Clinton Cash Scandal: State Department Emails Reveal Clinton Foundation Link To 'Saudi Entities'

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s finances came under heavy scrutiny earlier this week after reports suggested that Clinton Foundation donors benefited from U.S. policy decisions during Hillary Clinton's tenure as U.S. secretary of state. Now, documents newly obtained by Judicial Watch may reveal further potential conflicts of interest, this time involving Saudi Arabia.

The Judicial Watch documents suggest that as early as 2011 the State Department expressed concern over Bill Clinton’s dealings with “Saudi entities” on behalf of the Clinton Foundation. The 126 pages of documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, include email exchanges between State Department officials, signaling possible conflicts of interest relating to the Clinton Foundation.

Judicial Watch specifically points to an exchange between State Department legal adviser James H. Thessin and attorney adviser Violanda Botet, with the email subject line “Clinton Foundation Request -- Saudi entities.” Judicial Watch says other documents show that Bill Clinton received $300,000 for working with Tanmiah Commercial Group, a company based in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

Though the three-page Thessin-Botet exchange has been almost entirely redacted, the new documents raise additional questions about possible favorable treatment for Clinton Foundation donors and about the Clintons' personal finances.

On Wednesday the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal published reports that detailed the State Department’s involvement in the approval of the sale of a uranium mining company from Canada’s Uranium One to Russia’s government-run nuclear company Rosatom. The panel that approved the sale included a representative of the State Department, which Hillary Clinton ran at the time.

Before the $610 million sale was confirmed, a charity run by the chairman of Uranium One donated a total of $2.35 million to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative -- a subsidiary of the Clinton Foundation -- between 2008 and 2012. The donations were reportedly among several that Uranium One-linked individuals made to the Clinton Foundation during that period.

Additionally, author Peter Schweizer’s forthcoming book, “Clinton Cash,” is said to cite specific examples of Clinton Foundation donors receiving advantageous treatment from the State Department. The book is set to be published May 5.

The Clintons' finances will likely receive even more attention as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign heats up.