Two days before her planned announcement that she’s entering the presidential race, Hillary Clinton has yet another inquiry to fret about.
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa disclosed Friday that the State Department’s inspector general has agreed to review the use of the department’s Special Government Employee program and, apparently, whether it was abused in the hiring of a top Clinton aide.
The program allows the government to bring aboard outside talent to fill voids in its expertise.
Grassley, who now chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he wants to know whether the program is “working the way it’s intended at the State Department or has it been turned on its head and used in ways completely unrelated to its purpose?”
In a letter to department Inspector General Steve Linick last month, Grassley cited recent news reports saying that, not only did Clinton conduct official department business over a private email server, but that her top two aides also used the server for their email. One of those aides, Huma Abedin, was working simultaneously at the time for Teneo, a company that performs political intelligence to clients.
Grassley said he wanted to know whether the State Department’s “excessive use” of the program undermines government ethical standards, because conflicts of interest can arise when a government employee is working for a private contractor at the same time, especially a firm like Teneo that can involve government and “public affairs,” which often includes lobbying.
He said that Abedin and some other department employees appear to have been miscategorized as special government employees, a designation that only can be granted to people joining the department from the private sector or transferring from another government job. Abedin, he said, simply converted from a full-time employee position to a Special Government Employee, with little change in her duties.
Use of the private email server also stymied congressional and Freedom of Information requests for her email, he said.
In a reply letter, Linick said his office would examine whether the program “conforms to applicable legal and policy requirements” and safeguards against any possible conflicts of interest.
Spokespeople for Clinton and the State Department declined immediate comment.
Anita Kumar contributed to this report.
Comments