Washington Post reports Senator's accusations against Clinton aide, but doesn't name Rockefeller Foundation

8/15 update: One of Huma Abedin's attorneys "communicated directly with Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state using her personal email address"; State Dept. sources claimed Miguel "Rodriguez emerged as a behind-the-scenes point person" on Benghazi scandal when classified hearings were held; recently added to 'Super PAC' "seeking eight-figure checks" for 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign

Huma Abedin being represented by two different high-powered law firms using attorneys with long ties to Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama; Rockefeller Foundation has paid Teneo at least $9 million since 2011; In January of 2012, Hillary Clinton named charity's president to State Department council at the same time former President Bill Clinton was paid adviser to Teneo

An article published late Friday night by the Washington Post about a top Hillary Clinton aide allegedly being overpaid by the State Department refers to a charity that donated to the Clinton Foundation and has paid Teneo - a consulting firm co-founded by Clinton colleagues - millions of dollars, but doesn't name it.

"State Department investigators concluded this year that Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s closest aides, was overpaid by nearly $10,000 because of violations of rules governing vacation and sick leave during her tenure as an official in the department," Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig reported for the Washington Post. "The finding — which Abedin has formally contested — emerged publicly Friday after Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and others seeking more information about an investigation into possible 'criminal' conduct by Abedin concerning her pay."

Forgetting that Huma Abedin also worked for Hillary Clinton personally, Grassley wrote Kerry on Thursday, "At one time, Ms. Abedin held three positions simultaneously - as an SGE for the Department of State, as an employee of Teneo, and as an employee of the Clinton Foundation. During her time at the Department, Ms. Abedin allegedly sent or received on her government email account approximately 7,300 emails that involved Mr. Douglas Band, President of Teneo. These are among the documents the Judiciary Committee requested two years ago, but the State Department has failed to provide. Likewise, the Associated Press has requested similar information since August 2013."

"In one email exchange, Mr. Band allegedly emailed Ms. Abedin to request that she reach out to then-Secretary Clinton to encourage President Obama to appoint Ms. Judith Rodin to a White House position," Grassley continues. "At the time, Ms. Rodin was a client of Teneo and President of the Rockefeller Foundation which donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, a fact which Mr. Band allegedly noted in his email to Ms. Abedin. Ms. Abedin allegedly forwarded this email from her official email to her non-government email address located on Secretary Clinton's non-government server. This is but one of several troubling allegations of Ms. Abedin being solicited for and delivering favors for preferred individuals."

A footnote in Grassley's letter links to a September 2013 Rockefeller Foundation blog article that announced, "The Rockefeller Foundation was proud to make our $100 million commitment to resilient cities at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative. Judith Rodin was joined onstage by New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and our partners Swiss Re, Palantir, World Bank Group, American Institute of Architects, and Architecture for Humanity, to advance our vision for global urban resilience."

In his Thursday letter to Abedin and her lawyers at two different firms, Grassley complained, "On June 13, 2013, the Judiciary Committee asked that you provide, among other things, all documents and communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent. You did not provide the requested documents in your response on July 5, 2013. Since then, the Judiciary Committee has received additional allegations that further inform the original request. The Committee has learned of allegations that, during your simultaneous employment by the Department of Stete, Teneo, and the Clinton Foundation, you were solicited for and delivered favors for preferred individuals."

"For example, while employed by the Department of State, you allegedly sent or received approximately 7,300 emails on your official Department of State address that involved Mr. Douglas Band, President of Teneo," Grassley continued. "In one email exchange, Mr. Band allegedly emailed you to request that you reach out to then-Secretary Clinton to encourage President Obama to appoint Ms. Judith Rodin to a White House position. "At the time, Ms. Rodin was a client of Teneo and President of the Rockefeller Foundation, a large donor to the Clinton Foundation, a fact which Mr. Band allegedly noted in his email. In addition, you allegedly forwarded this email and others to your non-government account ending in @ clintonemail.com. As a result, investigators were unable to review any subsequent emails on the chain, as they were shielded from the Department's records systems on Secretary Clinton's non-government server."

Even though their article links to both of Senator Grassley's letters naming the Rockefeller Foundation and its president (and The Washington Post even hosts the letters on its website without retractions), Hamburger, Helderman and Leonnig don't specifically cite either. This might be in reaction to the controversy surrounding the false story that The New York Times published last week about a non-existent "criminal referral" against Hillary Clinton, since Grassley doesn't provide proof or explain how he learned of this alleged email.

"In one instance, Grassley wrote, Band allegedly e-mailed Abedin to request her help in landing a White House appointment for a friend who led a charity that later hired his firm and donated to the Clinton Foundation," the paper reports. "However, Grassley did not release the e-mail in question, nor did he allege any wrongdoing by Abedin. And the timeline of events does not clearly support an allegation of conflict of interest: The Band friend was named to a White House panel in 2010, before her charity hired Teneo and before Teneo hired Abedin."

"Band did not respond to requests for comment. Dunn, Abedin’s attorney, said: 'We are unaware of this e-mail and Senator Grassley has not shared it with us or the media. But every piece of this letter has issues with accuracy and we have no reason to believe this is an exception.'"

Last week, an attorney for a watchdog group who has been - so far, fruitlessly - pursuing Abedin's emails through F.O.I.A. requests was unable to tell me the name of any of her lawyers, but The Washington Post article refers to one: Karen Dunn. However, the top Washington Post investigative reporters don't provide any background on Dunn or name her firm, even though she has extensive ties to Hillary Clinton and the White House.

"Former White House associate counsel Karen Dunn last week joined Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP as a partner, part of a push by the New York-based litigation giant to enhance its Washington presence," Mary Jacoby reported for Main Justice in February 2014. "Dunn has been a communications director for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton; a law clerk to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court; a deputy to chief strategist David Axelrod on the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, associate in the Obama White House counsel’s office, and most recently an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia."

Jacoby also noted that "[i]n Washington, Dunn will work with partner Heather King, another former Senate aide to Hillary Clinton."

In January of 2014, Politico's Maggie Haberman listed Karen Dunn as one of "Hillary Clinton's 50 influentials."

"After making a name for herself as an assistant US attorney and debate adviser to high-profile politicians like President Barack Obama, Karen Dunn helped Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP defend Apple Inc. in $351 million trial, making her one of five attorneys chosen for Law360’s list of Competition Rising Stars," Allissa Wickham wrote for Law360 in March, in an article that mentioned various clients Dunn was defending, but didn't mention Huma Abedin. "Currently, Dunn said she's representing Beats in a case with Monster LLC, and will be teaming up with Isaacson again in September for a trial on behalf of Oracle Corp. She's also playing a major role in a pending D.C. Circuit case over budget autonomy for the district, representing the D.C. Council pro bono."

Critics may wonder if Abedin is bearing the full cost of such a high-powered, expensive law firm or if the legal services are being provided pro bono.

Grassley's letter was also addressed to another attorney from another D.C. firm: Miguel Rodriguez from Bryan Cave LLC.

As his bio states, "Immediately prior to joining the firm, Rodriguez served as an Assistant to President and Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In this role, he served as President Obama’s primary liaison to the United States Congress, working to advance the administration’s legislative agenda and promote its policy priorities. Among his responsibilities, Rodriguez oversaw the confirmation of the President’s Cabinet and other prominent nominees requiring the advice and consent of the Senate, including the Secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury, Commerce, and Labor."

"Prior to his appointment as Director, Rodriguez served as a Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs," the bio adds. "In this capacity, he was the White House’s primary point of contact for four standing Senate committees (the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committees), and three Appropriations subcommittees."

Huma Abedin's second attorney from a second firm also has ties to 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: "From 2005 to 2009, Rodriguez was Chief Counsel for then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, serving as the Senator’s Legislative Director from 2008 until 2009. In these roles, Rodriguez worked with the Senator to formulate her policy agenda and led her legislative team in developing and implementing policy priorities."

As I reported in March, "According to the foundation's website, Teneo received $3,447,150 as part of the Centennial Fund "[i]n support of a project, in connection with the Rockefeller Foundation's centennial in 2013, to build capacity, create new coalitions, strengthen existing networks, and advance public policy by convening gatherings and providing multimedia tools and resources for identifying challenges and proposing tangible solutions to global problems." The terms of the grant are listed as 6/1/2011 – 3/31/2012."

Back on December 5, 2011, Neil W. McCabe - in a Human Events article - wrote, "Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation’s 2013 centennial."

"The foundation is another member of the Clinton’s extended family," McCabe added. "It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors."

An IRS form 990-PF (pdf link) shows that Teneo Strategy Consulting was the highest paid independent contractor for the Rockefeller Foundation in 2012, earning $5,731,639.

The 2011 annual report for the Rockefeller Foundation (pdf link) also shows $350,000 was given to the Clinton Global Initiative "toward the costs of its 2011 annual conference, designed to catalyze a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to global challenges such as energy and climate change, poverty alleviation, global health, and education", and $594,960 to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, "for use by its Rwanda Country Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, to upgrade District Health Strengthening Tool software and provide regional training and support for the local-level integration of new eHealth technologies country-wide."

The Rockefeller Foundation gave "[t]hanks especially to Andy Maas, Max Dworin, and. Michael Coakley," who all worked for Teneo in 2011. "Andy Maas drove the bus, Max Dworin kept us on the road and Michael Coakley made sure we had fuel in the tank," the centennial book "Beyond Freedom" (pdf link) states. "Tom Shea provided commentary. Working with this team has been a pleasure."

Still at the firm, Managing Director Andy Maas - according to his Teneo biography - was "managing director of global corporate communications for FTI Consulting" where he worked with Declan Kelly. Michael Coakley - as his Teneo bio states - "is a Vice President at Teneo Strategy where he advises organizations on business strategy, operational issues and reputational challenges." While, according to his LinkedIn resume, Max Dworin worked as an intern for the office of Bill Clinton from June to August of 2010, then began consulting for Teneo in June of 2011, before being promoted to associate in 2013, and then left Teneo to become New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer's Deputy Press Secretary in December of 2013, and then his Press Secretary in April of 2014. "Max Dworin, A&S '11, a consultant with Teneo Strategy, spearheaded a project in 2013 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City called the Art of Philanthropy," John Hopkins Magazine states. "The foundation developed a crowdsourced art piece in celebration of the accomplishments of philanthropy in the U.S. and abroad."

"Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Shea served as Chief of Staff to Jon S. Corzine, both during Mr. Corzine’s tenure as a United States Senator and member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as Governor of New Jersey," Managing Director Tom Shea's Teneo bio states. "Mr. Shea also served in several capacities at the White House, most notably as a Special Assistant to President William J. Clinton."

Shea's original Teneo biography noted, "Before joining Mr. Corzine, Mr. Shea managed the United States Department of State's New York Foreign Press Center (FPC), and served as Director of Communications and Spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations. In that capacity, he was responsible for explaining U.S. policy pursued at the world body to both the media and the general public, and coordinated the Mission's media activities related to its participation in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council."

8/4 Updates

Due to the Wall Street Journal's firewall, I didn't realize that they ran a story one half-hour before The Washington Post on Friday night.

"Mr. Grassley’s letter cited 'potential criminal conduct,' but the issue apparently never became a criminal matter because a subsequent letter written in May by Ms. Abedin’s lawyers to a State Department agency indicates the government asked her to refund the disputed amount," Devlin Barrett and Peter Nicholas reported for the Journal, with Byron Tau and Victoria McGrane contributing.

The story adds, "According to a May letter to the department from Miguel Rodriguez, another lawyer for Ms. Abedin, she worked such long hours, even when out of the office, that she clearly wasn’t overpaid. Ms. Abedin was known to frequently work 16- or 20-hour days, and in an average month sent about 1,592 emails, the letter said. In January and February of 2012, when she was home with her baby, she sent about 1,000 emails, Mr. Rodriguez said."

