• Politics

Exclusive: Conservative Group Calls for Federal Inquiry Into Hillary Clinton Son-in-Law Request

4 minute read

A conservative watchdog group has called for another federal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s communications during her time as Secretary of State, accusing Clinton of giving special government access to an investor in a deep-sea mining company because of his connections to Clinton’s son-in-law.

The group, called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), plans to file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Monday.

“It appears that then Secretary Hillary Clinton gave a private company special access to the State Department based upon the company’s relationships with Secretary Clinton’s family members and donors to the Clinton Foundation,” the group says in the complaint first obtained by TIME.

The complaint comes two weeks after emails released by the State Department show that Clinton followed up on a special request from Marc Mezvinsky, Chelsea Clinton’s husband.

In May 2012, Harry Siklas, an investor in a deep-sea mining firm called Neptune Minerals, asked Mezvinsky to connect him with officials at the State Department in order to discuss mining regulations affecting his investments. Siklas noted he was lobbying for access on behalf of a friend who had founded the deep-sea mining firm.

“Hey bud,” the Siklas wrote in his note to Mezvinsky. “I need a contact in Hillary’s office: someone my friend Josh (and I perhaps) can reach out via email or phone to discuss mining and the current legal issues and regulations.”

Three months later, State Department emails show, Clinton forwarded the message to another department official. “Could you have someone follow up on this request which was forwarded to me?” Clinton asked in email to Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides. “I’ll get on it,” Nides replied.

The email exchange was made public by the State Department’s release of Clinton’s emails and first reported by the Associated Press. Clinton’s email usage is already the subject of federal probes in her and her aides’ handling of classified information on the private server she maintained in her Westchester, N.Y., home.

FACT alleges that the emails appear to show Clinton gave preferential treatment to her son-in-law by following up on the request to give Neptune Minerals an audience with government officials. The emails do not show whether Siklas or anyone at Neptune Minerals succeeded in meeting with Clinton or any other State Department officials. Siklas, the investor who made the request, was also an employee of Goldman Sachs at the time. Goldman Sachs employees were major donors to Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“We request a full investigation into these communications and a determination of whether any laws were broken,” FACT said in the complaint. Matt Whitaker, the former attorney general of the southern district of Iowa appointed under President George Bush and executive director of FACT said an investigation would help show whether Clinton’s office helped other companies gain similar government access.

FACT is asking the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to investigate “the circumstances surrounding these apparent unethical communications.” It’s unclear what actions OGE could take. The office does not investigate matters that are within the purview of other inspectors general, and the Department of Justice is responsible for prosecuting criminal offenses. Whitaker said OGE could refer the matter to the Department of Justice.

“We believe that requests like this from anyone other than Goldman Sachs and her son-in-law were not passed along, so there was a preference given in her duty as Secretary of State in comparison to other requests,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker said FACT is nonpartisan and scrutinizes both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. FACT is backed by donors who support conservative legal causes.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

See Every Hillary Clinton TIME Cover

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The September 14, 1992 issue of TIMEGregory Heisler
TIME Issue May 10, 1993
The May 10, 1993 issue of TIMESteve Liss
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The March 21, 1994 issue of TIMEDirck Halstead
TIME Issue Mar. 18, 1996
The March 18, 1996 issue of TIMEBrad Markel
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The July 1, 1996 issue of TIMETIME
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The October 20, 1997 issue of TIMEPatrick Demarchelier
Feb. 9, 1998
The Feb. 9, 1998, issue of TIME.TIME
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The August 31, 1998 issue of TIMEBlake Sell—Reuters
Sep. 28, 1998
The Sep. 28, 1998, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton at top center, behind Bill Clinton.)Cover Credit: DOUG MILLS-AP, KHUE BUI, DAN LOH-AP & STEVE HELBER-AP
Feb. 15, 1999
The Feb. 15, 1999, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top right.)Cover Credit: MICHAEL O'NEILL
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The February 22, 1999 issue of TIMETIME
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The March 1, 1999 issue of TIMEAaron Shikler
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The June 16, 2003 issue of TIMETIME
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The August 28, 2006 issue of TIMEDiana Walker for TIME
Feb. 5, 2007
The Feb. 5, 2007, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.)Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH FOR TIME BY CHRISTOPHER MORRIS--VII
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The November 19, 2007 issue of TIMEJohn Ritter—Brooks Kraft
Jan. 21, 2008
The Jan. 21, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top left.)Cover Credit: NICK WRIGHT
The February 18, 2008 issue of TIMEDiana Walker, Doug Mills
Feb. 25, 2008
The Feb. 25, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.)Cover Credit: MATTHIAS CLAMER
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The March 17, 2008 issue of TIMEDavid Burnett
Mar. 24, 2008
The Mar. 24, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton inset at top.)Cover Credit: ARTHUR HOCHSTEIN
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The May 5, 2008 issue of TIMECallie Shell, Damon Winter
May 12, 2008
The May 12, 2008, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the second zero in "100.")Cover Credit: CHIP KIDD
May 11, 2009
The May 11, 2009, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton under the "E" in TIME.)TIME
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The November 16, 2009 issue of TIMEMarco Grob for TIME. Left inset: Getty Images
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The November 7, 2011 issue of TIMEDiana Walker for TIME
Apr. 30, 2012
The Apr. 30, 2012, issue of TIME. (Hillary Clinton near top center.)TIME
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The January 27, 2014 issue of TIMEPhoto-Illustration by Justin Metz for TIME. Pants: Don Farrall—Getty Images. Man: Bloom Image/Getty Images. Shoe: Yasinguneysu/Getty Images
Mar. 23, 2015
The Mar. 23, 2015, issue of TIMEPhotograph by Spencer Platt–Getty Images
Feb. 15, 2016
The Feb. 15, 2016, issue of TIMEPhotograph by James Nachtwey for TIME

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