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Hillary Clinton Once Demanded Separate Plane Rather Than Share One With Michelle Obama

(Updated)

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June 1, 2017

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once requested to fly in a separate plane rather than share one with then-First Lady Michelle Obama, according to newly released emails.

The email exchange was part of a new batch of emails that government watchdog Judicial Watch obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Clinton and her top aide, Huma Abedin, discussed in a July 2011 exchange Clinton's plans to attend the funeral of fellow former First Lady Betty Ford in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"Looks like plane won't be an issue," Abedin wrote. "Also, looks like Michelle Obama also going."

"Is it ok [sic] that we and Mrs. O take two separate planes?" Clinton asked.

"I think it's ok [sic]. But let me see what kind of plane she's taking," Abedin responded.

"I would rather have our own of course," Clinton added.

The new emails surfaced after other messages, ones released during the 2016 presidential campaign, revealed that Clinton and Obama's husband, former President Barack Obama, had an antagonistic relationship.

"And she HATES that the president ('that man,' as the Clintons call him) kicked her ass in 2008," Democratic megadonor Jeffrey Leeds wrote to former Secretary of State Colin Powell in March 2015. "She can't believe it or accept it."

Leeds also addressed the growing controversy over Clinton's use of a private email server at the State Department, writing that then-President Obama would not care if Clinton found herself in legal trouble.

"I don't think the president would weep if she found herself in real legal trouble. She'll pummel his legacy if she gets a chance and he knows it," Leeds said.

The exchange between Clinton and Abedin came after another message, one also released during the 2016 election, showed that Clinton complained commercial flights were "burdensome" and asked Abedin to get the Air Force to fly her from Westchester, N.Y. back to Washington, D.C.

Clinton has long been a proponent of lowering the United States' carbon footprint in an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change. The former Democratic presidential candidate promised to take "bold steps to slash carbon pollution at home and around the world."

Still, Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign spent over $2 million on private jets as of March 2016.

UPDATE 3:34 P.M.: This post was updated to include Jeffrey Leeds' leaked email exchanges with Colin Powell.