Washington, Feb 4: Sant Singh Chatwal, a prominent hotelier and convicted Indian-American Democratic Party fundraiser, secured an invitation to a State Department lunch for the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 through top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to emails.
The New State Department emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that donors to the Clinton Foundation thought that they could receive favours from the State Department while Clinton was at the helm.
According to the emails, Abedin was asked by Chatwal, who has donated millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, to secure an invitation to an Obama administration State Dinner.
“As you know, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Obama are having a State Dinner. Any possibilities to include me and my wife for this dinner? If so, that would be really great!” wrote Chatwal.
Abedin said that Clinton’s office was unable to secure an invitation to the State Dinner, but offered Chatwal access to the Indian Prime Minister nonetheless, ‘The Washington Free Beacon’ reported.
“We have no control over the white house state dinner.
But, Hillary is hosting the state lunch for the prime minister with vice president Biden at the State Department and you should be receiving your invitation to that soon. Will be the same day, November 24th,” Abedin replied.
Chatwal pleaded guilty to felony charges in the US for illegally funneling nearly USD 200,000 in campaign money to federal candidates in 2014. He was brought up on conspiracy and witness tampering charges in addition to the charges for illegal contributions.
In 2006, Former President Bill Clinton attended the wedding of Chatwal’s son, who was later arrested in a US airport for attempting to travel with cocaine and heroin.
Other emails sent by Abedin that are contained in the recent release contain classified names of intelligence agency employees, according to the watchdog group.
Judicial Watch said that the emails show “further proof” of Clinton’s wrongdoing as secretary of state.
“These new emails provide further proof that Hillary Clinton used her official office to provide special treatment for donors to the Clinton Foundation and members of the Foundation staff,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.
Fitton said that the newly released emails put further pressure on Republican President Donald Trump to initiate a “serious investigation” into Clinton’s email issue.
“The new national security material in these emails will increase pressure on the Trump administration to authorize a serious investigation of Clinton s email practices,” Fitton said.