A July 31 Wall Street Journal blog post adds, "Mr. Grassley’s office said Friday it did not have a copy of that email, and the letter does not cite a date when the email was allegedly sent or forwarded. The Clinton campaign referred comment on these matters to Ms. Abedin’s attorneys."

"The White House in 2010 appointed Ms. Rodin to the White House Council for Community Solutions, a panel charged with getting citizens, non-profits, businesses and government to work together on local problems. It’s not clear if the appointment was related to the position Mr. Band allegedly sought for her.

A spokesperson for the Rockefeller Foundation declined to comment."

CNN reported on August 1, "'Ms. Abedin often worked seven days a week and around the clock for the Secretary and the Department. Given these facts not in dispute, there is no basis for the OIG (Office of Inspector General) to conclude that Ms. Abedin must refund her salary earned during those periods, as if she had not worked at all," Miguel Rodriguez, one of Abedin's lawyers with the firm Bryan Cave, wrote the Office of the Comptroller back in May after Abedin was informed of the request to repay the government."

"In particular, there are two periods of time the report looked at, according to Abedin's attorneys: an overseas vacation in August 2011 -- during which Abedin was working, her lawyers say -- and an almost three-month maternity leave after she gave birth in December 2011. Her lawyers wrote that Abedin was 'working as she went into labor and returning to her duties shortly after (her son's) birth.'

Her lawyers told the government there was no effort at the time to calculate the amount of time she worked during those periods.

'Huma Abedin is widely known as one of the hardest working and most dedicated public servants over the nearly two decades she served. The IG's report is fundamentally flawed, including contradicting its own conclusion by proving that Huma worked hard even while on maternity leave,' Karen Dunn, one of Abedin's attorneys with the firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, told CNN.

'No hardworking, dedicated public servant should be subjected to irresponsible allegations based on a fundamentally flawed report and the State Department has undertaken a review of the report. Huma has been nothing but cooperative in helping the Department work through its record keeping issues, and she will continue to do so in the hope the right thing is done,' Dunn added."

Rodgriguez also told CNN: "There is no criminal investigation and never has been. To say otherwise is just patently false and needlessly inflammatory."

"The State Department inspector general has determined that Huma Abedin, the close confidant of Hillary Rodham Clinton, must return more than $9,000 for alleged overpayments made to her during her time working for the department when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, according to her lawyer and Senate documents," Mikayla Bouchard blogged for The New York Times on August 1.

I guess it shouldn't be unexpected that a week after The New York Times gets into trouble for not specifically quoting a government document that they'd again paraphrase an alleged inspectors generals action. What exactly does "has determined" and "must return" mean and what are the consequences?

"The inspector general directed Ms. Abedin to refund the government $9,857.73, according to a letter released Saturday by her lawyer, Karen L. Dunn, who said Ms. Abedin will challenge the finding. Her lawyers criticized the inquiry for 'holes in its methodology' and 'unsupported allegations,'" Bouchard added.

"Huma has been nothing but cooperative in helping the department work through its record-keeping issues, and she will continue to do so in the hope the right thing is done," Dunn absurdly tells The New York Times, considering the fact that the State Department has been allegedly unable to fulfill F.O.I.A. requests or respond to lawsuits and a congressional committee seeking Abedin's emails because she sometimes used the private Clinton server.

The Times blog added, "John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said in an email, 'We are in receipt of Senator Grassley’s letter and will respond to it accordingly.'"

On August 3, Sarah Westwood noted at The Washington Examiner that "Abedin has drawn fire for the SGE arrangement that gave her heavy influence over Hillary Clinton's schedule and travel while allowing her to serve as a senior adviser at Teneo. Critics have said the personnel rule was quietly bent to permit Abedin to collect her government paycheck while wielding her influence to the benefit of her other employers."

Westwood then referenced her article based on my exclusive reporting, "For example, Hillary Clinton jetted to Ireland with Abedin at her side for her last official trip as secretary, during which she attended an event hosted by a major Clinton Foundation donor that had been promoted by Teneo."

Abedin's lawyers certainly did get a lot of space to respond in all the articles, while the campaign itself and the government have stayed silent.

