The State Department refused Thursday to say whether the person recommended by a Clinton Foundation official for hire in 2009 at Hillary Clinton’s State Department got a job, citing the Privacy Act.
In an April 2009 email with the subject line, "A favor," Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band tried to press Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin on hiring someone, whose name was redacted
The Washington Free Beacon reported:
Douglas Band, who headed the Clinton Global Initiative, wrote to top Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills that it was "important to take care of" the associate’s request.
"We have all had him on our radar. Personnel has been sending him options," Abedin replied.
"You still cannot say whether or not this anonymous, redacted person, for privacy reasons, was in fact hired?" Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau.
"Correct," she said. "The Privacy Act limits our ability to comment on the hiring process. As such, we cannot speak to specific personnel decisions. The name of the individual being referred was redacted under FOIA for privacy reasons ... We can’t speak to specific personnel decisions, as I mentioned yesterday."
Lee sarcastically asked if the only way one could tell who was working at the State Department was if they started showing up in the Foggy Bottom building.
"Can you confirm that you were hired by the State Department?" Lee asked wryly.
"I would not be standing here otherwise," Trudeau said, laughing.
"So you can speak about personnel," Lee said.
Trudeau reiterated that she could not speak to specific personnel actions. She said earlier in the briefing it was not inappropriate for Band to make such a recommendation, and she said later that the agency was sure the Clinton Foundation had not affected any decision-making at Clinton’s State Department.