Hillary Clinton told a top aide to look into setting up a meeting between State Department officials and a mining firm, after a company representative made a request to her son-in-law, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
An investor in Neptune Minerals emailed Marc Mezvinsky, Chelsea Clinton’s husband, in 2012 to ask for help setting up contacts in the secretary of state’s office. Three months later, Hillary Clinton forwarded the request to deputy secretary of state Thomas Nides, along with the note, "Could you have someone follow up on this request, which was forwarded to me?"
Nides replied "I'll get on it." It is unclear whether any meetings were arranged.
Mezvinsky and the Neptune Minerals investor, Harry Siklas, reportedly overlapped during their times at Goldman Sachs. Mezvinsky currently manages a hedge fund.
The Clinton campaign and Mezvinsky declined to comment to the AP. Neptune Minerals, Siklas, and a spokesperson for Chelsea Clinton did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.
The Neptune Minerals message was included in the collection of Clinton’s emails publicly released by the State Department:
"Hey bud," Siklas wrote, telling Mezvinsky that Neptune was pursuing sea-floor massive sulfide (SMS) mining in the South Pacific and had just bought out two other mining firms. Siklas said that he and Adam needed "a contact in Hillary's office: someone my friend Josh (and I perhaps) can reach out via email or phone to discuss SMS mining and the current legal issues and regulations." Siklas, then registered as a stockbroker at Goldman Sachs in New York, had contributed $2,000 to Hillary Clinton's 2008 unsuccessful presidential bid.
Siklas said the State Department would be interested in the subject following Clinton's Senate testimony. He said he and Adam "would feel very fortunate to have someone's ear on this topical issue, with the hope that at some point we get in front of the secretary herself."
The emails do not show how Clinton became directly aware of Siklas' email to Mezvinsky or why it took three months for her to act after Mezvinsky became involved. The emails do not show a reply from Mezvinsky, but Hillary Clinton eventually obtained a copy and sent it to Nides that August, ordering a follow-up.