Some of the unasked - and so, of course, unanswered - questions in all the stories include: How long has 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton known that the vice chairwoman for her campaign was under some kind of investigation for allegedly being overpaid by the government? Why wasn't the media or public told about this? Are the two law firms charging full rate? Who is paying for Abedin's legal fees? Wouldn't it have been cheaper for Huma Abedin to return the money to the government than to pay for her attorneys' work on this particular dispute since at least May? Is it prudent to prolong the controversy during a presidential campaign?

8/6 update

As noted above, according to IRS filings, the Rockefeller Foundation paid Teneo over $9 million from June 1, 2011 until the end of 2012. It also contributed millions to the Clinton Foundation and gave Bill Clinton a lifetime achievement award in July of 2011.

On January 24, 2012, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted "the first meeting of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership at the State Department in Washington, D.C."

"Secretary Clinton selected a distinguished, diverse, and international membership for the Council, representing a wide range of expertise and backgrounds, including leaders of American and foreign, public and private sector organizations," the Office of the Spokesperson for the State Department announced on January 20, 2012. "Secretary Clinton will serve as the Council’s Chair. The Council’s members are listed below; each will serve a two-year term."

Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation - who was paying Teneo millions of dollars at the time - was hand-selected by Hillary Clinton to serve as a Council Member on the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership. Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, was also a Council Member.

Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton was still a paid adviser to Teneo, at the time. It wasn't until February 19, 2012, that Politico's Maggie Haberman reported that "Bill Clinton has changed his relationship with Teneo Capital, the financial consulting firm co-founded by his longtime aide for which he had served as a paid adviser."

"But his paid work has ended, spokesman Matt McKenna said, and Clinton is now 'a friend and an unpaid adviser to Teneo and its founders.' The former president will be a client of the firm, and it will help work on the Clinton Global Initiative.

'His advisory board role at Teneo transitioned at the end of 2011, when he asked the company to represent him going forward in a personal capacity,' said McKenna, referring to a recent event aimed at drawing investment to Ireland.

'Declan Kelly, one of Teneo's founders, was instrumental in setting up the recent Irish investment forum and working with President Clinton to bring American companies to the table. In addition to representing President Clinton personally, Teneo will continue to work on a pro bono basis to expand participation in the Clinton Global Initiative and support for the Clinton Foundation's activities around the world.'"

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife - the founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women - was named Vice Chair of the International Council on Women's Business Leadership by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At that time, Tony Blair was also a paid adviser to Teneo, but it's unknown if he ever changed his arrangement like former Bill Clinton allegedly did some time in early 2012.

Judith Rodin is married to Paul Verkuil, an Obama appointee in 2009, who was confirmed by the Senate to the Administrative Conference of the United States on March 3, 2010. He is behind the controversial "midnight rules" project.

On April 14, 2010, Hillary Clinton announced the creation of the Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, to be funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in a public-private partnership with the State Department, and Judith Rodin spoke at press conference with her.

"Now, it is a privilege to have Dr. Judith Rodin here with me to launch this project," Hillary Clinton said. "Judith is a friend, an inspiration, and a leader in many fields."

""Now, we hope to receive entries that describe how specific innovations have improved the lives of women and girls and proposals for how they can be scaled up and applied more broadly. These entries will be reviewed by an eminent panel of jurors, chaired by Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women Issues Melanne Verveer, and Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin. The panel will recommend the first two recipients of the award in 2010, both of whom will receive up to a $500,000 grant to fund their programs."

Judith Rodin responded, "Thank you so much, Secretary Clinton. Let me start by just saying how delighted the Rockefeller Foundation is to provide funding for this wonderful new award, the Secretary’s Innovation Award for Women and Girls’ Empowerment. And thank you, Secretary Clinton, Ambassador Verveer, for your long-term, longstanding leadership and, I must say, perseverance in keeping this issue at the forefront of public awareness."

