10/29 Update: Who's that girl?



"Call her the Mata Hari of cyberspace," Shaun Waterman reported in his July 18, 2010 Washington Times article "Fictitious femme fatale fooled cybersecurity."

"Robin Sage, according to her profiles on Facebook and other social-networking websites, was an attractive, flirtatious 25-year-old woman working as a 'cyber threat analyst' at the U.S. Navy's Network Warfare Command. Within less than a month, she amassed nearly 300 social-network connections among security specialists, military personnel and staff at intelligence agencies and defense contractors.

A handful of pictures on her Facebook page included one of her at a party posing in thigh-high knee socks and a skull-and-crossbones bikini captioned, 'doing what I do best.'

'Sorry to say, I’m not a Green Beret! Just a cute girl stopping by to say hey!' she rhymingly proclaimed on her Twitter page, concluding, 'My life is about info sec [information security] all the way!'

And so it apparently was. She was an avid user of LinkedIn - a social-networking site for professionals sometimes described as “Facebook for grown-ups.” Her connections on it included men working for the nation’s most senior military officer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and for one of the most secret government agencies of all, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which builds, launches and runs U.S. spy satellites. Others included a senior intelligence official in the U.S. Marine Corps, the chief of staff for a U.S. congressman, and several senior executives at defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Almost all were seasoned security professionals.

But Robin Sage did not exist.

Her profile was a ruse set up by security consultant Thomas Ryan as part of an effort to expose weaknesses in the nation’s defense and intelligence communities - what Mr. Ryan calls 'an independent ‘red team’ exercise'."

How come the real Robin Sage doesn't follow Provide Security's Tom Ryan on Twitter or Facebook?



Highlights [or high lowlights] from Old ReaperSec log /w Tom Ryan Lulz Nov 2011, posted on pastebin by former or still-current Project Vigilant "volunteer"/"hypertroll"Neal Rauhauser:

"Nov 21 20:46 wanna see Robin Sage's tits?
Nov 21 21:01 Only drug I have ever done was Ecstacy when going to raves
Nov 21 21:03 X is the shit !! A Few lady Gs , hot russian girls, some Deadmau5 or Armin Van Buuren
Nov 21 21:03 end up in numerous 3somes and 4somes
Nov 30 22:22 chif I feel like I need some drugs of somesort
Nov 30 22:24 we need them at a BlackHat Party

Nov 30 22:27 I hate the crash of MDMA
Nov 30 22:28 sleep 14 hours
Nov 30 22:28 I ended up in several 3somes and 4somes on MDMA
Nov 30 22:30 it's weird cause it takes like an hour to blow your load
Nov 30 22:31 One year at the DEFCON CDC Ninja Strike Force party they had nude hookers going around and these geeks paid them $20 to eat out hookers
Nov 30 22:32 I almost puked"

Developing...

10/28 Update: Has Fawkes Security Facebook administrator Jodie Rushforth been identified or is it just a woman that they took photos from? Or another Fawkes Security hoax?

Someone left a comment to a pastebin dox that contains a name, date of birth etc. but I'm not publishing it or linking to it. And the avatar for the account matches a photo from Rushforth's Facebook page, which has been moved to a new link: jodie.fawk3s.



There are 21 pictures at this woman's Facebook account (including some that weren't at Rushforth's), all uploaded on February 19, 2012, but there is nothing written on the wall, no comments on the photos, and no activity since that date. The pictures that also appear at Rushforth's account didn't go up until June. It smells like another red herring.

[Editor's Note: I deleted a paragraph referring to another woman who shares the same name as the person named in the dox, since she lives in a different country and a larger version of the avatar attached to her photo doesn't appear to match.}

10/28 Update: According to her bios and multiple social network accounts scattered all over the web, LulzMouse aka Emyylii Guest studied psychology and neuro-linguistic programming, but as I reported, she made a death threat a few days ago, and has traded joking tweets with a group that made a bomb threat. The Alex Jones fan who has many explicit videos online is now going on a scorched earth campaign to smear and go after me because I'm reporting on her disturbed past. Emyylii likes to pretend she isn't in Anonymous, and maybe she isn't anymore, but she weirdly brokered a phone call between Jake Davis aka Topiary (who was hit with unauthorized computer access and conspiracy charges on July 27, 2011, is currently under house arrest and banned from the internet, and may be working with UK police) and Barrett Brown days before his arrest.

Even though she has been heavily involved with Anonymous for over four years (her involvement seemed to have something to do with her ardor for NLP which is similar in many ways to Scientology teachings), she claimed that she didn't know who Barrett Brown was until last month, and told him so, as she detailed after his arrest in a bizarre pastebin called "Barrett Brown betrayed by Topiary". When I showed proof that Brown was discussed in an IRC chat she was in earlier this year, Emily still denied knowing who he was, and her answers to other questions about why she turned against her alleged pal Topiary were also contradictory, as I'll show in a future article (along with other tweets she deleted, including one to an account that adds followers to your Twitter account and strange accounts she owned such as one called "Th3Mol35st3r").

"Hey I'm lulzmouse, I predict it'll take less than a week after this hits the net that I'm v&, Anonops isn't safe either, people have reported that even the PMs on the server are available to law enforcement and I advise people to make loads of different IRCs and places to plan and network together, use Tor hidden services to speak to each other and spread information, it's a bitch for the feds to track down, that's the whole reason pedos use it for making sick CP chans."

Emyylii also told Brown, who seemed taken aback, "oh something you might find funny I just remembered a month or 2 ago, I was texting Topiary, and we got onto talking about his leg bracelet so I tell him all the specs for it and the tamper protections it has that I'd found on tor and he had a van parked outside all night, and the firm that does the tracking bracelets text him telling him they're gonna examine it on the same night he was freaking out about it."

"jesus," Brown responded.

Emyylii replied, "I like to keep them on their toes," and later claimed, "being monitored is fun sometimes, can troll the agents of control with long encrypted messages of sports scores or cooking recipes."

If Emyylii really gave specs to Topiary's leg bracelets while he was under house arrest, she probably would have been arrested, since that would be a crime. But she refused to answer questions about that part of her alleged conversation with Barrett Brown.

She sent me a disturbing email this morning, which referred to herself as a "massive troll," and that said, in part, "I'll tell you the truth, Topiary is my master now, and I am his sex slave - I must obey...I AM DEEPLY FUCKING OFFEND THAT YOU THINK I LOOK ANYTHING LIKE LAURELAI. Your blog post read like an Encyclopedia Dramatica page, but yes, now you have a new enemy. Me."

"I am a real person, and I have no affiliation to government agencies or corporations, I'm just a random anon that you have pissed off, Hell I'm not even an anon anymore, I left my mask at the door when I went to court and sat and watched the louuusesec mispronunciation. I am a random computer user who spends her time working on comical games and trolling people you should check THAT out. I will make sure I allow others to share in the lulz you bring."

Since last night, Emyylii - who tweeted that she is scared of being tied to FawkesSecurity who claims to belong to be the new LulzSec but may be an international security firm or feds trying to entrap Anons - has tweeted Adrian Lamo, who works at Project Vigilant, a security firm that menaced Barrett Brown before his arrest and has ties to Bradley Manning's arrest, FawkesSecurity, who made a bomb threat at the end of the last Obama-Romney debate; Patterico, a Deputy District Attorney who has smeared me as a criminal and had strange conversations with Brown that Barrett recently leaked; ZAPEM, who sent me emails using an e-dress from the hacked HBGary Federal rootkit.com database; Jennifer Emick @AsherahResearch, who Barrett Brown accused of working for HBGary Federal and claims to be an FBI informant and an account called @QualitySec which belongs to her friends from the 4chanesque d2k5 boards.



An IRC chat by @QualitySec set up by "erika!nazidomin@tr.ix" announced, "Topic is 'welcome to our reich, r to the gas chamber, take the second left, to the showers, take the second left also. your new friends in trenchcoats will escort you to your designated area of work.'" The names in the chat - which appeared to be a test of bots - all included a variation of "gorenigger" and the avatar for the twitter account is dressed up like a Nazi. QualitySec joined Twitter on February 12, 2012, which was 74 years - to the day - after Hitler took over Austria.

At a new Facebook account that LulzMouse opened today - in response to my reporting - she posted a picture of a Nazi looking at a computer as her avatar. My family and I have been harassed by anti-Semitic trolls sporting Nazi imagery, which Adrian Lamo and others refuse to condemn, but instead link to and joke with; it's unreal that so many people would find anti-Semitism directed at a Jewish reporter to be a laughing matter. Anyone exchanging tweets with LulzMouse should ask themselves why they would trade jokes with a person that believes Nazis are funny or cool.

Before today, @Quality Sec only had one tweet left on its account, but has become active again. On February 12, the same day they joined twitter, Emyylii and her friends tweeted about Facepunch.com being hacked and linked to a list of passwords.



A few weeks ago, LulzMouse traded tweets with @NewLulzSec, but deleted them. One of the tweets implied that she had spoken to someone affiliated with them privately.



Just before she temporarily left Twitter, LulzMouse liked a video by @FawkesSecurity which announced, "[t]he Arab Spring turns to The American Fall," and tweeted the link, too.



This morning, Emyylii Guest @LulzMouse and Jennifer Emick @AsherahResearch traded weird tweets about this article, and a self-confessed troll actually was the voice of reason. Oddly enough, Jaime Cochran outed herself as @Asshurtmacfags a month after smearing me when I revealed her name was "Richard Cochran" which she denied, at the time.

"Anyone thus compared would be outraged," Emick said about my article which asks if Emyylii belongs to the new LulzSec, works for a security firm or is a federal agent of some sort. "WTF, really."

Emyylii's tweets included, "@asherahresearch I know I was so fucking hurt. I was actually upset at that.... since my fucking porn videos are on xtube" and "that's what makes me feel like I'm getting set up."

In response, @asshurtmacfags tweeted "@LulzMouse @asherahresearch HOW DO YOU GET SET UP ON TWITTER?! FUCK JUST UNPLUG JESUS SHIT TIT."

I've been helping Barrett Brown behind the scenes since the day he was arrested, and I'll talk more about it, probably after his trial concludes. While others close to Brown have taken my advice and done things to help him, his girlfriend ElviraXMontana has done the complete opposite, and - in some ways - made things worse. She tweeted that I was helping Brown a few weeks ago, but she is now attacking me, just like she has smeared other activists working to free Bradley Manning, Barrett Brown and others, who have criticized her for spending so much time talking to informant/security firm adversary characterization expert Adrian Lamo. But Elvira apparently believes helping Emyylii smear me is more important than freeing Barrett Brown.

10/28 Update: LulzMouse returns to Twitter after scrubbing every significant tweet from her timeline, and Barrett Brown's girlfriend ElviraXMontana takes time off from flirting with Adrian Lamo and Tom Ryan, to tweet, "ron b please never come back to twitter thank you sincerely everyone."

I've refrained from mentioning ElviraXMontana on Twitter and this blog, because I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. But since she has done little-to-nothing to help Brown since his arrest, except attack friends of Barrett who criticize her nonsensical tweets to Lamo (LulzMouse has joined her in some of those attacks, as well), I'm about to drop some tidbits from Direct Messages we've exchanged. But only what I said to her.

I was kind of wary of Elvira since she oddly shut off Barrett's laptop during the raid, and then when she made weird video that joked about him having pot plants, but what really concerned me was her tumblr account of the raid and how Neal Rauhauser somehow got Part 4 of the Patterico/Barrett Brown chats (at his blog, Rauhauser claimed the log was in his "possession four or five weeks", but on September 21 he had complained that he "wanted him to post the final installment of the set of four logs, which he did not have time to do", which implied that he didn't have it, yet). I was also bothered by the fact that she was attacking friends of Brown who criticized her for talking to Lamo, her RT of "A Message to the US Government" by LulzMouse which said that "we shall fight on the streets", and that she - for some strange reason - tweeted screenshots of texts sent by Topiary.

Elvira's posting of the raid account was an incredibly stupid thing to do, since the prosecutor can use her words against Brown without even having to call her to the stand. It was strange that she didn't appear to be giving any interviews to the press, but told her story on her own like that. The most damaging part of her account was when she wrote that she heard what "sounded like two people wrestling or struggling in the hallway," and that Barrett "seemed to be struggling" after one of the agents apprehended him. Brown's best defense against the alleged threats he's accused of making is that he wasn't armed and didn't resist arrest, but Elvira's own words could hurt him.

I didn't understand why Elvira spoke to one of the agents for "approx 30 minutes", without asking for a lawyer or remaining quiet, either. Everything she said to the agent can be used in court against Brown, so telling her that he had "fixated on agent s, and that i wished he would not do that," certainly isn't helpful.

But I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, and I had been helping Barrett behind the scenes - believe it or not - since the day of his raid. More on that later. It also struck me odd that she was going through his emails, since it didn't seem to be a wise thing to do.

"thanks for unblocking and follow...sorry i mocked your video..but the reference to pot plants unnerved me even though i know it was a joke," I said to Elvira by DM, after someone else close to Barrett put us in contact, earlier this month, " also..when you said you saw barrett struggling...you gotta realize that the prosecutor can use your tweets or blogs against you without even calling you to testify."

I added, "i believe barrett was menaced, given misinfo and pushed to do shit by a security firm.... i was misled into thinking he worked with neal [rauhauser]...i'd rather just ask you questions now then have you look through barrett's emails"

I continued, "my number one question is what journos have even contacted you...since there is a media blackout .....the times and post haven't done one story yet....and those are the two biggest papers there are... it doesn't seem like the ap contacted you but spoke to trolls instead. getting the press to cover barrett is extremely important...and most of his friends seem to have ignored this story."

"lamo lies and uses social engineering and probably played some kind of role in pushing disinfo to bb and scaring him," I said. "remember that no matter what barrett did or said, he is guilty until proven innocent...so you really should try not to say stuff like he did this to himself....lol...im tired..i mean innoncent until proven guilty obviously..."

I told Elvira, that in my opinion, "entrapment is a reasonable defense...and his lawyer really needs to see all these bizarre anonymous accounts fucking with him." I added, "since he didn't resist the raid there's no intent....so i don't think a jury will convict on those counts if his lawyer argues that barret was on and off drugs, menaced, given disinfo and has history of satire such as writing jokes and hyping things...and if his mom can testify that she was threatened or harassed by the fbi it will help too."

I advised Elvira, "personally, i think you should be publicly tweeting liberal bloggers and journalists who haven't reported on this story...just beg them and guilt trip them... folks like glenn greenwald and justin elliott.... and any reporters barrett liked...but be nice to them.....and i think you will be able to get them to do stories....which will help barrett. he needs good PR."

But, apparently, Elvira prefers spending her time having long conversations with Lamo, which have disturbed many Barrett Brown supporters, and appear to be an attempt to help him win back some cred from Anons, even though he still "volunteers" for Project Vigilant.

As I reported on Twitter, Project Vigilant Assistant Director Jeff Bardin sent many tweets mocking Barrett Brown about being paranoid, but claimed that he was "watching" him before deleting the tweets.



Elvira is apparently smearing me because I wrote about LulzMouse who is now laughing it up with Jennifer Emick. Again, somehow my asking questions is stranger than the stupid tweets and feuds they all seem to have with each other. LulzMouse is - apparently - so "afraid" of being raided for my reporting on how she applauded Fawkes Security for trolling other Anonymous accounts that she changed her name to "FawkesLulzMouse." How long before Elvira starts including Emick in her Lamo round robin chats? Something tells me that Barrett Brown might not be too forgiving of that.

This might be my last update for a few days. But there is much more to come...

10/27 Update: "Are you 12? Does your mom know your using the internet?" is an insufficient response to my questions, Laurelai Bailey. I apologize for distracting you from tweeting as @stuxnetsource.

My response: "So instead of answering one question, you're going to act stupid. You could have at least put some thought into your crack. That one's older than the Internet. Are you an informant, Laurelai? Do you work with Jennifer Emick? Why does at least one of Emily's pictures look exactly like you? You seem too stupid to be a fed. At least your pal or your doppelganger answered some questions..."

Let's add someone new to the mix.



And an interesting link: "AnonyMiss, the yin to the Anonymous yang."

Asking questions somehow makes me a conspiracy theorist, according to very serious-minded people like ru3d [w34p0n1z3d] ‏@ru3d_, Tom Ryan and Adrian Lamo.

