Clinton Foundation donor got post on intelligence advisory board even though he had no experience
The donor, Raj Fernando, spent heavily to get Hillary Clinton in the White House in 2008, and is one of her superdelegates and bundlers now
He also traveled to Africa once with Bill Clinton and has given between $1 and 5 million to the Clintons' charity
When questions arose about his placement State Department intelligence board, in 2011 he suddenly resigned.
Newly released State Department emails reveal that a donor to Clinton Foundation received a post on a intelligence advisory board even though he was comparatively unqualified for the position.
'We had no idea who he was,' one board member told ABC anonymously.
The donor, Raj Fernando, spent heavily to get Hillary Clinton in the White House in 2008, and is one of her superdelegates and bundlers now, ABC News reports.
He also traveled to Africa once with Bill Clinton and has given between $1 and 5 million to the Clintons' charity, its website says.
When the news organization began asking questions about his placement on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) in 2011, he suddenly resigned.
ABC continued tracking of the case through 2012, and chased down Fernando at the Democratic National Convention that year. The news network was intercepted by security and threatened with arrest, however,
As the result of an email dump to conservative investigative and documentary group Citizens United after two years of litigation, ABC now has its hands on emails related to the appointment, bringing the story back to the forefront.
The internal State Department emails prove officials actively worked to to keep the conflict of interest appointment from becoming a story, first by stalling, then by accepting Fernando's resignation, all in to 'protect the name' of the secretary and undersecretary of state.
ABC stumbled across the Clinton Foundation donor's involvement with the ISAB while it was working on another story.
What began as a routine line of questioning about Fernando's qualifications as a securities trader in Chicago to serve on a committee that also included a former Secretary of Defense, a former National Security Advisor and members of Congress, ballooned as State ducked and dodged.
'As you can see from the attached, it's natural to ask how he got onto the board when compared to the rest of the esteemed list of members,' the press aide handling the inquiry said in an email.
In the same email, to Wade Boese, who was Chief of Staff for the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, sent on the evening of August 15, she said 'it appears there is much more to this story that we're unaware of.
The purpose of the ISAB, according to one State Department email, was to provide independent insight and advice on arms control and international security.
'It is certainly a serious, knowledgeable and experienced group of experts,' Princeton professor Bruce Blair, whose centers on the elimination of nuclear weapons, told ABC.
Blair said, 'Much of the focus has been on questions of nuclear stability and the risks of nuclear weapons use by Russia and Pakistan.''
A bio approved for release after several ABC inquiries says Fernando brought a 'unique perspective' to the board that dealt with top secret information, given his position.
Internally, it was said that he brought 'youth, enthusiasm, a business perspective and and expertise in cybersecurity.'
ABC described his craft as electronic investing and high-frequency trading and said its review of his work suggests his only real qualification seemed to be that he was tech savvy.
The only tangible criteria Fernando, who at the time ran Chopper Trading, a top firm in that field, met, according to the documents, was that Hillary Clinton's office wanted him.
Emails from 2009 that Clinton's Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills sent regarding the vetting process for members of the ISAB include two names that were not on the original list that specifically asked about.
Those emails are almost entirely redacted, including the names of the individuals that Clinton requested.
But later, as ABC poked around,the press aide handling the request, Jamie Mannina, received this explanation for the post from Boese: 'The true answer is that S staff (Cheryl Mills) added him.
'The board's membership preceded me. Raj was not on the list sent to S; he was added at their insistence,' Boese told her.
The letter 'S' was often used as short-hand for the secretary's office.
That was in response to Mannina's request for information she could share about the selection process that was used to decide who should serve on the government intelligence advisory board.
As ABC poked around,the press aide handling the request, Jamie Mannina, received this explanation for the post: 'The true answer is that S staff (Cheryl Mills) added him. Mills is seated here behind Clinton as she testifies before Congress on Benghazi in October of 2015
In the meantime, ABC was also reaching out to Fernando and other board members about the matter, the internal deliberations show.
An email from Fernando's email to the board's executive director, Chip Hartman, on August 15, the same day that Mannina put in press requests, was redacted as confidential.
The next day emails show she was asked by Mills 'to stall for 24 hours.' A paragraph of that message was also redacted.
A day late, on August 17, Fernando resigned.
He stated in the letter to Clinton that the 'unique, unexpected and excessive volatility in the international markets these last few weeks and months require me to focus on the operations of my company.'
'Mr. Fernando chose to resign from the Board earlier this month citing additional time needed to devote to his business,” it reads, noting that membership on the board was required to be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed by the advisory committee,' State told ABC News two days later.
State's claim that he left the board 'earlier this month' hid the true timeline of events, which include the fact that he resigned just two days after ABC began asking questions.
Fernando's appointment to the board raise suspicions given his long history of giving to the Clintons.
He maxed out to Hillary's presidential PAC, HillPAC, in 2007 and 2008, ABC says, and raised $100,000 for her campaign directly.
Fernando also raised big dollar amounts for Barack Obama in 2008 after Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to him.
After Barack Obama bested Clinton for the 2008 nomination, Fernando became a major fundraiser for the Obama campaign. Six months after his resignation from the intelligence advisory board, he was invited to attend a State dinner at the White House for the British prime minister.
At the time he was given the State Department appointment, he'd given between $100,000 and $250,000 to Clinton Foundation, ABC discovered.
He further donated $30,000 to the group WomenCount that was renting out Clinton's campaign email list as she struggled to run down her debt after her campaign collapsed.
In July of 2015, he held a fundraiser for Clinton's current bid, the ABC report notes, and has continued to help raise money for her 2016 campaign.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3635342/More-trouble-Hillary-report-reveals-Clinton-Foundation-donor-got-post-intelligence-advisory-board-no-experience.html#ixzz4BDMAnzc7
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She is so shady it is legitimately scary.