On September 21, 2012 - when Hillary Clinton's longtime aide Huma Abedin was secretly working for Teneo and the Clinton Foundation, while still being employed by the State Department - Philanthropy.com reported, "More than 150 leaders in philanthropy and finance gathered at the White House on Thursday for a private meeting on 'innovation in philanthropy' that featured Jean Case, chief executive of the Case Foundation, as a keynote speaker."

"Administration officials who attended the forum were Valerie B. Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, and Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation," the article continued. "Other philanthropic leaders at the event included Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation; Emmett Carson, chief executive of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; and Paul Shoemaker, executive connector at Social Venture Partners Seattle."

8/15 update

On August 14, Anita Kumar and Corinne Kennedy reported for McClatchy, "Some 90 people, including lobbyists for foreign governments, lawmakers, top Obama aides and State Department employees, communicated directly with Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state using her personal email address, according to a McClatchy review of thousands of her recently released emails."

"Many people said they were surprised when it was revealed in the spring that Clinton relied on a private email account on a private server in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home to conduct official business during her four years as Obama’s secretary of state," Kumar and Kennedy wrote. "But the review of emails shows influential people in Washington and around the globe not only knew she used a personal account, but corresponded with her on that personal account."

One of those "influential" people happens to be one of Huma Abedin's current lawyers, the McClatchy reporters failed to note, when reporting that some of Clinton's email exchanges involved "significant policy issues she faced as secretary of state."

"Michael Fuchs, special adviser to the secretary of state for strategic dialogues, corresponded with her in November 2009 about whether Britain lost more soldiers in the Falklands than in Afghanistan. Miguel Rodriguez, deputy assistant secretary for Senate affairs, wrote that same month about the Senate moving one step closer to passing the Affordable Care Act, saying the latest 'vote was followed by brief applause.'"

Clinton's private email address can be seen on the following screenshot, and Huma Abedin was also a participant in the November 2009 discussion.

While that exchange occurred from November 20 to November 21, 2009, Rodriguez evidently already had Clinton's personal email address. On November 8, 2009, Rodriguez sent Clinton and Abedin "the list of those 39 Democrats [in the House] who voted against the H.3962 (The Affordable Health Care For America Act)."

As the McClatchy reporters noted, former State Secretary Clinton's "use of a private system has become the focus of multiple inquiries by the FBI, a pair of inspectors general and Congress, prompting questions about her judgment and motive for actions that potentially led to national security risks."

"While he was part of Clinton’s team, Rodriguez caught the attention of [Rob Nabors, a White House deputy chief of staff and Rodriguez’s predecessor as chief liaison to Congress], who recruited him into Obama’s orbit," Philip Rucker reported for The Washington Post on November 3, 2013. "In October 2011, Rodriguez joined the legislative affairs shop, where he handled mostly foreign affairs and national security issues. That included the administration’s dealings with Congress surrounding last September’s deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya."

"Once the attack piqued the interests of lawmakers, there were dozens of hearings, some of them classified. Senators and representatives had reports to review and questions they wanted answered about Benghazi. With the integrity and reputations of both Obama and Clinton on the line, Rodriguez emerged as a behind-the-scenes point person, colleagues said.

'Miguel was not just in the thick of it; he was at the forefront of it,' Reines said. 'It was just an around-the-clock effort, and we leaned on Miguel as if he never left State.'"

If Huma Abedin or Hillary Clinton passed on any classified information to Rodriguez in any other unreleased emails through the private server, it's conceivable that the attorney could become a part of an FBI investigation.

On July 31, Maggie Haberman at the New York Times reported that Rodriguez was added to the board of a 'Super PAC' supporting Hillary Clinton.

"Priorities USA, which has experienced upheaval at times over the last two years, is now seeking eight-figure checks to help bolster Mrs. Clinton in response to a flood of money pouring into Republican outside groups," Haberman reported.

"Priorities is also expanding its board, adding the veteran fund-raiser Brian Wolff and Miguel Rodriguez, a former legislative director to Mr. Obama.

'Brian and Miguel are two of the most well-known and well-respected leaders in politics and we are thrilled to have them join our growing team of supporters,' Mr. Cecil said in a statement Friday."