Some observations: Laurelai and Neal Rauhauser are both from Iowa. Emily Guest and Emma A. are allegedly in England. LulzMouse uses socks to talk to herself like Neal. It sure is strange Laurelai wasn't charged with any crimes after she was allegedly raided by the FBI, and that she discussed LulzSec with Project Vigilant Intelligence Directorate James Smith who monitors #AntiSec in IRC chat rooms, as I recently reported.

And for added measure, it's kind of funny that "grown-ups" like convicted bomber turned voting activist Brett Kimberlin uses the name "Storm" in his fantasy rock band Op-Critical and Laurelai used "Storm", too (see Emily Guest's GooglePlus circle). I don't believe either one knows how to control the weather. But I could be wrong.

My key question to Bailey was, "Why do some pictures of LulzMouse - aka Emily Guest aka Th3Mol35t3r aka Emyylii aka Emmy Manson aka other names, the Hypnotist, NLP master Practicioner who is a big fan of Alex Jones and Ron Paul and who has been involved with Anonymous since Scientology (and I can barely tell the difference between NLP and Scientology), uses socks to talk to herself, and who probably had something to do with exploiting my Twitter account just before an election - look like you?" I have more questions, so that very serious people named GonzoPhD, Dr. Krypt3ia and DirkDigglerD0g ‏@p0rnoPuppy can make more tin foil jokes.

Who is Kayla?

Why is Emma_ A shyer than Patterico? At least Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey showed his whole face in a picture posted at The Brad Blog. Now he ducks on camera requests from CBS and wouldn't turn on his camera when he joined a Romney, Ryan Buzz Rally chat online. Frey's absurd excuse is that his job demands it, but I assume he can be identified by gang members when he prosecutes them in a court room. What's Barrett Brown's ex-girlfriend's excuse for hiding her face?

If Laurelai Bailey, Emyylii Guest, Emma A and Neal Rauhauser were all in the same room together, how many chairs would they need?

Why did Emyylii talk with Jennifer Emick about the Jester?

Why did Laurelai help spread bullshit cover story that @FakeGreggHoush wasn't Jennifer Emick but a man named Donald Wasylyna?

Is everyone from LulzSec a fed or a security firm bozo, or do they just all act like that?

Is Fawkes Security a security firm, the feds or a resurrected LulzSec?

Laurelai's second response: "Your questions are based on incorrect assumptions and thus do not merit answers. Ive done some googling about you and I am not going to answer any of your questions."

Bailey included a link to a video that a Deputy District Attorney has been using to try to frame me - on the Internet - as a criminal: link. The caller sounds nothing like me, and Frey's told a pack of lies about what happened that night (My version vs. Patterico's). Read Qritiq's blog post which shows how Frey cherry picked his "audio expert's" report. That same expert helped Jesse Ventura morph his voice into a 9/11 victim to prove a 9/11 "Conspiracy Theory", but apparently only did it for the money, and isn't a truther.

Laurelai added, "I have some questions for you instead, do you have any plans on attempting to swat me? Or emily? Why were you fired from raw story?"

Strange how a person who only just did some "googling" on me would ask about Raw Story. It's kind of like how Adrian Lamo obsesses over that, instead of answering my questions. I've publicly told the story about what happened many times on my Twitter timeline. Google it, Laurelai.

"Have you considered getting therapy?" Laurelai concludes.

Come to think of it, expecting the truth from weird hackers and liars like Adrian Lamo, Neal Rauhauser, Jennifer Emick is fucking insane. Maybe "Dr." Kenneth Lipp does house calls.

And people wonder why serious journalists don't cover Bradley Manning, Barrett Brown, and Anonymous anymore.

Only the very serious-minded Adrian Chen handles the wackadoo beat.



If asking questions to unravel absurd conspiracies gets me smeared as a crazy conspiracy theorist who is falsely accused of crimes, so be it. I'm not going anywhere.

10/27 Update: Look Alikes?

Jennifer Emick @AsherahResearch, who infamously lied about being @FakeGreggHouse tweeted, "how the fuck can he think any of those pics are the same person?!" The top and bottom photos are attached to social network accounts belonging to the same person (who put explicit videos on the web that hide her face, so the first picture could be an old photograph taken years ago, which means she is lying about her present age), while the middle one is her friend or frenemy. Since Emick wears glasses, perhaps she has better eyesight, but the bottom two photos look alike to me.

If I'm wrong, then I apologize for the error, but I'm just trying to get to the truth by asking questions, and instead I'm smeared by liars who get off on trolling.

10/27 Update: After vowing to quit Twitter since Barrett Brown was arrested, @LulzMouse, who contacted the former Anonymous spokesman - allegedly - on behalf of Topiary - but then smeared the latter as an informant - suspended her account early in the morning (which would only last a day, see update up top). The eve before I was suspended by Twitter, I interviewed her - after she threatened to kill FawkesSecurity - and I'm going to be publishing a story in a few days or so related to that. The picture to the left was taken on the day LulzMouse allegedly first met Topiary, when she gave him a book written by conspiracy theorist David Ickes, who writes about "Illuminati lizards" secretly controlling the world.

It's not what you might expect.

Consider the following screenshots a teaser:



PS: If something happens to this blog, Emyylii, I'll start a new one. I don't know if you work for a security firm, an agency or a resurrected LulzSec. Yet. But you're not half as clever as you think. Feel free to email me before I publish, Emyylii, so I can shovel some more snow.

10/25 Update: Twitter sent me an automated message which, partially stated, "If your account was suspended for aggressive following behavior, you should have received an email notification to the address associated with your Twitter account. You'll need to confirm that you've removed all prohibited following automation from your account, and will stop any manual aggressive following behavior." Twitter's rules add, that you can be suspended "[i]f you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn)."

Of course, I've never used any "following automation" and I believe a similar tactic was used against two of Neal Rauhauser's "enemies": @FarRightOfLeft and @JamesOkeefeiii. On August 31, O'Keefe tweeted, "Clever tactic of whoever considers me an enemy to add 35K fake followers to my twitter over the last 48 hours."

I'm assuming this was done by Neal Rauhauser or by @Zapem and her friends who want me to blame him. Hopefully, Twitter will reinstate me soon, where I can continue to remind convicted felon Adrian Lamo @6 - who absurdly tweeted that I haven't "committed any major crimes" - that he was the one who committed crimes and was institutionalized by the police, not me.

Fawkes Security - who claimed, as ZDNet reported on March 26, that they were resurrecting LulzSec for April Fool's Day, which seemed unlikely since Sabu became an "FBI mole" and helped entrap other members - tweeted in response to this latest update, "#Lulz Did we hack @ronbryn and @ronbryn2 with a Twitter exploit script... Who knows? :P @AnonyOps @th3j35t3r @YourAnonNews."



Since my second twitter account was suspended within 15 minutes, and a few tweets mentioned @FawkesSecurity, it seems likely that they probably did play a role in both suspensions. But the Fawkes crew also claimed they managed to log 20,000 debit card details after taking credit for the HSBC site take down, that the Amanda Todd bullying story was a hoax before playing a role in naming the wrong culprit, and that they created a "Legion Exploit Kit" back in December 30, 2011, so they seem to mostly get off on playing hoaxes to make Anonymous look bad.

10/25 Update: My twitter account @ronbryn was suspended early this morning probably because of my reporting on @FawkesSecurity and a 2nd account @ronbryn2 was suspended within 15 minutes after I complained to Twitter and mentioned Fawkes again; My last tweet was to former HB Gary Federal CEO Aaron Barr @AaronBarr, asking him what US military group he bragged about "burrow[ing] into" (See 2/5/11 Financial Times article) and did his friend Tom Ryan @TomRyanBlog - who used social engineering to allegedly trick NSA and DoD employees in the Robin Sage hoax - help him; I recently reported that a troll named @ZAPEM sent me emails from an e-dress that was included in the hacked HB Gary rootkit database mi-chelle@comcast.net

Fawkes Security seems similar to Ryan's "Robin Sage" hoax and he stopped tweeting a few days ago but he recently favorited twotweets which link Fawkes to Anonymous (who have pretty much unanimously condemned Fawkes for making a bomb threat); The Jester @th3j35t3r, who as I reported below may have been hacked by Fawkes Security working with Jennifer Emick (who also has been suspected of working with HB Gary Federal's Team Themis) in July, exchanged DMs with Fawkes Security in which they joke that they may be law enforcement or a pro Muslim hacking group; I've also been reporting on convicted criminal hacker Adrian Lamo @6 - who has exchanged many tweets and DMs with @ZAPEM since September, and anti-Semitic trolls who have menaced my family - and he is exultingaboutmysuspension.

A troll called @AnonymousDown was the first to tweet - at around 9 AM EST - about my suspension, but then he/she deleted the tweet. He/she has gone after both The Jester and Barrett Brown, and appears to play both sides of Anonymous. His/her conspiracy blog contains many posts accusing Anons of being informants, and self-identifies him/her as a "[b]ehind the scenes e-hacktivist; Professional data miner; Engaged in cyber defenses of critical infrastructure & key resources. irc.reapersecurity.net #graveyard."



And before I posted this update specifically referring to AnonymousDown, he/she linked to my blog and tweeted, "heh cc: @tomryanblog @th3j35t3r @fawkesSecurity @AaronBarr @Zapem @AsherahResearch."



Emick and Fawkes Security responded quickly, as well. Emick, who changed her name not long ago to "Team Themis" perhaps as an ironic joke, tweeted, "@AnonymousDown It's like our own custom-written sitcom." And Fawkes Security - who made a fewseemingly-sarcastic tweets after the bomb threat which may have also been ironic about working with Emick - tweeted, "@AnonymousDown @TomRyanBlog @th3j35t3r @aaronbarr @ZAPEM @asherahresearch Lulz, That is all."



On Twitter @AnonymousDown only follows 39 accounts, including Tom Ryan, Ryan's security firm Provide Security, Adrian Lamo, Jennifer Emick @AsherahResearch, Emick's troll pal Sanguinarious, ReaperSecIRC, RevMagdalen (who I also mention in this article), Aaron Barr, ReaperSecIRC and many others related to Reaper Sec - who recently claimed Emick isn't a member. Emick claims that she filed a personal protection order against Ryan, but she makes lots of claims that she never backs up, and she may just be pretending to feud with Ryan, who has befriended many members of Anonymous and Operation Wall Street who dislike her. The "Team Themis" plan was to have Twitter accounts promote and attack each other to create convolution and to use the controversy to spread their attacks against Anonymous and liberal bloggers.

I'm liberal but I have always reported on both sides, and am not a member of Anonymous, and don't approve of hacking online or using trolls to menace. But many people on the left and right have been smearing me, and falsely accusing me of working with Lamo's former colleague, Neal Rauhauser, at Project Vigilant who hoaxed Barrett Brown and Anonymous, and uses sock trolls on Twitter to do similar things that "Team Themis" planned to do. Many of the people attacking me on the left work with or defend Rauhauser. Those same alleged liberals have ignored my reporting on Barrett Brown, Fawkes Security and Bradley Manning, even though I'm supported by people who knew both Brown and Manning in real life and respect my reporting. "Team Themis" was allegedly disbanded, but Barrett Brown and others believe that they are still around, and/or perhaps work for someone else now.

DEVELOPING... Fawkes Security is aligned with QT Security who were formed "to combat and disrupt the anonymous community". QT Security released a video in July threatening to release "names and addresses of 300 active anonymous members" and "data recently breached from the wikileaks website." However, since their targets include Anonymous, WikiLeaks and The Jester - who have all been targeted by Jennifer Emick and who claims that she knows who the administrator for the Fawkes Security Facebook page is - this might be another of her hoaxes.

This is a work in progress which I thought was important to publish as soon as possible. Check my Twitter timeline @ronbryn to see some other things I'll be incorporating into this article, with much more to come.

Just as the third Obama, Romney presidential debate was ending on October 22nd, an alleged Anonymous group called Fawkes Security released a video and pastebin ominously warning "200 kilograms of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives have effectively been concealed in a government building, situated in the united states of America," and that "on the 5th of November 2012 the device will detonate remotely via the transmission control protocol, leaving behind severe consiquences."



Transcript from YouTube page - with misspellings left intact - follows.

"@FawkesSecurity
Dear citizens of the world,
We are anonymous. As of today 200 kilograms of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives have effectively been concealed in a government building, situated in the united states of America. on the 5th of November 2012 the device will detonate remotely via the transmission control protocol, leaving behind severe consiquences. We would like to advise that the contraption is built inside a tamper proof apparatus sensitive to physical intrusions or attempted disarmament, thus resulting in the desired effect, if the military grade device is found before the 5th of November. there is no intention, risks or circumstances what so ever to cause harm to innocent people, but we can not, say the same for the people who are the real terrorists, oppressors and war creators.

we are anonymous
we are legion
we do not forget
we do not forgive
on the 5th of November, you will expect us."

The pastebin called the alleged operation #OpV.

Almost immediately, more established Anonymous accounts on Twitter began to disavow itself from the bomb threat and the group itself. Fawkes Security had only joined Twitter on December 17, 2011 and the Facebook account is locked to members.

A pastebin response stated,

"This message is to the media:

Earlier tonight, the Twitter account @FawkesSecurity posted a link to a pastebin and a YouTube video that stated the following:

"As of today 200 kilograms of composite Nitroglycerin and commercial explosives have effectively been concealed in a government building"

Let us be perfectly clear: Anonymous is not a terrorist organization. Anonymous does not use bombs. Anonymous does not condone violence in any way. Anonymous supports justice and universal equal rights. We support peaceful protest.

At this time, we are not sure whether or not @FawkesSecurity is trying to troll, or if he's trying to discredit the name of Anonymous in the eyes of the world. Maybe @FawkesSecurity's twitter and YouTube account was hacked. Perhaps this is the FBI's way of trying to label Anonymous as terrorists so they can begin using the NDAA against us.

Either way, fuck whoever posted that threat.

We are Anonymous
We are legion
We do not forget
We do not forgive
Expect us"

Also, on December 17, 2011, Jodie Rushforth, who is listed as the administrator of Fawkes Security, joined Facebook, and three days later began posting sexy photographs - allegedly of herself and a girlfriend.

The Facebook profile contains few details other than claiming Rushforth allegedly lives in New York, New York and that her hometown is San Diego, California.



On July 8th, 2012 Fawkes Security administrator Jodie Rushforth shared a link of a video called "Message to Anonymous from QT Security" with The Security-Ray Facebook account [which joined Facebook on December 6, 2011].

The video was a message which stated that "an estimated 6 months ago, a hacker group was constructed amongst an array of like minded individuals, with the sole purpose to combat and disrupt the anonymous community for our own exsclusive entertainment."



Transcript from YouTube page - with misspellings left intact - follows.

"Friends around the globe, We are QT security. this video is a direct warning to the anonymous collective, regarding the fun we have planned for you and your future downfall. an estimated 6 months ago, a hacker group was constructed amongst an array of like minded individuals, with the sole purpose to combat and disrupt the anonymous community for our own exsclusive entertainment. before you assume that this is a fabricated notion, we would sincererly advise you to look past the words, the music, the name, and take us seriously. unlike other hacker groups that have targeted anonymous in the past, QT Security currently has genuine and accountable information leading to the names and addresses of 300 active anonymous members, including the real details of the your anon news twitter admin and the anon message who commonly broadcasts on youtube. we also have data recently breached from the wikileaks website that consists of listed financial transactions and emails between government organisations. q t security is presently operating on numerous social engineering attacks towards anonymous affiliated sites, which will inevitably lead to some defacements in the near future. we would like to take this time to inform other internet users and the media that during our online expedition against anonymous, q t security will display significant examples of corporate, financial and government breaches to show the world what we are capable of, in a bid to embarrass the idea that is anonymous. anonymous at one point had meaning and a direction, but now it's concept is purely persued by misguided people, who believe that hacking is actually a positive response to the causes that you agree are worth facing, at least we have the dignity to admit that by hacking in the name of freedom, will only cause more censorship for the citizens you say you support. on the other hand, QT security is going to systematically impair the anonymous collective in it's current online form, just because we can and we know how. to those who choose to ignore our statement and disregard the facts, then, you will expect us."

Also, on July 8, 2012, a video called "Anonymous - Message to QT Security" was released by AnonymousAmerica1776, who joined YouTube on May 1, and hasn't posted any videos since July. "Please realize the size of the pile of shit you have stepped in," is posted with its response video.



