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Clinton's Man in Morocco

Clinton campaign fails to disclose bundler actively lobbying for Morocco

Hillary Rodham Clinton
AP
July 17, 2015

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign failed to list a registered lobbyist for Morocco in its legally required disclosure of all bundled fundraising done by lobbyists, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

Edward Gabriel, who was named U.S. Ambassador to Morocco by former President Bill Clinton in 1997, now runs the Gabriel Company, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that has had the government of Morocco as a client since 2002 and has been paid more than $3.7 million by the nation since that point.

Though Gabriel appeared on a list posted to the Clinton campaign website on Wednesday afternoon of all the bundlers that have raised over $100,000, his name is absent from documents filed to the Federal Election Commission listing all the other registered lobbyists that have been fundraising for the campaign.

All contributions bundled by registered lobbyists must be disclosed to the FEC each quarter.

A search conducted on Friday afternoon using the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) database found that the Gabriel Company is still an active registrant. Edward Gabriel signed its most recently filed continuation. FARA requires all groups hired to lobby on behalf of a foreign government to register with the Justice Department.

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Gabriel was one of the many listed members of Clinton's National Finance Committee that had raised over $100,000 for the campaign. He also contributed to the Clinton Foundation, to which he has contributed as recently as 2014 and given between $100,001 and $250,000.

Although the fact that Gabriel has been fundraising for the campaign was disclosed through her campaign website provided list, significantly less information is made available on that list than would be made available through the FEC filing.

The list of "Hillblazers," as the campaign has dubbed them, only provides a name and a city of residence without disclosing any information about how much each has raised. Each entry on the FEC filing of lobbyist bundlers, however, is required to include name, address, employer, and the exact amount that has been raised.

Gabriel is not Clinton's only bundler that is registered to lobby for foreign governments.

It was reported on Thursday by Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski that two of Clinton's listed bundlers, Matthew Bernstein and John Merrigan of DLA Piper, are also both registered to lobby for foreign governments. Bernstein has lobbied for the United Arab Emirates and the German State of Rheinland-Pfalz, while Merrigan is registered to lobby for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Both Bernstein and Merrigan are listed on Clinton's official FEC disclosure.

The Clinton-Gabriel relationship extends to before he was named ambassador in 1997. Gabriel was a donor to Bill Clinton's 1996 presidential campaign and maxed out his contributions to Hillary Clinton's failed presidential campaign in 2008.

Money from Morocco has flowed toward the Clintons as well. On the day that Clinton announced her current presidential campaign, it was reported that the Clinton Foundation would be paid at least $1 million to hold a May event in Marrakech.

The event was paid for by OCP, the state-owned energy company that is despised by many in Morocco.

"Hillary Clinton sold her soul when they accepted that money," a former miner for the company told Politico's Ken Vogel in Morocco. "We are concerned that if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency of the United States of America, she will take the side of Moroccans even more."

The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment.