m not sure if his ideas are very helpful,” said the source, suggesting Blumenthal’s value comes more from his connection to the Clintons. “This is all about helping someone who is a friend of the Clintons.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/clinton-foundation-sidney-blumenthal-salary-libya-118359#ixzz46HLo4jZz