QT Security joined Twitter @QTSecurity on July 8, 2012, and issued tweets threatening Anonymous, WikiLeaks and 4chan. It also said "hai" to The Jester - who once hit WikiLeaks with a XerXeS DoS Attack - a day before his/her Twitter account @th3j35t3r was compromised.



"@wikileaks You think your website is secure, Think again #OntheQT," @QTSecurity tweeted on July 8, along with"Rumors are brewing about a DoS on 4chan, Should we or not?", and"@th3j35t3r Oh hai ;)."

On July 9, Fawkes Security tweeted"Thejester got PWND! by @FawkesSecurity it's been a long time waiting #Anonymous,"and"Thejester HACKED! http://pastebin.com/h35HpfzZ"and"@th3j35t3r Umad? Lulz." Just prior to those tweets, Fawkes Security apparently released a"D0X of @crystalmcraven aka @th3j35t3r's e-girlfriend https://pastee.org/np8ec #stayfrosty #whoswidme."



Deputy District Attorney John Patrick Frey aka Patterico posted an article called "The Jester Hacked?" on July 9, which is kind of strange, since he normally doesn't post Anonymous articles. "'The Jester' is a fairly famous opponent of Anonymous; a 'Hacktivist for Good,'" Patterico blogged, "Looks like someone has gotten a hold of his Twitter password."

Fake @th3j35t3r included "To all my followers, I am sorry. I really am a fraud.: Please forgive me, I did it for the lulz bit.ly/NdPzlI #anonymous #wise," and "Anonymous: I am sorry for running my mouth all this time. Please spare me. @YourAnonNews @AnonymousIRC bit.ly/OonIxj #anonymous #wise," and "It’s been fun.: I am in for a LOAD of drama. Next my personal details are unleashed. #wise bit.ly/NBmJdQ #anonymous #wise."

On July 10, the Jester explained at his blog, "that a rather nice ‘sideways hack’ was deployed against my twitter. Aside from that no breaches or relevant information, 'personal' or otherwise has come out of this episode and my position remains uncompromised."

Two days later, in an update, the Jester appeared to blame Jennifer Emick aka @AsherahResearch.

"As we all know, this whole thing has been the work of the usual suspects, namely @asherahresearch (aka J.Emick), ReaperSec led by @cryptkper a newcomer and a few others. Those are the same core of folks who have spent the majority of their time over the last few months/years accusing all manner of people of being me, if you look you can see this for yourselves, while basing it on the most sporadic of circumstantial evidence"

The Jester added, "for those worried about @crystalmcraven, saying I left her to burn etc. Firstly yes the whole conversation was disinfo, secondly I didn’t hack my own abandoned email account and I didn’t dox her or persecute her. Thirdly you really think any of the shit in that email box is real?? Clue is in the name – ‘Crystal Meth Cravin’??? – (she’s gonna be just fine) – keep up trolls. Everything for a reason eh? And thats been sitting there over 2 years."

"So @asherahresearch and ReaperSec hacked a long abandoned decoy email account and a lot of folks put 2+2 together and got 9, causing everyone who wants a piece of me to target the one of the 120 people named CrystalMCraven in the United States who follows me on twitter.

I hope you can all leave the real woman alone now. But I see she is handling herself nicely.

To the real CrystalMCraven on Twitter: I apologize for not contacting you. I hope you understand, I did not think your twitter account was tied to a real person. Unfortunately, at this time, I do not know who originated impersonating you. I regret you were dragged into these attacks on me."

Earlier today, at its blog, Reaper Security wrote a post called"FawkesSecurity – Your Days Are Numbered" about the bomb threat, noting that "there are several things that stuck out about the pastebin that lead me to believe this is a hoax or some other sort of sick prank."

"Just an FYI, in the US we don’t commonly use the Metric system. Without getting all technical, you got somewhere around 441 pounds of nitroglycerin, which by its self is unstable, and commercial explosives into the US through customs? You have this ‘device’ that would have to be about the size of a refrigerator or drink machine, connected to the Internet? You couldn’t use something like a cellphone cause the battery would die maintaining a data connection that long, so you would have to have it plugged into a LAN or WiFi, inside a government building… wait a minute. Haven’t I seen this movie before? This sounds vaguely like the movies Sum of All Fears, and Die Hard with a Vengeance. Oh and by the way, you spelled consequences wrong.

....

Hoax or not, you’ve made a threat, a bomb threat against the United States Government. Not something they generally find funny. But you need not worry about us, here at ReaperSec, or those behind the Jester mask. Nope, neither will have anything to do with you being arrested. Like the recent demise of Barrett Brown, this you have done all by yourself. The FBI and/or Interpol will be picking you up soon enough, for a nice extended stay at one of their many luxurious facilities."

Emick tweeted today, "@raincoaster Heh- but tbh, that is no fed. That group's been around, and is kinda nuts. The girl's a massive attention whore, too." Later Emick - who has targeted Anonymous and The Jester - retweeted @RevMagdalen tweet warning, "#Anonymous all you can know for sure is that for 2 years straight you've been inciting every kook on the planet to revolution."

The Twitter profile for @QTSecurity states, "QTS Hacker group ---LulzSec on Steroids---- Email qtsecurity@hushmail.com" and its YouTube profile claims it hails from Germany. QT Security only released the one video, and hasn't tweeted since July 9, 2012.

Another Facebook group called Anonymous Occupy The White House [who joined Facebook on November 5, 2011] posted the "Message to Anonymous from QT Security" video on July 9, adding, "Lulz ;p have you seen this shit?? Anons watch out QTSecurity is coming..."

On October 1, 2012, the Anonymous Occupy The White House Facebook page shared a link to Fawkes Security Twitter account via administrator Jodie Rushforth, but her name was later scrubbed from their page, as this cache link originally shows.



The link was liked by Cody Fawkes and his Facebook page at "Purified.in.the.storm." claims that he lives in Alma, Michigan, attends Central Michigan University and that he is the "Head Public Relations Coordinator" for Anonymous and that he "coordinates, info, protest info, news and meetings to better inform the public of What is events are taking place in Government, and other country's, states and cities. ect." and that he has been a "Wicked Ninja Juggalo" since 2005.

Cody Fawkes might not have any connection to Fawkes Security, but he left a message on August 2, 2012 to Anonymous and BackTrace Security - a firm which Jennifer Emick used to belong to and that she used to out Anonymous members including FBI informant Sabu - at his Facebook page.

"THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ANONYMOUS AND BACK TRACE SECURITY:

PLEASE SHARE THIS SO THAT ALL MEMBERS OF ANONYMOUS AND BACK TRACE WILL SEE THIS FOR THE SAKE OF FREEDOM AND WHAT IS RIGHT

I am not in a position of power, i am not a leader in Anonymous or hacker, but i am Anonymous i do not hide myself per say but i do try to keep out of the site of the corrupt leaders that control our world. i have millions of idea's on how to make things better and one day i hope to be able to put these idea's tp the test. I have a dream of a better world where i do not look around and see people constantly miserable, crying, heart broken, worn out because of the struggles they face trying to stay alive in this failing economy. I believe our Government is to blame for the state in which our country is in. along with the major companies, and more to blame; the banks...

....

But now Sadly as i finally start to fall asleep and trust me its not easy for me to sleep anymore i scrolled through facebook to see whats new and i see that there is a war going on between people who all called themselves Anonymous, it makes me terribly sad to see this, i call my self Anonymous, and i coordinate efforts in my area to make it to occupy movements especially for November 5th but im also a member of the Zeitgeist Movement, i believe in a bigger and brighter future, but if we are at war with ourselves how can we make change, how can people take us seriously, How can the people trust us, if we continue fighting amongst ourselves how long will it take till we start to be seen as terrorists instead of hacktavists, or freedom fighters, or the small glimmer of hope that the world needs. this needs to stop i may be small in what i can do. i do not hack i refused to learn that from all the skills ive learned about computers i will not hack but instead i choose to speak my words are many yes, but my hope is my words speak loud, i hope that someone is reading this right now, because at this moment my eyes are poofed up burning my back aches my head is pounding and my ears are ringing but im am here writing this hoping that it is making it to someone higher up, someone who can stop all this stupidity, i hope that this spreads like a wild fire to every corner of the web, ....

Anonymous, Back trace Security it is time for this war to end and the real war to truely start you've lost your focus, get your heads right. for the sake of the people who need us most i ask you to stand strong unite once more, because there is no former members of Anonymous, because we are all Anonymous no matter age race color or faith.

With Peace of Mind, Body, and Soul, while being true in my words and to myself, with Love for the people the earth and the animals, my actions and words are Respectful with respect to the people the planet and myself i so hear do swear to fight for what is right and speak the truth for the sake of truth, i will stick by the Values of PEACE. TRUTH. LOVE. and RESPECT
Signed Cody Fawkes of Michigan"

At Daily Dot, Lorraine Murphy - aka @RainCoaster on Twitter - noted that Fawkes Security had "recently...somewhat implausibly, claimed responsibility for attacks against HSBC, the largest retail bank in the world."

On twitter, @Asher_Wolf noted that "Jodie Rushforth says she's 'right wing' in her bio"at Facebook. Just over a week ago, on October 15, the same day she changed her profile picture, Jodie Rushforth added dubious claim to her profilethat she studied at West Virginia University and that she "went from being 'in a relationship' to 'it's complicated.'"

DEVELOPING...

Pictures posted on Twitter back claim, however, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri reportedly has ties to the Pakistan military and may be harbinger of "soft coup"

"A leading opposition figure returned to Pakistan on Monday, resulting in chaos at two major Pakistani airports and posing a new challenge to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s efforts to keep his grip on power,"Tim Craig and Shaiq Hussain report for the Washington Post.

Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a religious scholar and moderate politician, said he was returning from exile in Canada to lead a “democratic revolution” against Sharif’s government just a year after the prime minister regained power. Qadri said Sharif has not done enough to implement electoral and social-justice reforms and has been too timid in his approach to the Pakistani Taliban.

“I will soon call for a movement to usher in revolution in the country,” said Qadri, leader of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) party, when he arrived in Lahore. “This government will be toppled. . . . I will lead the revolution, and I will be the one in charge to ensure that these terrorists, these killers and corrupt rulers are punished.”

In January of 2013, Qadri led a "Long March" before the spring elections which led to the reelection of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed in a military coup by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 1999. The march was supposed to attract a million followers, but only thousands joined it. Qadri's protest was against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari who was the "1st president to complete his constitutional term and hand over duties to [a] democratically elected successor," - as the Pakistan Tribune noted - a few months later in the fall of 2013.

"Last week, Qadri had vowed to continue the sit-in protest in Islamabad until the government gave in to his demand for a preelection caretaker administration appointed with the input of the country's judiciary and military,"Alex Rodriguez reported for the Los Angeles Times eighteen months ago. "That demand has led many observers to speculate that the country's powerful military could be behind Qadri's agenda, a charge the military has denied."

Many analysts and commentators have questioned whether Qadri's mission ultimately imperils what could be a historic transfer of power from one civilian government to another in a country with a history of military takeovers and interference in governance.

"This represents a big threat to Pakistan's parliamentary process and its hard-fought democratic freedoms," said Raza Rumi, a political analyst at the Islamabad-based Jinnah Institute.

Last year, Declan Walsh at the New York Times reported, "Barely a year after fears of a possible military coup plunged Pakistani politics into chaos, the country is in crisis again — this time besieged on multiple fronts by forces that threaten the civilian government just a few months ahead of elections."

Walsh noted that "the country’s powerful military command, long at odds with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, is in sphinx mode. The army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and his commanders have maintained a cool distance from the unfolding political chaos, their silence stoking speculation about whether the military’s days of political intervention are really, as it claims, over."

More than anything else, there is a sense that gears are again shifting in Pakistan, in a direction few dare to predict — bad news for Mr. Zardari’s government, of course, but also potentially for American interests, which see stability in Pakistan as crucial to a smooth withdrawal in Afghanistan next year, as well as a guarantor of the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“There’s a sense that things are snowballing — hard to predict in any way,” said Cyril Almeida, a senior writer at Dawn newspaper.

"The chief catalyst of this jolting change comes in the form of a 61-year-old preacher, Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri, who catapulted himself into the political limelight less than a month ago, and now finds himself issuing ultimatums to Mr. Zardari from inside a bulletproof container within view of the soaring presidential residence," Walsh reported.

“There is no Parliament; there is a group of looters, thieves and dacoits” — bandits — he said in a thundering voice, pointing to the building behind him. “Our lawmakers are the lawbreakers.”

The dramatic climax of that speech, however, came not from the preacher himself, but from the marble-walled Supreme Court about 200 yards up the street.

As Mr. Qadri spoke, news broke that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had issued an order for the arrest of the prime minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf. The report visibly thrilled the crowd, prompting loud cheers and a sense that the promised “revolution” was going their way.

"Speculation that the judge and the preacher acted in concert, perhaps with the backing of powerful generals, has electrified the political firmament," Walsh added.

In last night's Washington Post story, Craig and Hussain noted that Qadri "is said to have close ties to the Pakistani military."

Rasul Bux Rais, an Islamabad-based political science professor and analyst, said Qadri’s return is another sign that a rift may be emerging between Sharif and the country’s powerful military leadership. Many former military commanders say army chiefs were eager to launch a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban this past winter. But Sharif authorized the operation only 10 days ago, after Taliban militants stormed Karachi’s international airport, killing 26 security personnel and civilians.

....

Ayaz Amir, a columnist and former member of Parliament, said the drama surrounding Qadri’s return made the national government appear weak. “The message that comes out from this is the thing that can control this situation is the army,” he said.

Tweets from the "official twitter account of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, Chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran Int; being run by his spokesman,"@TahirulQadri backed the military offensive against the Taliban, but also charge that the Pakistan government hired terrorists to attack the police yesterday.

"I completely support the Army’s current operation Zarb-e-Azb to eliminate terrorism," Qadri's official account tweeted about five hours ago.

Other tweets accused the Punjab Government for "demonstrat[ing] brutal terrorism" on his arrival, and claimed, "Armed terrorists were sent to Islamabad to deteriorate law and order so that the world considers the PAT workers as terrorists."

"The Punjab govt is orchestrating terrorism through its police,"@TahirulQadri tweeted. "The govt will have to answer for its misdeeds one day.

And in a tweet which included the picture at the top of this article, @TahirulQadri alleged, "Terrorists were hired by the government in civil clothes to attack the police and blame PAT workers." So far, it was retweeted 538 times, and tweets in response include "Caught red handed!" and "Anything can be expected from this government.".

A tweet with another picture posted by a "[p]roud member of #PTIFamily"@XIApk added, "It seems @TahirulQadri is some what right. Another guy with Police Riot gear but in plain clothes."

"The drawing rooms of the political elite have been humming with speculation of a 'soft coup'— the imposition of a technocratic government, backed by the generals — for several years," Declan Walsh reported for the New York Times eighteen months ago.

The pictures posted on Twitter are reminiscent of ones often posted by US protesters after rallies which claim that police or FBI agents infiltrated the demonstrators to cause or provoke violence. Sometimes those pictures are correct, sometimes they are paranoia, sometimes they are just plain wrong.

Caveat emptor - Latin for "Let the buyer beware" - is something that anyone who follows Twitter should always heed. Instead of a revolution being televised, a "soft coup" engineered by Pakistan's military might have just been tweeted earlier today.

Troublemaker: Let's Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again By Christine O'Donnell https://twitter.com/R_Bokhari/status/486788269477093376 Raza Bokhari ‏@R_Bokhari In Karachi with General Musharraf. pic.twitter.com/Gh2UDxQkCT Reply Retweet Favorite 4:25 AM - 9 Jul 2014 https://twitter.com/P_Musharraf/status/486804174362148866 Pervez Musharraf ‏@P_Musharraf I was happy to see Nomi, my rep in #Houston, Tx and Raza, my International spokesperson in my home in #Karachi. PM pic.twitter.com/W98vReTSxM Reply Retweet Favorite 5:28 AM - 9 Jul 2014

WSJ Intelligence Correspondent Siobhan Gorman often asked CIA Office of Public Affairs for "guidance" before filing stories; 2010 articles claiming French man once linked to 9/11 plotters was killed by US drone attack in Pakistan remain uncorrected on WSJ website"Just checking in on our al Qaeda friend Naamen Meziche, who is now enjoying the hospitality of Pakistani authorities," a Wall Street Journal reporter jokingly wrote the CIA regarding "a French Man Linked to al Qaeda 9/11 Plotters," on June 20, 2012, apparently for a story that was updated on June 21, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST. The email was obtained through a FOIA request by The Intercept, and is one of many that show a friendly relationship between Siobhan Gorman and the CIA, whom she often looked to for "guidance" before filing stories or after discussing stories reported by her colleagues at the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ story credited to Tom Wright and David Crawford - but also notes that Intelligent Correspondent "Siobhan Gorman contributed to this article" - added, "A U.S. official confirmed the capture of Mr. Meziche and described it as an important victory in the battle against al Qaeda. 'Meziche has a long history with al Qaeda and his capture deprives them of an operative whose experience living in Europe helped them plot against the West,' the official said." That quote doesn't seem to have been included in the initial report.

Gorman's letter to a CIA office of public affairs spokesperson continued, "Any perspective you can offer on his significance, the significance of picking him up, and whether this involved US-Pakistani cooperation would be much appreciated. Apparently he was reported dead (by a colleague of mine) in 2010, so any light you can shed on why he might have been dead then but not dead now would also be very helpful."



The email is intriguing, since the CIA, along with German and Pakistan sources appear to have used the media to over-hype a marginal supporting character - at best - into an "important" al Qaeda operative, and it's not the only time Gorman has used the term "friend" to jokingly refer to terror suspects before they were convicted of crimes or other subjects of interest.





"However," after Pakistan deported Meziche to France, the BBC reported on October 12, 2013, "analysts say there appears to be little evidence of his involvement in any attack and the case against him is unclear."

The BBC reported, "Naamen Meziche was considered an associate of al-Qaeda commander Younis al-Mauritani, who was believed to have been ordered by Osama Bin Laden to plan attacks in Australia, Europe and the US. 'This is a big fish, at the historic heart of al-Qaeda,' a French anti-terrorism official told AFP news agency."

Before Pakistan made the arrest, Souad Mekhennet reported for the New York Times on January 10, 2012, "Another European hiding in Iran is Namaan Meziche, 41, a German resident with dual French-Algerian citizenship, whom European and American security officials believe played a key role in recruitment for jihadist movements. They say that he was close to Mohammad Atta and other Sept. 11, 2001, operatives and spent time at terrorist camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s."

An unnamed US official told the Times that Meziche was a 'lower midlevel' commander and that he had "been involved in Al Qaeda external operations activities for some time now." Then living in Hamburg, Germany, his wife, Mariam Fizazi, claimed that Meziche denied any connection to the terror group, and had gone to Iran after moving to Pakistan to "live under Shariah law," the paper reported. "After he had reached Pakistan, he called and asked me to come over with the children and join him," Fizazi said. "I told him there was no chance."

"Meziche was questioned by German authorities in 2003 for purported links to the 9/11 attacks based on evidence it had on him having received a phone call a week prior to the event from the attack’s coordinator, Ramzi Binalshibh,"Al Arabiya reported on June 20, 2012. "However, one year later, the case was suspended and Meziche was never indicted."

David Crawford reported on October 11, 2010 that a German intelligence official claimed Meziche was dead in an article co-written by Marcus Walker and by himself on October 16, 2010 that Meziche "was one of eight people" killed by a U.S. drone attack, according to unnamed Pakistan officials. Both articles remains uncorrected on the Wall Street Journal website.

"Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly helped to coordinate and finance the 9/11 attacks, placed a 34-second phone call on Sept. 5, 2001, to the home of Naamen Meziche," Crawford wrote in the second WSJ article from 2010. "That phone call and alleged contacts that followed represent a possible link between the attacks in the U.S. nine years ago and recent suspected terrorist plots to hit European cities, which the Oct. 5 drone strike was intended to disrupt."

"Three of the eight drone victims were part of a group of jihadists who left Hamburg in early 2009 for military training in Pakistan and to fight on behalf of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist organization with ties to al Qaeda, a German intelligence official said.

The eldest, Mr. Meziche, a 40-year-old French citizen of Algerian descent and longtime German resident, had been under investigation for nearly nine years in connection with the Sept. 11 plot, court records show, though he was never charged with a crime, a spokesman for the office of Germany's Federal Prosecutor General said.

German authorities began investigating Mr. Meziche in late 2001 after they discovered telephone and email communications he maintained with suspected members of al Qaeda. Police asked dozens of witnesses to provide evidence against Mr. Meziche. Ultimately the investigation went nowhere, a spokesman for the office of Germany's Prosecutor General said."

"In statements to police in 2002, Mr. Meziche denied he was home on that day and said he didn't receive a phone message from Mr. Binalshibh," Crawford reported. "He also disavowed being in contact with Zacarias Moussaoui, who is serving a life sentence at a Colorado federal prison after pleading guilty to involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, though a cell-phone number used to phone Mr. Meziche's home in August 2001 was found on a piece of paper among Mr. Moussaoui's belongings after his arrest."

On May 22, 2013, during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence of the Committee of homeland Security for the House of Representatives, Thomas Joscelyn - a Senior Fellow from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and senior editor of The Long War Journal - stated, "Initial reports indicated that Meziche was killed in the same drone strike, but he survived it and was sheltered by the Iranians before being captured inside Pakistan."

The Wall Street Journal reporter's emails to the CIA "were included in hundreds of pages of documents that the CIA turned over in response to two FOIA requests seeking records on the agency’s interactions with...ten national security reporters sent from March to July 2012,"Ken Silverstein reported for The Intercept yesterday. "That request turned up correspondence between the press office and [Ken] Dilanian, then at The Los Angeles Times and now at the Associated Press, Adam Goldman, then at the AP and now at The Washington Post, Matt Apuzzo, then at AP and now at The New York Times, Brian Bennett of The Los Angeles Times, Scott Shane of the New York Times, and David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist."

"It’s impossible to know precisely how the CIA flacks responded to reporters’ queries, because the emails show only one side of the conversations. The CIA redacted virtually all of the press handlers’ replies other than meager comments that were made explicitly on the record, citing the CIA Act of 1949, which exempts the agency from having to disclose 'intelligence sources and methods' or 'the organization, functions, names, official titles, salaries, or numbers of personnel employed by the Agency.' The contents of off-the-record or background emails from CIA press handlers clearly don’t disclose names, titles, or salaries (which can easily be redacted anyway); they may disclose sources and methods, depending on whether you view manipulation of American reporters as an intelligence method. (The Intercept is appealing the redactions.)"

Other emails from Gorman to the CIA included many requests for "guidance" and a "heads up" that WSJ was going to publish an article using something reported by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.



On May 8, 2012, Gorman wrote, "I appreciate all the work you and your colleagues do to guide the accuracy of our reporting and these intense periods are tough for everyone to manage."

Gorman was sent an invitation to an off the record dinner with then CIA director David Petraeus in March of 2012, and when she was asked if she had any food allergies the WSJ Intelligence Correspondent replied, "Nope. I eat pretty much anything."







In this exchange, Gorman passes on a tip that the editor of The Wall Street Journal received, and claimed that "tips from our top boss often don't pan out" or "aren't always accurate." Gorman appears to have been referring to Robert James Thomson, who was the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal from May 2008 to December of 2012, before leaving to become the Chief Executive for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in January of 2013.





All emails obtained by The Intercept can be seen at this pdf link, at this text link or viewed online here.

Another interesting exchange suggests that the Wall Street Journal dropped a story on alleged intel obtained from the Osama bin Laden raid after the CIA responses she obtained - which were mostly redacted - appear to have been at odds with military sources. And one in which Gorman weakly complains about how a "guest" had excused himself "suddenly", but then decides to discuss late night host Jimmy Kimmel instead. Here are screenshots of many of Gorman's emails asking for "guidance", sharing info, and joking with the CIA.

2/12/15 Update: "[W]e're ready to place the order before the end of this week,"FreeBarrett announced on Twitter yesterday, regarding the sentencing hearing transcripts. Brown isn't appealing the sentence for technical reasons, which include alleged mistakes made by the court regarding the complicated federal "grouping" guidelines, and because he "signed away his right to appeal." On January 30, @FreeBarrett_ tweeted that "a pardon campaign is on the table." Brown wrote about his case and the sentencing for the first time "freely" in a story called "My Post Cyberpunk Indentured Servitude", published by The Daily Beast on January 31. He said that he "agreed to plea to the spurious make-believe crimes...so as to avoid the perils of a Texas jury." The transcripts should help Brown "produce a far more comprehensive account of this whole affair later this year." He joked, "If anyone needs me in the meantime, I’ll be in prison."

Update at bottom: Judge claims court's actions are "fully reflected in the transcript of the hearing", even though there is no "transcript of the hearing", yet; order gets date wrong

Charyse Crawford, Court Reporter for District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, shed some light on the high cost of court transcripts in Texas, even if a journalist places the order.

The extremely friendly and helpful Court Reporter told me on the phone Monday afternoon that the initial cost is $3.65 per page, and the transcripts for hearings last week and in December won't even be written up, until someone makes a formal order for them. She said that Barrett Brown's defense attorneys have 14 days to appeal the decision, and that as soon as she gets notice of appeal, she will check her schedule and begin the transcription process, which could take up to thirty days.

Supporters of Barrett Brown @FreeBarrett_ tweeted a plea for donations to help pay for the cost.

Crawford told me that the December 16th hearing would be approximately 250 pages, and the January 22nd one would be around 200 pages, so at $3.65 a page, it would cost at least $1,650. After the initial order, members of the public or journalists get the reduced rate of 90 cents a page.

I was kind of shocked to learn that court transcripts aren't provided unless ordered. At least in Texas, that is.

After I tweeted, "I guess US court system doesn't want media outlets using transcripts to accurately report on convictions," a member of Brown's open source journalism group, Project PM, who uses the name @subverzo on Twitter responded, "As has been evidenced with social media coming into the mix, they do not like people watching. Period."

Brown - a journalist who "embedded" into Anonymous was sentenced to over five years in jail last Thursday after pleading guilty to charges that he "threatened" an FBI agent, hid his laptops from a search warrant, and contacted a security firm that had been hacked to somehow "distract" from the actual hacker - has already spent close to two and a half years locked up. But he has been doing some highly praised journalism and satire behind bars for various media outlets, and has already been guaranteed a job with D Magazine, after he is released.

Whether or not Barrett Brown received extra time for linking to a Stratfor credit card info download dump in December of 2011 has been hotly debated on Twitter since last Thursday's hearing, and supporters hope a transcript will help answer questions about it.

Two of Barrett Brown's lawyers seem to be at odds themselves over how much the dismissed credit card info linking charges added to the sentence.

"The reason all of us originally came on this case was the theft charges...and in the end, all of those charges were dismissed without a hearing," Charles Swift told journalists after the sentencing. "And so in a way, although I do not think that, in the end, it had a significant effect on Mr. Brown’s sentence, we are more upset about the potential precedent that it sets on a government that seeks to further and further expand criminality in an effort to control political activity. And so it is the precedent that is set that is most worrisome in that part."

According to Marlo Cadeddu, Brown received an additional year for the expunged linking charges, but since 4 years were for the "threats", the math seems shaky to many observers, pro or con.

Nearly a week after the sentencing hearing, Judge Lindsay issued an order explaining the "manner in which it calculated the advisory guidelines during the sentencing hearing in this case on January 16, 2015."

However, as I reported, there is no transcript, yet, and the hearings took place on December 16, 2014 and January 22, 2015. If the judge has his own transcript already, then it should cost only ninety cents a page to place an order for it, as explained to me by his Court Reporter.

The judge also gets the date wrong, further down in his January 28 order, when he adds, "With respect to Defendant's inquiry during the January 16, 2015 sentencing hearing regarding the return of his copy of the Declaration of Independence, Defendant's counsel acknowledged that this is one of the items that Defendant agreed to forfeit as part of his Plea Agreement. Upon further reflection, however, the court can think of no reason why Defendant should have to forfeit his copy of the Declaration of Independence, as it was not used to commit any of the crimes of which he was convicted or used in conjunction with any of these crimes. Thus, notwithstanding the agreement between the parties, the court declines to accept the portion of the Plea Agreement that requires Defendant to forfeit his copy of the Declaration of Independence. Accordingly, the court orders the Government to return Defendant's copy of the Declaration of Independence to his counsel within ten (10) days of the date of this order.

(Editor's Note: I helped provide some research for the Free Barrett website, but I've continued to report objectively and sometimes critically on Brown and his defense.)

From 2007 to 2010, I was Executive Editor of RAWSTORY.COM where I broke many big stories that were appreciated by liberals AND conservatives, and which sometimes even influenced events and were reported by the mainstream media. Some include: alleged plagiarism by Ann Coulter that was later confirmed by an expert, the smearing of a conservative-leaning military blogger by the Washington Post, non-profit wrote editorials for Abramoff clients, Vice President Cheney given power to preside over NSC meetings, US changed Iraq policy to begin airstrikes before war and Miers provided misleading info to Judiciary Committee.

Since leaving RAW STORY, I worked with David Corn and Mother Jones on a story based on WikiLeaks documents called "Does an Al Qaeda 'Anthrax Operative' Own New York Pharmacies?", Jennifer Preston and The New York Times on "Fake identities were used on Twitter to get information on Weiner", Kevin Morris at The Daily Dot on "Gen. John Allen didn't troll Jill Kelley on Wikipedia" and, most recently, with Chuck Johnson at Got News on multiple stories about NBC News anchor Brian Williams including "April 2003 Essay Proves #BrianWilliams Apology & Faulty Memory Story Are Fake" and "2003 NBC News Book Claimed Brian Williams Was on 'Receiving End of an Ambush'".

At this blog I broke the news that former Congressman Weiner was running for NYC mayor months before anyone else and I was cited by the Observer for being the first to report on the last scandal that hurt his campaign, even though he denied it in speeches, as reported by The Huffington Post. Click on my archives to read exclusive reporting on Vice President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Adrian Lamo, Bradley Manning, Barrett Brown, former Pakistan military coup leader Musharraf, and other stories that you won't find anywhere else.

I haven't been paid for any of my reporting since I left RAWSTORY, so please help support -sometimes incredibly risky - independent journalism by contributing to my PayPal account at RonBrynaert@Yahoo.com.

On August 22, 2008, Stratfor Vice President of Communications Meredith Friedman sent an email to her husband, George - the "global intelligence" company's CEO - about a surge of traffic from a popular UFO conspiracy website called Rense.com, according to emails published by WikiLeaks. The emails may have been leaked by hacker Jeremy Hammond, who is now serving time after pleading guilty to that computer crime and others. Some Hammond supporters protest that another hacker nicknamed Sabu was working with the FBI when the website was broken into four Decembers ago in 2011, and there might have been a reason to humiliate the firm, which many major media organizations depend on for analysis of world terrorism and other issues. This story probably won't help.

"Rense.com sent us 5,879 visitors yesterday and 1,950 visitors our way today - a search of their site shows they've posted quite a few Stratfor reports over the years and posted this one yesterday," she wrote. "Apart from the fact that they have crazy stuff on their site, including UFO updates, this is very nice. No idea if these people buy but they have come to the site in large numbers - for us."

Aaric Eisenstein - then with the Stratfor Publishing business unit - wrote back, "What's the status on David's report that tracks people from referring site to purchase? I tend to think that rense.com probably generated about $2.19 for us, but it would be great to confirm. Alternatively there's also a report in Hitslink that shows transactions from referring sites, but I don't know that we're configured/working/etc. Just based on observed clicks, rense.com is by far the leading source of traffic to our site for the month, blowing out hotair, limbaugh, and everybody else."

Eisenstein then joked, "Answering this question is critical because it determines whether Meredith has to start hanging out at UFO conferences."

In a related email, a more serious Eisenstein wrote, "The real thing in my mind is getting precise info on the impact from various types of traffic so we know where to target our efforts."

In another exchange a few weeks before, referring to a personal choice between liberal comedian Jon Stewart at "The Daily Show" and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, Eisenstein quipped, "I like whichever one sends more paying Members our way."

"I prefer Jon Stewart," Stratfor's vice president for intelligence had argued. "He has a better handle on world affairs." Stratfor President Chief Financial Officer Don R. Kuykendall had sent the first email in that August 8, 2008 chain, opening with "Importance: High", under the subject header "Rush Limbaugh". "One minute ago [Rush Limbaugh] just said 'Thanks to my friends at Stratfor, that's stratfor.com'..." Former Stratfor Director of Finance Jeff Stevens wrote in reference to Limbaugh, "Now if only we could make friends with some commentators that the other half of America doesn't hate!"

Updates: Teneo received $3.4M Rockefeller Foundation grant before it officially launched in 2011; Most media outlets ignore CEO of firm Huma Abedin worked for while at State Dept. was appointed economic envoy to N. Ireland by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009; $3.4M grant plus firm, trademark and website registrations suggest Clinton ally co-founded Teneo while at State Dept.; Reports: Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy were hired by Teneo; 2 current Teneo VPs worked with envoy Declan Kelly; New mystery: Who does Clinton emails domain registrant work for now?

(March 18, 2015 editor's note: Headline to this article was changed from "Associated Press lawsuit against State Dept over Clinton emails includes Anthony Weiner mentions", since it's more about Declan Kelly and Teneo.)

"The Associated Press said Wednesday it has sued the State Department to force the release of government documents and e-mails from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of State, an action taken a day after she defended her use of a private e-mail account to conduct business and after six formal attempts by the news agency to obtain records,"Roger Wu reported for USA Today yesterday.

Wu added, "Beginning in 2010, AP filed six requests under FOIA to obtain records from the State Department regarding Clinton's tenure as secretary, including her calendars and schedules and records concerning the designation of Special Government Employee status given to her former deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin."

At the Associated Press, Steve Peoples notes, "The legal action follows repeated requests filed under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act that have gone unfulfilled. They include one request the AP made five years ago and others pending since the summer of 2013."

According to the lawsuit (pdf link), "On August 20, 2013, AP journalist Stephen Braun [sought] copies of all emails, in-house memos, correspondence, internal notes and any other pertinent documents and records from the office of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton between November 1, 2011 and February 1, 2013, relating to the designation of Special Government Employee given to former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State Huma Abedin and to her work performed for the State Department as an Special Government Employee."

"The request further seeks copies of the same types of records for the same time frame 'from the files of the following current and former State Department personnel: Former Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Secretary Cheryl Mills; former Senior Adviser Philippe Reines; Deputy Secretary of State William Burns; Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy; former Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan; and Ambassador-At-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne S. Verveer,'" the AP complaint continues.

For some unknown reason, the AP also wants emails that mention Abedin's husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, in the subject or body, too: "In addition, the request seeks 'copies of all emails from Secretary Clinton and the above-named parties during the same period described above in which the following underlined words or phrases are in the subject and/or body of the email message: Huma Abedin, Huma, Anthony Weiner, Teneo, Douglas Band, Doug Band, Declan Kelly, Paul Keary, Clinton Foundation[.]'"

In between leaving Congress in 2011 after he admitted lying about sexting with multiple women and his losing campaign to become NYC mayor in 2013, Weiner did some consulting work for firms connected to the Clintons, as well. The AP doesn't seem interested in anyone else's spouses.

The lawsuit explains, "AP seeks these records to shed light on the official actions of Secretary Clinton and Ms. Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary Clinton and high-ranking government official in her own right. The records sought by Request B are necessary for the public’s understanding of the intertwined relationships among Secretary Clinton, Ms. Abedin and Teneo, a consulting firm founded by Douglas Band, a longtime aide and advisor to former President Bill Clinton. Ms. Abedin reportedly worked for Teneo at the same time she worked as a Special Government Employee for the State Department. Mr. Braun explained in his request: 'These records pertain to a key aide to Secretary Clinton whose SGE role at State has come under question in recent weeks and is the subject of Congressional inquiry. The records pertaining to the hiring of a long-time aide of a former secretary of state who has run in the past for the presidency of the United States and is considering another presidential campaign is a matter of current exigency to the American public."

While many media outlets mention Band ("a onetime personal assistant to Mr. Clinton who had started a lucrative corporate consulting firm — which Mr. Clinton joined as a paid adviser — while overseeing the Clinton Global Initiative, the foundation’s glitzy annual gathering of chief executives, heads of state, and celebrities", the NY Times reported in August 2013), most seem to ignore that Teneo co-founder, CEO and Chairman Declan Kelly was appointed by Hillary Clinton as an envoy to Northern Ireland while she was Secretary of State.

"In his role as Economic Envoy, Mr. Kelly is recognized as having helped bring significant investment to the region from U.S. corporations," the Teneo biography continues. "He also played a significant role in supporting the efforts that led to the historic devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, giving Northern Ireland fully devolved political governance for the first time in its modern history."

As his Teneo bio states, "Prior to Teneo, Mr. Kelly served as the U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland at the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Kelly was appointed Economic Envoy by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September, 2009."

In his June 13, 2013 request to the State Department (pdf link), Senator Chuck Grassley sought "all documents and/or communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent," which would have to include Bill Clinton, since along with being a paid adviser and an unpaid adviser for the firm, he was also a Teneo client.

A month-and-a-half later, the Washington Post reported, "The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that the State Department and Huma Abedin, the wife of former congressman Anthony Weiner, have put up 'a stone wall' in the face of his inquiry about her final months at the agency, and vowed to continue raising questions about Abedin's employment status."

"'So far, the State Department and Ms. Abedin haven’t provided a single document that I requested,' Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement. 'Putting up a stone wall raises a lot more questions about how the program is being used than it answers. I intend to pursue more complete answers to my questions.'"

"Abedin said her work at Teneo involved 'providing strategic advice and consulting services to the firm's management team' and helping to organize an annual event," the Post reported about her response (pdf link). "Abedin said her work there did not involve the State Department."

Abedin wrote, "I was not asked, nor did I undertake, any work on Teneo's behalf before the State Department (and I should note that it is my understanding that Teneo does not conduct business with the Department of State). I also was not asked, nor did I provide, insights about the Department, my work with the Secretary, or any government information to which I may have had access. And, I certainly 'never gathered information from government sources for the purpose of informing investment decisions of Teneo's clients' as the Senate letter suggests."

In May of 2013, Politico reported, "Her work for Teneo, which was founded by Band and a former aide to Tony Blair, was advisory, and among the projects was planning a major specific event where the former British prime minister and Bill Clinton both spoke, the friend said." That "major specific event" may have been - as the Economic reported in August of 2012 - in São Paulo on August 28th, when Blair, Clinton and former Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke at an event run by Itaú BBA, a Brazilian investment bank. "Ilan Goldfajn, the bank's chief economist, moderated a discussion that touched on foreign views of Brazil and Brazilian views of abroad—and what the developed world could learn about handling financial crises from a country that has suffered more than its fair share of them in the past, but is coming through the most recent one much better than most."

However, an article by Alec MacGillis published by the New Republic in 2013, revealed another event at which both Clinton and Blair spoke that was arranged by Charles Band, that "[s]omehow" was never "noticed by the press."

"One Thursday evening last September, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair met in New York to conduct what was supposed to be a high-minded discourse on terrorism, geopolitics, and the global economy. The setting was elegant—the beaux arts ballroom of the Essex House, an iconic tower on Central Park South. The 78-person VIP guest list included Harvey Weinstein, Eli Broad, Blackstone co-founders Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson, Silicon Valley impresario Sean Parker, Billie Jean King, George Pataki, and New York City police chief Ray Kelly, along with CEOs and top executives from companies like Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, BP, and Bank of America. Somehow, these onetime world leaders, corporate titans, and other notable personages converged in the center of New York without the event ever being noticed by the press.

The guests had been wrangled, persuaded, flattered, and otherwise enticed to attend by Doug Band, a tall man with genial, unmemorable features and a deferential demeanor. In fact, the gathering was taking place in his own building, underneath his expansive eighth-floor apartment, and it represented a major triumph for him."

This wasn't the first time Bush was reportedly "persuaded" by a Teneo co-founder. On March 8, 2010 The Guardian reported, "The former US president George Bush has made a direct plea to David Cameron to support the Northern Ireland peace process, amid widespread concern in the US about the Tories' new electoral pact with the Ulster Unionists."

"The Guardian understands that the White House is so concerned that the US economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, persuaded Bush to intervene," the paper reported in 2010.

However, on March 9, 2010, Philip J. Crowley Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs denied the report.

QUESTION: A question about Northern Ireland, actually. Can you confirm this Guardian report that Declan Kelly urged former President Bush to make a call to David Cameron last week about the vote?

MR. CROWLEY: He did not. We were not involved in – with the – former President Bush’s phone call.

QUESTION: Were there any contacts by the Administration on this other than the calls by the former president? I mean, was there anything by this Administration to push it one way or the other?

MR. CROWLEY: Clarify, Kirit. Try --

QUESTION: Was there anything from this government that’s actually tried to contact one side or the other to push them on this vote? Not – I know that you said it didn’t involve the former president at all, but --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, yeah. I mean, the Secretary has been engaged with all of the parties. She talked recently to the leading figures in Ireland, including Peter Robinson, Martin McGuinness, also Reg Empey. So we have been actively engaged, but we did not have anything to do with President Bush’s phone call.

At the Teneo event in 2012, before introducing Clinton, Blair and Bush, Band "launched into a long-winded sales pitch. Teneo was the next big thing in executive consulting, he informed the audience. He played a promotional video about the firm. He introduced the heads of Teneo’s divisions, describing their résumés and asking each to stand in turn."

According to MacGillis, "Band had a key ally on Hillary’s team: Huma Abedin. Bill’s body man and Hillary’s body woman had bonded over their loyalty to their bosses. They were known to show up at parties together, which some saw as an endearing big brother–little sister dynamic, and which others interpreted as evidence that Abedin had a crush on Band. They also had an ingenious method of collecting intelligence on each other’s behalf. Abedin would sidle up to someone in Bill’s camp and, in a confiding tone, make a disparaging remark about Band. If it was reciprocated, she would relay the criticisms to Band and he would do the same for her, says someone who fell for this technique. 'They had each other’s back a lot,' says the former White House colleague."

Along with Clinton, Blair is also an advisor to Teneo, which was reported in May of 2011, just after Kelly quit his envoy post, but the official announcement didn't come until June 30, 2011, a day after James O'Shea reported, "Declan Kelly, who recently stepped down as the United States Government's Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, is re-entering the private sector with a new business in partnership with Douglas Band, the long time top advisor to President Bill Clinton, Irish Central has learned," and that "Teneo, a name derived from the Latin word for "to guide", is expected to commence business in the coming days with its headquarters located in midtown Manhattan."

"President Clinton will serve as an advisor to Teneo and serve on the company's Advisory Board. Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, will also serve on the board in a unique and powerful combination of skills and experience that the group believes will leave them uniquely positioned in the international business community. It is believed that this will be the first time that Clinton and Blair will have worked together in a business capacity."

O'Shea reported that Kelly "served as a senior executive at FTI which at the time had 3500 people in 28 locations around the world and a market capitalization of $3 billion. He was speculated to be in line for the CEO's job when he left in September of 2009 to serve as Secretary of State Clinton's economic envoy to Northern Ireland." In July of 2009 - before he was officially tapped by Clinton to be envoy - PR Week noted, "Declan Kelly, EVP and chief integration officer for FTI Consulting and chairman of FD US and FD Ireland, will resign on October 5, 2009. Effective immediately, he will serve as a senior adviser on several major client initiatives, first as an employee through October 5, then pursuant to a consulting agreement through June 15, 2011. According to the press release, he has resigned to pursue non-commercial opportunities outside of the firm."

A 2009 Washington Post article noted, "For a select group of issues, the combined energies of the Clintons can be potent. Just days after Hillary Clinton appointed Declan Kelly the economic envoy to Northern Ireland, for instance, he turned to her husband for help."

"Bill Clinton agreed to include a session on Northern Ireland at his annual philanthropic mega-event, which coincides with the U.N. General Assembly in September," the paper added. "Hundreds of business executives packed a ballroom to hear Clinton and Kelly make their investment pitch. The gathering was, Kelly told the crowd, 'a massive assistance to me in my role.' After the session, dozens of executives lined up to talk to Kelly, according to one official in attendance."

On May 11, 2011, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released a statement regarding Kelly's resignation. "Nearly two years ago when I asked Declan to serve, I challenged him to use his considerable talents and entrepreneurial drive to help Northern Ireland grow and sustain the benefits of peace," Clinton wrote. "Within hours of his appointment, Declan was en route to Belfast. He found eager and able partners not only there, but throughout the region. This collective effort has opened up new and exciting opportunities for the people of Northern Ireland to share a more prosperous future."

"During his time as Envoy, Declan has helped our friends in the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, Invest NI, and the business community make Northern Ireland one of the best per capita attractors of investment in the world. In the face of recession and severe fiscal austerity, Northern Ireland’s innovators and entrepreneurs have carved out a global reputation for excellence and industry. Some of the world’s leading companies have established or expanded their presences in Northern Ireland during this time, bringing new jobs, skills, and technologies with them. Declan’s vision of the U.S.-Northern Ireland Mentorship Program – which places young graduates from Northern Ireland in American companies for one year internships – will leave a lasting legacy of expanded opportunity and experience for the region’s budding business leaders and entrepreneurs."

"As I said last October at the U.S. – Northern Ireland Economic Conference, a stronger economy in Northern Ireland will help secure a lasting peace; a bedrock foreign policy priority for the United States," Clinton added. "The United States will continue to work with Northern Ireland to expand the opportunities Declan has fought so hard for, and I know he will remain a passionate advocate for the people of Northern Ireland. It is with appreciation and admiration for a job well-done that I accept the resignation today of U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland Declan Kelly. I thank him and wish him and his family the very best in the future."

Reporting for Irish Central on June 22, 2012, Kate Hickey wrote, "Today Kelly will deliver the former American president Bill Clinton to the Worldwide Ireland Fund dinner in Cork where he will oversee the Clinton schedule for the weekend."

"Kelly also raises considerable sums for the Clinton foundation and served as Hillary Clinton’s economic envoy to Northern Ireland for two years and remains close to the former First Lady," Hickey noted.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported, "The revelation that Hillary Rodham Clinton used a private e-mail system as secretary of state has revived a Senate investigation into another aspect of her tenure."

The Post notes that Grassley "didn’t know until last week that Clinton was exclusively using a private e-mail account that could contain relevant information about her use of the so-called 'special government employee' program. Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidante and adviser who was granted the special designation, also used the private e-mail system."

"Grassley has in recent days renewed his effort to get answers from the State Department," the paper adds. "That opens a second line of inquiry on Capitol Hill into the Democrats’ presumptive presidential front-runner, who was already facing an inquiry from a House committee seeking her e-mails related to the U.S. response to an attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012."

In May of 2013, I reported, "At a July 18, 2012 daily press briefing, the Acting Deputy Spokesperson and Director of the Press Office Patrick Ventrell was asked a question by a reporter who specifically referred to Abedin as Deputy Chief of Staff, but he didn't correct him," even though he must have known she essentially left that post over a month and a half before on June 3, 2012.

Over half-a-dozen articles about Huma Abedin which unknowingly wrongfully reported she was still Deputy Chief of Staff were published in The New York Times that summer, but apparently no one in the State Department or Weiner and Clinton households informed the paper about the new "working arrangement," even though all have a history of reacting rather quickly to complain about factually incorrect errors.

In July of 2012, another State Department spokesman, Philippe Reines, released a statement to the media defending Abedin and Clinton, but not informing them that the former was no longer Deputy Chief of Staff: "These accusations are nothing but vicious and disgusting lies, and anyone who traffics in them should be ashamed of themselves. I would hope that hearing such a remarkable statement from someone of Senator McCain's stature gives [Bachmann] pause in doing so any further."

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Reines has been described as a "loyalist" and Hillary's right hand "hatchet man," and - like Abedin - he followed Clinton from her Senate job to the State Department, and is still working for her, as she mull running for president.

President Barack Obama defended Abedin as an "American patriot" at the annual Iftar dinner on August 10, 2012. "And that includes a good friend, Huma Abedin, who has worked tirelessly -- (applause) -- worked tirelessly in the White House, in the U.S. Senate, and most exhaustingly, at the State Department, where she has been nothing less than extraordinary in representing our country and the democratic values that we hold dear," Obama said, adding, "Senator Clinton has relied on her expertise, and so have I."

Abedin's response to Senator Grassley claimed it was her "understanding that Teneo does not conduct business with the Department of State," but there clearly seem to be common interests and goals between the two.

"Aspiring to merge corporate consulting, public relations and merchant banking in a single business, Mr. Band poached executives from Wall Street, recruited other Clinton aides to join as employees or advisers and set up shop in a Midtown office formerly belonging to one of the country’s top hedge funds,"the NY Times reported August 13, 2013.

That New York Times story claimed Teneo was co-founded by Band in 2009, which seems to be at odds with other reports, and, while it mentions Kelly was appointed envoy by Hillary Clinton, it doesn't name him as a co-founder.

"By 2011, the firm had added a third partner, Declan Kelly, a former State Department envoy for Mrs. Clinton," Nicholas Confessore and Amy Chozick reported in 2012. "And Mr. Clinton had signed up as a paid adviser to the firm."

"Teneo worked on retainer, charging monthly fees as high as $250,000, according to current and former clients. The firm recruited clients who were also Clinton Foundation donors, while Mr. Band and Mr. Kelly encouraged others to become new foundation donors. Its marketing materials highlighted Mr. Band’s relationship with Mr. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, where Mr. Band sat on the board of directors through 2011 and remains an adviser. Some Clinton aides and foundation employees began to wonder where the foundation ended and Teneo began."

The 2013 New Republic article on Band by MacGillis claimed, "In 2010, he, Declan Kelly, and a third partner registered the first of several entities in Delaware that would become Teneo. Band and Kelly had met during the 2008 campaign when Kelly was fund-raising for Hillary. Kelly had previously owned a p.r. firm, and the plan was for Band to offer the kind of strategic savvy he’d provided to Clinton. 'He’s particularly useful to the CEOs,' says Podesta."

Abedin's response to Sen. Grassley also ignores that the State Department approved consulting agreements between Teneo and former President Bill Clinton.

"A joint investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy, raising questions about whether the Clintons fulfilled ethics agreements related to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state,"Luke Rosiak and Micah Morrison reported for the Washington Examiner on July 30, 2014.

On June 11, 2011, "the State Department approved a consulting agreement [(pdf link)] between Bill Clinton and a controversial Clinton Foundation adviser, Doug Band."

Band's memorandum was sent to Jim Thessin - Deputy Legal Advisor and Designated Agency Ethics Advisor - and Cheryl Mills - Counselor and Chief of State at Department of State - and described Bill Clinton's work for Teneo as "[c]onsulting services regarding geopolitical, economic and social trends affecting the entity" for a three-year term.

The Washington Examiner/Judicial Watch probe claimed "'State Department legal advisers, serving as "designated agency ethics officials,' approved Bill Clinton's speeches in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Turkey, Taiwan, India, the Cayman Islands and other countries," and that "memos approving Mr. Clinton's speeches were routinely copied to Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton's senior counsel and chief of staff."

Also, Rosiak and Morrison reported, "In an accompanying letter to the State Department legal adviser [(pdf link)], Clinton lawyer David Kendall noted that Bill Clinton would disclose proposed consulting deals and, for speeches, provide 'the identities of the host(s) (the entity that pay the speaker's fee)" so that the State Department 'in consultation with the White House as appropriate, may conduct a review for any real or apparent conflicts of interest with the duties of the Secretary of State.'"

Kendall's letter was sent to the State Department on January 5, 2009 stated that he was "writing to describe the voluntary steps, above and beyond the requirements of law and ethics regulations, that President Clinton intends to take to assist Senator Clinton to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest with her duties as Secretary of State should she be confirmed."

"I understand you may consult, as appropriate, with the White House Counsel's Office in the event a proposed action raises conflicts concerns, and that you will advise the Secretary, President Clinton's office, and the Foundation as warranted, on applicable steps that may be taken to avoid conflicts of interest," former President Bill Clinton's lawyer added.

According to the 2015 Net Worth for Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton (link), "Teneo Holdings LLC, Varkey GEMS Foundation and Laureate Education, Inc. all listed 'other income' of 'Nonemployee compensation over $1,000'", and she has reportedly given at least one speech to Teneo since resigning as Secretary of State.

When exactly was Teneo founded? If Declan Kelly helped found the firm while he was also envoy, that might complicate Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign even more.

According to Manta, which only refers to Kelly as CEO, "records show [Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC] was established in 2009 and incorporated in New York." Perhaps Teneo was put on hold for two years so that Declan Kelly could accept the envoy appointment by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with less scrutiny.

According to the New York State Corporation & Business Entity Database, Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC was registered on November 18, 2009, which was two months after Declan Kelly was appointed to the No. Ireland envoy post by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It may not be related to the firm that was co-founded in 2009, 2010 or 2011, but it was registered by a former associate with the Wall Street firm, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP.

On September 9. 2011, the database reveals Teneo Strategy LLC was registered in New York.

The website www.TeneoStrategyConsulting.com was registered on November 20, 2009 and began redirecting to www.TeneoHoldings.com on September 30, 2011, according to archive.org. So either the first firm was bought out, or it's always been the same company.

After I tweeted him, Charles Ortel - who has been reporting on Teneo for Breitbart.com ("Investment by BC Partners in Teneo Holdings may create serious problems for the Clinton brand") - suggested, "Actually--go to corporate registry in Delaware, NY, UK , Ireland and you will learn more---next story out Sunday/Monday!"

While searching for info on "Teneo Strategy Consulting", I stumbled upon a link which suggests that the firm got a multimillion dollar grant from the Rockefeller Foundation nearly thirty days before it was officially launched. According to the foundation's website, Teneo received $3,447,150 as part of the Centennial Fund "[i]n support of a project, in connection with the Rockefeller Foundation's centennial in 2013, to build capacity, create new coalitions, strengthen existing networks, and advance public policy by convening gatherings and providing multimedia tools and resources for identifying challenges and proposing tangible solutions to global problems." The terms of the grant are listed as 6/1/2011 – 3/31/2012.

Back on December 5, 2011, Neil W. McCabe - in a Human Events article - wrote, "Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation’s 2013 centennial."

"The foundation is another member of the Clinton’s extended family," McCabe added. "It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors."

An IRS form 990-PF (pdf link) shows that Teneo Strategy Consulting was the highest paid independent contractor for the Rockefeller Foundation in 2012, earning $5,731,639.

The 2011 annual report for the Rockefeller Foundation (pdf link) also shows $350,000 was given to the Clinton Global Initiative "toward the costs of its 2011 annual conference, designed to catalyze a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to global challenges such as energy and climate change, poverty alleviation, global health, and education", and $594,960 to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, "for use by its Rwanda Country Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, to upgrade District Health Strengthening Tool software and provide regional training and support for the local-level integration of new eHealth technologies country-wide."

The Rockefeller Foundation gave "[t]hanks especially to Andy Maas, Max Dworin, and. Michael Coakley," who all worked for Teneo in 2011. "Andy Maas drove the bus, Max Dworin kept us on the road and Michael Coakley made sure we had fuel in the tank," the centennial book "Beyond Freedom" (pdf link) states. "Tom Shea provided commentary. Working with this team has been a pleasure."

Still at the firm, Managing Director Andy Maas - according to his Teneo biography - was "managing director of global corporate communications for FTI Consulting" where he worked with Declan Kelly. Michael Coakley - as his Teneo bio states - "is a Vice President at Teneo Strategy where he advises organizations on business strategy, operational issues and reputational challenges." While, according to his LinkedIn resume, Max Dworin worked as an intern for the office of Bill Clinton from June to August of 2010, then began consulting for Teneo in June of 2011, before being promoted to associate in 2013, and then left Teneo to become New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer's Deputy Press Secretary in December of 2013, and then his Press Secretary in April of 2014. "Max Dworin, A&S '11, a consultant with Teneo Strategy, spearheaded a project in 2013 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City called the Art of Philanthropy,"John Hopkins Magazine states. "The foundation developed a crowdsourced art piece in celebration of the accomplishments of philanthropy in the U.S. and abroad."

"Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Shea served as Chief of Staff to Jon S. Corzine, both during Mr. Corzine’s tenure as a United States Senator and member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as Governor of New Jersey," Managing Director Tom Shea's Teneo bio states. "Mr. Shea also served in several capacities at the White House, most notably as a Special Assistant to President William J. Clinton."

Shea's original Teneo biography noted, "Before joining Mr. Corzine, Mr. Shea managed the United States Department of State's New York Foreign Press Center (FPC), and served as Director of Communications and Spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations. In that capacity, he was responsible for explaining U.S. policy pursued at the world body to both the media and the general public, and coordinated the Mission's media activities related to its participation in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council."

On March 4, 2015, Amy Chozick and Steve Eder reported for the New York Times, "An aide who had been with the Clintons since the 1990s, Justin Cooper, registered the domain name, clintonemail.com, which had a server linked to the Clintons’ home address in Chappaqua, New York."

According to who.is, www.clintonemail.com was registered on January 13, 2009. Justin Cooper was listed as registrant, Administrative Contact and Technical Contact. As the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" noted, "Hillary Clinton [began] her confirmation hearings the same day." She was confirmed as Secretary of State by the Senate on January 21, 2009.

"Mr. Cooper, whose name is on the clintonemail.com domain registration, now works at Teneo Holdings, a corporate advisory firm with a broad array of global business clients partly run by Douglas J. Band, a former adviser to Bill Clinton," Chozick and Eder noted.

However, the New York Post reported on May 26, 2013, that Cooper is "a former employee of strategy group Teneo." Cooper's bio was scrubbed from Teneo's website, but a cache link reveals it once noted, "In addition to his role with Teneo, Mr. Cooper serves as Senior Advisor to President William J. Clinton. Mr. Cooper advises President Clinton on a broad range of issues, including finances, business matters, public affairs and politics. Additionally, Mr. Cooper advises and assists in operating the Clinton Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Family Foundation. As a key member of his inner-most team, Mr. Cooper's advice and influence is unrivalled."

Cooper is an active consensus member of the American Security Project, according to its website. "The Consensus for American Security is an initiative of influential military and national security leaders who have come together to provide mechanisms in order to create long-term consensus around the big strategic national security issues facing our country, including: nuclear weapons, energy & climate security, terrorism, our economic competitiveness, public diplomacy and comprehensive national security strategy."

"The Consensus members support key policy measures designed to move defense and foreign policies toward a smart and comprehensive 21st century national security strategy; hosting forums and other public events to educate decision makers about the dangers of failing to address today’s threats; outreach to the media; and, encouraging smart and non-partisan discourse among policy makers," the website adds. His bio doesn't mention Teneo.

Some media outlets are reporting that Cooper doesn't work with Bill Clinton anymore. He doesn't seem to have a LinkedIn resume, and his biography at Teneo was scrubbed sometime shortly after December 23, 2012. The earliest capture of Cooper's bio at the Teneo website was from July 9, 2011. An October 23, 2013 American University in Dubai article noted, "AUD students, in Dubai part of the William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship Program, met with Mr. Justin Cooper, AUD Board Member and Senior Advisor to President Clinton, during a brainstorming session recently. Over a casual cup of coffee, Cooper discussed the importance of studying abroad; in addition to the opportunities that AUD is offering them by enriching their education from the social and cultural perspectives. During the meeting, the scholars were briefed about becoming AUD ambassadors in the US, and the role they will play as Clinton Scholars."

Politico's Mike Allen posted a pool report on June 16, 2014, which referred to Cooper as a "former Clinton foundation hand."

"It was a Clinton White House reunion in the Bahamas on Saturday, attended by the former President himself, as Jon Orszag -- former Clinton economic-policy adviser, and brother of Obama’s former budget director -- [got married] to on-air personality Mary Kitchen," the pool report stated. "The ceremony was officiated by James Carville, and attendees included Sean Rad, CEO and founder of Tinder, along with his girlfriend, Alexa Dell; Michael Peterson, son of philanthropist Peter Peterson; former Clinton counselor Doug Band and former Clinton foundation hand Justin Cooper; former Bill Clinton advisor Sara Latham; and former White House aide David Beaubaire. Clinton played a few holes of golf with some of the attendees."

On March 17, 2015 Amy Chozick tweeted that the New York Times "will look into this," after I told her that her article seemed to be wrong about Cooper's current employment. Other media outlets seem to have followed the Times lead, and may be wrongly reporting that he is currently with Teneo. It is possible Cooper returned to Teneo after leaving former President Bill Clinton's service.

Although most media accounts of Kelly's work as an envoy seemed to be enthusiastic, McCabe quoted an unnamed source who complained, “He basically got to ride around developing a book of business, while he waited for his non-compete clause to run out."

"The Secretary of State also traveled with Kelly, including the October 2010 U.S. – Northern Ireland Economics Conference, which Kelly organized and at which the secretary was the featured speaker," McCabe also noted.

"New investment in Northern Ireland by U.S. corporations brings with it new jobs and opportunities for people, particularly young people, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,"the US embassy website announced on October 20, 2010. "Clinton hosted a one-day U.S.–Northern Ireland Economic Conference in Washington October 19 to support the peace process and also to enhance and promote U.S. investment and the economic growth of Northern Ireland."

"The conference was focused on promoting investment in Northern Ireland, but also on trade between that region and the United States, which underlines Secretary Clinton’s belief that economic investment is the best means to build on the political progress, says Declan Kelly, the U.S. economic envoy to Northern Ireland and organizer of the conference.

“Northern Ireland is a very good fit because of its location, obviously, its English-speaking work force, the time zone, the high level of education, and the common ties with the United States,” Kelly said during a post-conference press briefing. Kelly was appointed as the economic envoy September 11, 2009, by Clinton."

"Kelly, 41, an Irish-born journalist turned business CEO, was appointed to his new post last September by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the Obama administration continued to chart its course in the North,"BostonIrish.com reported on February 6, 2010. "Clinton, whose presidential campaign he advised and supported, buttressed the appointment by visiting Belfast shortly after he was was named."

On October 12, 2009 link), then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued joint press statements with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont Castle in Northern Ireland. "I have brought with me our new economic envoy, Declan Kelly, who is already hard at work, fostering economic ties," Clinton said. Robinson added, "We are delighted that the ambassador is with us today. And you will note the possessive word "our" economic advisor, Declan Kelly, who has rolled his sleeves up, and he has been dying to work immediately, and we enjoy working with him. And he inspires us with his own drive and enthusiasm." McGuinness said, "On the economic front, we are absolutely inspired by Secretary Clinton's appointment of Declan Kelly as the economic advisor. And we believe that there will be good news stories, even within days, on that front, because economic development we have put as the major issue in our program for government." Clinton also appeared with Kelly at a meeting with the Northern Ireland Business Working Group.

On March 16, 2010, Clinton joked at the National Gala of the American Ireland Fund in Washington, DC, "And thank you, Declan Kelly. You have once again proven the truth of one of my husband’s rules of politics: Always be introduced by someone you have appointed to high office." She added, "Declan is doing a wonderful job."

"And I especially want to thank and recognize Declan Kelly, the U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland," Clinton said on October 19, 2010 at the U.S.-Northern Ireland Economic Conference held in Washington, DC. "I appointed Declan to this post in September 2009, and just a little more than a year later, I think, it proves the wisdom of that appointment. He was asked to direct private sector outreach and encourage and coordinate U.S. investment in Northern Ireland. And he’s been working very closely with the Government in Northern Ireland as well as the Government in the U.K. and Ireland itself. Invest NI and the U.S. and Northern Ireland working groups have really come together to look for new opportunities that we can help promote and achieve. And thanks to these combined efforts, as Declan has said, American companies have recently created more than 1,000 new jobs in Northern Ireland, including 100 jobs created by GE Energy and more than 300 in the Belfast office of the New York Stock Exchange."

That same day, Kelly said at a teleconference, "I had the privilege of organizing the conference on behalf of the Secretary, and it was attended by the First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson, the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, and Minister Arlene Foster and Minister Reg Empey and Assemblyman Alban Maginness. It was also attended by Owen Paterson, the British Secretary of State to Northern Ireland and Peter Power, the Irish Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, both of whom had separate discussions in addition to the conference with Secretary Clinton."

On December 7, 2012, Secretary Clinton and her former envoy appeared together at a luncheon hosted by the Ireland Funds. Clinton said, "And I, too, will acknowledge and thank our former Economic Envoy Declan Kelly who has done so much to help bring more investors to the region, and I thank you for your contributions, Declan."

Ryan Grim reported for Huffington Post on November 14, 2011, "As part of his deal with FTI, Kelly told HuffPost, he had agreed to a noncompete clause that prevented him from establishing a rival firm within two years of leaving FTI. Hillary Clinton had just been named to President Barack Obama's Cabinet and had something to keep him busy."

Kelly told Huffington Post, "When she wasn't successful [in her presidential campaign] and she became secretary of state, she asked me if I wanted to do a stint as an envoy to Ireland, and it came at the right time in my life. So I gave up everything, resigned from the job and agreed to a two-year noncompete, and went to Northern Ireland and did that job for two years. And I resigned in March of this year, and in June we started the new business."

"As the Northern Ireland envoy, Kelly took no salary from State, he said, but was afforded one staffer in Washington and reimbursed for coach flights across the pond. On his own dime, he said, he hired a staff of five and paid for office space at a cost of $1.4 million, while also giving up potentially millions in salary over the two-year period. Kelly's assertions may sound extreme, but ambassadors and high-level envoys are known to spend heavily with their personal money while in the job. The White House referred questions to the State Department; a spokesman there didn't respond to requests for comment."

"Kelly has brought that staff with him to his new investment firm," Grim noted.

He bragged to Huffington Post in 2011, "I didn't need the State Department or the U.S. government's help to access the economic elite in Ireland. I have advised four prime ministers in Ireland, all pro bono. I had a business in Ireland for over a decade, I have a home there, I am an Irish citizen and I know virtually every senior business leader in the country. I've gained no personal benefit from this at all."

"The formation of Kelly’s newest venture was in the works for some time before Kelly resigned,"the Irish Echo reported on August 4, 2011."A trademark application was made for the Teneo company logo in April, 2010, and an application for funding was also submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation months before its approval in early June, giving the new company a huge grant for over three million dollars in start up cash."

The Irish Echo claimed that a "U.S. State Department official" told it that "the State Department did provide administrative support and reimbursement for travel expenses." It also reported, "Several staff employed by the State Department as administrative support for the envoy position while Mr. Kelly was envoy are now working at Teneo."

According to his LinkedIn resume, Stephen W. Meahl was an advisor to the Office of the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland from January 2010 to May 2011, then became a Senior Associate at Teneo Holdings in June 2011, Vice President in 2012, and Senior Vice President in December of 2014.

"Mr. Meahl is a Senior Vice President with Teneo Strategy,"his Teneo bio states. "He also serves as Chief of Staff to Teneo’s Chairman and CEO where he is responsible for managing a wide range of special initiatives across the firm’s operating divisions."

The bio adds, "Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Meahl worked for the US Department of State’s Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland where he was responsible for executing a number special initiatives to help drive economic development in support of the ongoing peace process. He began his career with Fidelity Investments." In 2009, an earlier version of Meahl's Teneo bio, added, "In his role, Mr. Meahl was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the office including all media and communications. He was also responsible for relationship management with key State Department and foreign officials, and coordinated the development of major initiatives within the office."

Therese O'Higgins, according to her LinkedIn resume, is now a Vice President at Teneo, and also "worked at the Office of the US State Department's Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland where she worked closely with the Ireland Funds and Northern Ireland Science Park to set up the US–NI Mentorship Program. The US-NI Mentorship Program is a planned one-year work placement for recent graduates from Northern Ireland to work with leading corporations in the US. Therese continues to run this program in collaboration with the aforementioned parties."

The US-NI Mentorship Program was founded by Declan Kelly when he worked as Clinton's envoy. In a message on its website, Kelly writes, "From September 2009 until May 2011, I had the privilege of serving as the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland. In that role, my office worked to increase economic opportunities between the US and Northern Ireland, and to develop programs that would have a long‐term impact on the region. One of the first things I discovered about Northern Ireland was the strength of the region’s incredible young people. Northern Ireland’s universities produce some of the highest quality graduates anywhere in the world, and these graduates play a key role in attracting foreign direct investment to the region.When I stepped down as Envoy, I was anxious to continue to support the US-NI Mentorship Program. Feedback on the program from both participants and host companies continues to be exceptionally positive and I am pleased to report that many of the world’s leading corporations have signed up for the program again for this year."

"The program selects approximately twenty graduates, from across Northern Ireland, and places them in US corporations for a one‐year work period. The graduates are individuals who have demonstrated academic promise and have shown an interest in developing entrepreneurship and management skills.The goal of the program is for the participants to be able to return to Northern Ireland with the skills and experience to start businesses and become business leaders in their communities. Having had the opportunity to meet with many of the participants of the program, I can tell you that they will be well prepared to return and invest in the future of Northern Ireland."

"Therese O'Higgins of @Teneo hands out awards at 3rd US-Northern Ireland Mentorship Program graduation event,"@IRLFunds tweeted on November 6, 2013, including a picture from the event.

At the program's website (which mentions that she is a Teneo Vice President, US-Northern Ireland Mentorship Executive Director Therese O'Higgins writes, "Having been involved in this program from the outset, it is truly rewarding to see the program continue to enjoy success and attract the highest standards of graduates ."

"On March 12, 2015 US-NI Mentorship Program participants attended a lunch in New York City with Founder, Declan Kelly,"the US-NI website announced. "The lunch was held at Teneo Holdings headquaters, New York celebrating the fifth year of the US-NI Mentorship Program."

So far, I've been unable to find a biography for O'Higgins on Teneo's website, so I'm unsure she still works there. Along with former Senior Associate Monica Milton, whose expunged Teneo bio, reveals she "joined Teneo after working with Declan Kelly during his appointment as the U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland for the U.S. Department of State. In that role, she was responsible for coordination with the U.S. Government including organizing official events, and conferences working with senior State Department officials and representatives from foreign governments. Prior to this, Ms. Milton was the Community Liaison Officer at the U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman working as the Ambassador's representative managing internal and external programs as a key member of the in-country country team. Ms. Milton also represented the U.S. in a diplomatic role during two assignments at the U.S. Embassy, Cairo, Egypt assigned to the Defense Attach'e Office and the Public Affairs Office. Ms. Milton has also lived in Saudi Arabia."

According to his Teneo biography, Steven Sullivan, the current Chief Administration Officer and Chief Financial Officer also worked with Declan Kelly in the envoy's office.

"Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Sullivan served as Deputy to the U.S. State Department’s Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, helping to drive investment to the region from U.S. corporations and facilitate bi-lateral trade. In this position, Mr. Sullivan was responsible for relationship management and communications. Prior to his role with the U.S. Envoy, Mr. Sullivan worked in GE Capital’s Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions Group focusing on restructuring strategies for GE Capital’s non-core assets, primarily consisting of commercial real estate, commercial equipment leasing and consumer finance platforms. Mr. Sullivan has also held positions within GE Capital’s Commercial Real Estate Division with responsibilities ranging from financial planning & analysis, loan restructuring, and transaction structuring."

According to the Trademark Encyclopedia and Trademarks411, the same firm, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, that registered Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC on November 18, 2009, also seems to have worked with it on trademarks.

April 7 Update: Fifth staff member who followed Declan Kelly from State Dept. to Teneo was Senior Counsel to Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland had "post-employment consulting arrangement" that included "leased company car" and health benefits for family from firm he left for 2-year ambassadorship

(Editor's note: Much of this is excerpted from much longer article "Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.")

Declan Kelly - a long time friend of the Clintons - was appointed the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September of 2009. Although "speculated to be in line for the CEO's job", Kelly officially resigned from his job as "EVP and chief integration officer for FTI Consulting and chairman of FD US and FD Ireland" a few months earlier, but agreed to "serve as a senior adviser on several major client initiatives, first as an employee through October 5, then pursuant to a consulting agreement through June 15, 2011. According to the press release, he has resigned to pursue non-commercial opportunities outside of the firm,"PR Week noted in July of 2009.

Less than a week after Kelly stopped officially working as an employee for FTI - but apparently remained a consultant - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued joint press statements with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont Castle in Northern Ireland, where she announced, "I have brought with me our new economic envoy, Declan Kelly, who is already hard at work, fostering economic ties."

After he resigned as envoy, Ryan Grim reported for Huffington Post on November 14, 2011, "As part of his deal with FTI, Kelly told HuffPost, he had agreed to a noncompete clause that prevented him from establishing a rival firm within two years of leaving FTI. Hillary Clinton had just been named to President Barack Obama's Cabinet and had something to keep him busy."

Kelly told Huffington Post, "When she wasn't successful [in her presidential campaign] and she became secretary of state, she asked me if I wanted to do a stint as an envoy to Ireland, and it came at the right time in my life. So I gave up everything, resigned from the job and agreed to a two-year noncompete, and went to Northern Ireland and did that job for two years. And I resigned in March of this year, and in June we started the new business."

The noncompete clause states, "You hereby reaffirm your obligation to comply strictly with the post-employment restrictions in the Employment Agreement during the twelve month period commencing October 6, 2009, and you hereby reaffirm your obligation under the Amended RSA, during the period up to and including June 15, 2011, not to (a) become employed by or a partner in or a consultant to any financial communications business competing with FD and/or any of its affiliates (the “Group”) in any one or more countries in Western Europe, or in the United States or Canada or South Africa or Dubai or Hong Kong or China or India or Bahrain or Russia (a “Competing Business”) and in a manner in which your employment, partnership or consultancy would compete with the Group, (b) solicit clients or employees of the Group away from the Group for the benefit of a Competing Business or (c) willfully or deliberately disclose to any person information which is confidential to the Group, subject only to the following express exceptions: (a) your performance of services as an independent contractor to FTI during the period October 6, 2009 through and including June 15, 2011, or earlier in the event you terminate the independent contractor relationship prior thereto; and (b) your employment (whether directly or through an entity owned by you) of Sue Bloomberg."

In the Huffington Post article, Kelly didn't mention that - per his termination agreement - he had a "post-employment consulting arrangement with FD US and FTI."

"You will be reimbursed, in accordance with standard FTI expense reimbursement practice, for all business related expenses incurred by you during the period through October 5, 2009, and for all business related expenses incurred in connection with the Key Accounts (or approved in advance by the CEO of FTI) during the period through June 15, 2011," the agreement noted. "During the period from October 6, 2009 through June 15, 2011, you (or an entity to be formed and owned by you) will serve as an independent contractor consultant to FTI and FD."

"In the event you determine to accept a position in government service that prohibits or materially impairs your performance of services as an independent contractor consultant to FTI or FD through June 15, 2011, you will provide not less than thirty (30) days’ written notice of such decision to the CEO of FTI, and during such notice period you will consult and work with the CEO of FTI and other members of FTI and FD senior management, as well as the pertinent client facing FD professionals, to develop and implement a plan reasonably calculated to facilitate the continued and uninterrupted provision of client services to the Key Accounts.

You and your family shall be entitled to continued medical and dental insurance coverage at present levels through June 15, 2011. Thereafter, you will be eligible to continue your health insurance coverage under COBRA, as in effect at such time. You will receive further details on these conversion/continuation rights in a separate document from FlexAmerica.

You will continue to have the use of a leased company car in accordance with Section 5(d) of your Employment Agreement through June 15, 2011. In the event applicable FTI insurance arrangements do not permit the continued use of a leased company car after October 5, 2009, suitable and mutually acceptable alternative arrangements will be made."

"During the period October 6, 2009 through June 15, 2011, you will be entitled to receive the Key Account Personal Billings, the *** Origination Fee, and the *** Origination Fee, with payment of such fees, in each instance, to be made 10 working days after such fees are collected," the agreement adds.

Financial statements suggest that Kelly earned as much as $2.4 million from FTI in 2009, but it's unclear what he received from them the next two years.

The Huffington Post article continued, "As the Northern Ireland envoy, Kelly took no salary from State, he said, but was afforded one staffer in Washington and reimbursed for coach flights across the pond. On his own dime, he said, he hired a staff of five and paid for office space at a cost of $1.4 million, while also giving up potentially millions in salary over the two-year period. Kelly's assertions may sound extreme, but ambassadors and high-level envoys are known to spend heavily with their personal money while in the job. The White House referred questions to the State Department; a spokesman there didn't respond to requests for comment."

"Kelly has brought that staff with him to his new investment firm," Grim noted.

He bragged to Huffington Post in 2011, "I didn't need the State Department or the U.S. government's help to access the economic elite in Ireland. I have advised four prime ministers in Ireland, all pro bono. I had a business in Ireland for over a decade, I have a home there, I am an Irish citizen and I know virtually every senior business leader in the country. I've gained no personal benefit from this at all."

But according to the Irish Echo, the State Department helped "provide administrative support" to Kelly, so it's unclear how much was spent by the US government.

"The formation of Kelly’s newest venture was in the works for some time before Kelly resigned,"the Irish Echo reported on August 4, 2011."A trademark application was made for the Teneo company logo in April, 2010, and an application for funding was also submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation months before its approval in early June, giving the new company a huge grant for over three million dollars in start up cash."

The Irish Echo claimed that a "U.S. State Department official" told it that "the State Department did provide administrative support and reimbursement for travel expenses." It also reported, "Several staff employed by the State Department as administrative support for the envoy position while Mr. Kelly was envoy are now working at Teneo."

According to his LinkedIn resume, Stephen W. Meahl was an advisor to the Office of the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland from January 2010 to May 2011, then became a Senior Associate at Teneo Holdings in June 2011, Vice President in 2012, and Senior Vice President in December of 2014.

"Mr. Meahl is a Senior Vice President with Teneo Strategy,"his Teneo bio states. "He also serves as Chief of Staff to Teneo’s Chairman and CEO where he is responsible for managing a wide range of special initiatives across the firm’s operating divisions."

The bio adds, "Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Meahl worked for the US Department of State’s Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland where he was responsible for executing a number special initiatives to help drive economic development in support of the ongoing peace process. He began his career with Fidelity Investments." In 2009, an earlier version of Meahl's Teneo bio, added, "In his role, Mr. Meahl was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the office including all media and communications. He was also responsible for relationship management with key State Department and foreign officials, and coordinated the development of major initiatives within the office."

Therese O'Higgins, according to her LinkedIn resume, is now a Vice President at Teneo, and also "worked at the Office of the US State Department's Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland where she worked closely with the Ireland Funds and Northern Ireland Science Park to set up the US–NI Mentorship Program. The US-NI Mentorship Program is a planned one-year work placement for recent graduates from Northern Ireland to work with leading corporations in the US. Therese continues to run this program in collaboration with the aforementioned parties."

The US-NI Mentorship Program was founded by Declan Kelly when he worked as Clinton's envoy. In a message on its website, Kelly writes, "From September 2009 until May 2011, I had the privilege of serving as the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland. In that role, my office worked to increase economic opportunities between the US and Northern Ireland, and to develop programs that would have a long‐term impact on the region. One of the first things I discovered about Northern Ireland was the strength of the region’s incredible young people. Northern Ireland’s universities produce some of the highest quality graduates anywhere in the world, and these graduates play a key role in attracting foreign direct investment to the region.When I stepped down as Envoy, I was anxious to continue to support the US-NI Mentorship Program. Feedback on the program from both participants and host companies continues to be exceptionally positive and I am pleased to report that many of the world’s leading corporations have signed up for the program again for this year."

"The program selects approximately twenty graduates, from across Northern Ireland, and places them in US corporations for a one‐year work period. The graduates are individuals who have demonstrated academic promise and have shown an interest in developing entrepreneurship and management skills.The goal of the program is for the participants to be able to return to Northern Ireland with the skills and experience to start businesses and become business leaders in their communities. Having had the opportunity to meet with many of the participants of the program, I can tell you that they will be well prepared to return and invest in the future of Northern Ireland."

"Therese O'Higgins of @Teneo hands out awards at 3rd US-Northern Ireland Mentorship Program graduation event,"@IRLFunds tweeted on November 6, 2013, including a picture from the event.

At the program's website (which mentions that she is a Teneo Vice President, US-Northern Ireland Mentorship Executive Director Therese O'Higgins writes, "Having been involved in this program from the outset, it is truly rewarding to see the program continue to enjoy success and attract the highest standards of graduates ."

"On March 12, 2015 US-NI Mentorship Program participants attended a lunch in New York City with Founder, Declan Kelly,"the US-NI website announced. "The lunch was held at Teneo Holdings headquaters, New York celebrating the fifth year of the US-NI Mentorship Program."

So far, I've been unable to find a biography for O'Higgins on Teneo's website, so I'm unsure she still works there. Along with former Senior Associate Monica Milton, whose expunged Teneo bio, reveals she "joined Teneo after working with Declan Kelly during his appointment as the U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland for the U.S. Department of State. In that role, she was responsible for coordination with the U.S. Government including organizing official events, and conferences working with senior State Department officials and representatives from foreign governments. Prior to this, Ms. Milton was the Community Liaison Officer at the U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman working as the Ambassador's representative managing internal and external programs as a key member of the in-country country team. Ms. Milton also represented the U.S. in a diplomatic role during two assignments at the U.S. Embassy, Cairo, Egypt assigned to the Defense Attach'e Office and the Public Affairs Office. Ms. Milton has also lived in Saudi Arabia."

According to his Teneo biography, Steven Sullivan, the current Chief Administration Officer and Chief Financial Officer also worked with Declan Kelly in the envoy's office.

"Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Sullivan served as Deputy to the U.S. State Department’s Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, helping to drive investment to the region from U.S. corporations and facilitate bi-lateral trade. In this position, Mr. Sullivan was responsible for relationship management and communications. Prior to his role with the U.S. Envoy, Mr. Sullivan worked in GE Capital’s Business Development and Mergers & Acquisitions Group focusing on restructuring strategies for GE Capital’s non-core assets, primarily consisting of commercial real estate, commercial equipment leasing and consumer finance platforms. Mr. Sullivan has also held positions within GE Capital’s Commercial Real Estate Division with responsibilities ranging from financial planning & analysis, loan restructuring, and transaction structuring."

Jacqueline Wilson - who is currently the Senior Managing Director at Teneo Strategy - is the fifth member of Kelly's staff who followed him from the State Department. According to her Teneo bio, "Prior to joining Teneo, Dr. Wilson was Senior Counsel to the U.S. State Department’s Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly."

"For over 20 years Jacqueline Wilson has been providing communications, reputation management, and government relations counsel to corporate, nonprofit, and government clients, with an emphasis on international engagements," the bio adds. "Her nonprofit clients have included academic institutions, associations, and international philanthropic and relief organizations. Government clients have included leaders of cities, states, and countries across the Americas and Europe."

May 2nd correction: Chargé d'Affaires John Hennessey-Niland from the Dublin US Embassy met Hillary Clinton at the airport, not Teneo CEO Declan Kelly (see photo description here), so I've removed the picture, video and references to that from this article.

April 22nd updates: In January, Teneo and American Ireland Funds sponsored "The Best of Ireland Gala" at the New York Athletic Club "to benefit The Children’s Medical Research Foundation and [Teneo Sports client Graeme McDowell's] GMac Foundation." Teneo CEO Declan Kelly - who was on the Board of Directors for American Ireland Funds (part of the Worldwide Ireland Funds) when they held Belfast luncheon for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012 - was the "Dinner Chairman" for the January 12th, 2015 event which honored New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and former Coca-Cola Refreshments President Brian Kelley - a Clinton Foundation donor who is now CEO for Clinton Global Initiative partner Green Mountain Coffee.

Teneo co-founder Paul Keary was on the Dinner Committee for a 2011 Ireland Funds event honoring Muhammad Ali and Irial Finian, the Executive Vice President for Clinton Foundation donor and Teneo client The Coca-Cola Company. Teneo Sports also currently represents NBA superstars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan, and may have been hoping to land Eli Manning and Muhammad Ali as clients.

2010 US Open golf champion Graeme McDowell reportedly attended a February 15th, 2011 fundraiser for CMRF; Kelly was Chairman of the Dinner Committee "which is responsible for the fundraising efforts" and Bill Clinton was honorary chairman. At the January 12th, 2015 event, McDowell interviewed Manning. "Teneo is proud to partner with champion golfer Graeme McDowell in a variety of ways,"the firm's website states. "We are a primary sponsor of Graeme on the U.S. and European PGA Tours." Essentially, Teneo sponsors Graeme McDowell, who is also a client, and helps raise money for his charity. In February of 2013, The Ireland Independent reported, "The Irishman's long-standing relationship with blue chip brands like Mastercard, BMW, RBC, Verizon, Ecco, Audermars Piguet, Teneo and, of course, Srixon, place him in the upper echelons of golf's corporate pecking order, behind only the big three of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy." On June 30, 2013, McDowell tweeted, "Landed in NYC to play some golf with #Verizon and #Teneo." According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, McDowell has an estimated net worth of $30 million.

On April 30, 2014, Teneo sponsored an Awards Dinner honoring Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President & CEO of TIAA-CREF; Bess Joffe, Managing Director of Corporate Governance for TIAA-CREF, is a member of Declan Kelly's SDX (Shareholder-Director Exchange) Working Group and TIAA-CREF donated $100,000 to $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

April 9th update: State Department official invited Teneo CEO Declan Kelly and other fundraisers who raised millions for Hillary Clinton to accompany Secretary of State on her 2012 trip to Ireland

Former Sec. of State received Lifetime Achievement Award at same time her aide Huma Abedin worked for Teneo and State Dept.; Huma Abedin's State Department "services included advising and participating in planning for the Secretary's schedule and travel"

On November 29, 2012, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "will travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland, December 7, where she will meet with Northern Ireland officials and discuss the peace process, the trilateral US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership and economic opportunities for Northern Ireland."

"She will attend an event hosted by The Ireland Funds - - a global fundraising network supporting programs of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education, and community development in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland," Nuland added.

The next day, on November 30, 2012, the Worldwide Ireland Funds issued a press release to say they "would host a luncheon in her honour" on December 7th - "in Belfast’s iconic Titanic Signature Building" - so that she can be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

"Several hundred guests will attend the event including First Minister Peter Robinson, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and former Special Economic Envoy for Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, who was appointed by Mrs. Clinton," the press release added.

Kelly became the only US economic envoy just weeks after Irish American Democrats leader Stella O'Leary wrote for Irish Central that "Irish Americans raised millions for the election bid of Senator Clinton for the Presidency. One of our own, Declan Kelly, was at the very top of Senator Clinton's list of fundraisers."

On November 19 2008, Ireland Abroad noted just as news broke out that Hillary Clinton was a leading candidate to become Secretary of State, she had "an Irish fundraiser arranged for this weekend organized by Declan Kelly of FTI, the global business advisory firm." In November of 2007, $300,000 was raised for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign at a "$2,300-a-head" event held in Limerick, organized by Declan Kelly "on behalf of Irish-Americans for Hillary", which featured former President Bill Clinton as the guest of honor. Before both events, Irish Abroad reported, "Kelly, a native of Tipperary, has emerged as one of Clinton’s leading fundraisers, having hosted a number of Irish American parties throughout the U.S. in the past year which have topped up the Clinton campaign coffers by $1 million." Half of that million came from two parties in New York and San Francisco organized by Kelly in April of 2007.

Declan Kelly reportedly raised at least $1,500,000 for Senator Hillary Clinton in five fundraisers from 2007 to 2008. All the events were held on behalf of a group called "Irish-Americans for Hillary", and one of the other two co-founders of Teneo Holdings, future Chief Operating Officer Paul Keary, was also a member, the Irish Independent noted on November 16, 2007. Keary is "Kelly's long time colleague and friend from FTI Consulting and Financial Dynamics", and "Kelly, who served as an advisor to Hillary Clinton when she ran for President, led the buy-out of Financial Dynamics in 2003 and in 2006 sold it to FTI Consulting for $340m, still the largest price ever paid for a communications consulting company." While Teneo wasn't officially launched until 2011, the firm and website were registered in 2009, two months after the envoy appointment, as I reported.

Teneo's third founder Douglas Band used to be President Bill Clinton's "body man", and James O'Shea reported for Irish Central in 2011, Kelly and Band were "known to be close friends who have known each other for almost two decades." When Band first "joined the Clinton White House in the fall of 1995", he worked "as an unpaid intern" for deputy White House Counsel Cheryl Mills, who later became Counselor and Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Band "created and built the Clinton Global Initiative that to date has raised over 63 billion dollars for nearly 2,000 philanthropic initiatives around the world which in total has impacted over 300 million people in 180 countries." The uncredited Irish Independent article also claimed, "All of the ["Irish-Americans for Hillary"] organisers have been supporters of the Clintons from before Bill's presidential victory in 1992."

After resigning as envoy in 2011, Kelly co-founded Teneo - "a global advisory firm that partners exclusively with the CEOs and senior leaders of many of the world’s largest and most complex companies and organizations. The firm is focused on working with clients to address a wide range of financial, reputational and transformational challenges and opportunities by combining the disciplines of strategic communications, investor relations, investment banking, financial analytics, executive recruiting, digital analytics, corporate governance, government affairs, business intelligence, management consulting and corporate restructuring on an integrated basis. Teneo’s clients include the CEOs of many Fortune 100 companies across a diverse range of industry sectors."

"Aside from his business interests, Mr Kelly serves on the boards of several philanthropic and community-based organisations which focus on Irish issues, including the American Ireland Fund,"the BBC reported in September 2009. Thurles also noted, at the time, that he "serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors of the American Ireland Fund." And Kelly was listed as "Chairman, Board of Directors, American Ireland Fund" on the St. Patrick's Day Obama White House guest list Lynn Sweet published on March 17, 2009. This archived link reveals Teneo CEO Declan Kelly was still on the American Ireland Fund Board of Directors during State Secretary Clinton's visit.

At the bottom of the Worldwide Ireland Funds press release for the luncheon held in Clinton's honor, Brendan Murphy from Teneo Strategy is listed as a reference, and his firm email address and phone number are provided for contact info. According to the biography at his firm's website, Murphy is now the Senior Vice President for Teneo Strategy, and he "specializes in counseling management teams on corporate strategy, communications, government affairs and crisis management." Murphy also handles public relations for Liberty Insurance. While this would indicate that Teneo did public relations for the event, it may also mean that they sponsored it.

(Editor's Note: A week after this article was published, the Irish Independent reported that Teneo's "Irish clients include Liberty Insurance and the Ireland Funds.")

Another press release viewable on The Ireland Funds website issued on December 7, 2012 lists Brendan Murphy and Teneo Strategy as a reference. It claimed that "500 guests from all sides of the community in Northern Ireland as well as business, civic, community and cultural leaders" attended the event and that Clinton was awarded with "a specially commissioned Belleek China piece."

"The award presented to Secretary of State Clinton was a unique piece of Belleek China from Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The one-off piece symbolically showed a basket of flowers from Northern Ireland as well as flowers from the Secretary’s home state of Illinois and other symbols of Northern Ireland."

"This was the Secretary of State’s 7th visit to Northern Ireland and was part of her last foreign mission in that role," the press release presumably written by Teneo Strategy announced.

A transcript at the U.S. State Department website quotes Clinton at the luncheon saying, "And I, too, will acknowledge and thank our former Economic Envoy Declan Kelly who has done so much to help bring more investors to the region, and I thank you for your contributions, Declan."

One of the photographs from the luncheon at The Ireland Funds website shows longtime aide Huma Abedin sitting at a table behind Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:



An article by Irish American Magazine co-founder Niall O'Dowd - who was on Clinton's 2008 financial committee - notes that Huma Abedin accompanied Hillary on her last trip to Ireland as Secretary of State.

"Everyone agrees [Hillary Clinton] looks tired, puffy around the eyes, in need of a break. She admits so herself. She has traveled over a million miles and to 112 countries. She has lived on a plane. Her aide Huma Abedin says it is all like a blur these days."

An essay published at Irish Central on December 9, 2012 called "Hillary's Choice -- a run for glory or a quiet retirement after Secretary of State? Irish trip provided vital clues as to her intentions for 2016" by Niall O'Dowd about a dinner - I reported on last month - that was hosted by billionaire Denis O'Brien (who has donated millions of dollars to Clinton Foundation projects) for Clinton and Irish-American fundraisers states, "Hillary wasn’t saying on Thursday night what her plans were but her tireless aide Huma Abedin did pipe up and say 'vacation' when the question was raised on about what she would do next."

Although it wasn't revealed until 2013, Huma Abedin stepped down as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff in June of 2012 and did consulting work for Teneo while still working for the State Department as a Special Government Employee. A lawsuit recently announced by the Associated Press (link), seeks emails from Clinton and Abedin that weren't released by the State Department in previous Freedom of Information Action requests, apparently because they were using the private www.clintonemail.com server instead of government-provided email accounts.

The lawsuit explains, "AP seeks these records to shed light on the official actions of Secretary Clinton and Ms. Abedin, a longtime aide to Secretary Clinton and high-ranking government official in her own right. The records sought by Request B are necessary for the public’s understanding of the intertwined relationships among Secretary Clinton, Ms. Abedin and Teneo, a consulting firm founded by Douglas Band, a longtime aide and advisor to former President Bill Clinton. Ms. Abedin reportedly worked for Teneo at the same time she worked as a Special Government Employee for the State Department. [AP journalist Stephen] Braun explained in his request: 'These records pertain to a key aide to Secretary Clinton whose SGE role at State has come under question in recent weeks and is the subject of Congressional inquiry. The records pertaining to the hiring of a long-time aide of a former secretary of state who has run in the past for the presidency of the United States and is considering another presidential campaign is a matter of current exigency to the American public."

In his June 13, 2013 request to the State Department (pdf link), Senator Chuck Grassley sought "all documents and/or communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent," which would have to include Bill Clinton, since along with being a paid adviser and an unpaid adviser for the firm, he was also a Teneo client.

A month-and-a-half later, the Washington Post reported, "The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that the State Department and Huma Abedin, the wife of former congressman Anthony Weiner, have put up 'a stone wall' in the face of his inquiry about her final months at the agency, and vowed to continue raising questions about Abedin's employment status."

"'So far, the State Department and Ms. Abedin haven’t provided a single document that I requested,' Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement. 'Putting up a stone wall raises a lot more questions about how the program is being used than it answers. I intend to pursue more complete answers to my questions.'"

"Abedin said her work at Teneo involved 'providing strategic advice and consulting services to the firm's management team' and helping to organize an annual event," the Post reported about her response (pdf link). "Abedin said her work there did not involve the State Department."

Abedin wrote, "I was not asked, nor did I undertake, any work on Teneo's behalf before the State Department (and I should note that it is my understanding that Teneo does not conduct business with the Department of State). I also was not asked, nor did I provide, insights about the Department, my work with the Secretary, or any government information to which I may have had access. And, I certainly 'never gathered information from government sources for the purpose of informing investment decisions of Teneo's clients' as the Senate letter suggests."

In May of 2013, Politico reported, "Her work for Teneo, which was founded by Band and a former aide to Tony Blair, was advisory, and among the projects was planning a major specific event where the former British prime minister and Bill Clinton both spoke, the friend said." That "major specific event" may have been - as the Economic reported in August of 2012 - in São Paulo on August 28th, when Blair, Clinton and former Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke at an event run by Itaú BBA, a Brazilian investment bank. "Ilan Goldfajn, the bank's chief economist, moderated a discussion that touched on foreign views of Brazil and Brazilian views of abroad—and what the developed world could learn about handling financial crises from a country that has suffered more than its fair share of them in the past, but is coming through the most recent one much better than most."

"Her services included advising and participating in planning for the Secretary's schedule and travel", Thomas B. Gibbons, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs wrote Senator Grassley on July 17, 2013 (pdf link), in regards to "Huma Abedin's tenure at the Department of State", while working as a "senior adviser/expert, for which she was compensated at the hourly rate of a GS-15/10 and was designated as a Special Government Employee (SGE)." Before stepping down as one of Clinton's two Deputy Chiefs of Staff on June 3, 2012, Abedin "advised the Secretary and supervised the operations of her schedule and travel," but it's unclear if someone else took over the "supervision" role.

It's uncertain whether Abedin assisted Teneo or specifically helped coordinate - with Brendan Murphy or other associates at the firm - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's appearance at the luncheon, but their emails on the matter might help shed some light on any involvement, which might be at odds with what Huma wrote in response to Grassley's inquiries. Abedin claimed she "was not asked, nor did I undertake, any work on Teneo's behalf before the Department."

Huma Abedin worked for the State Department, Teneo, the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton - personally - in December of 2012, so she essentially spent time on that December of 2012 Irish trip with all four of her bosses.

A few weeks after Abedin was hired by Teneo in June of 2012, Irish Central reported that Kelly helped "deliver the former American president Bill Clinton to the Worldwide Ireland Fund dinner in Cork where he will oversee the Clinton schedule for the weekend." It also noted that the Cork dinner would "be the fourth time in a little over a year that the president will come to Ireland at the behest of Kelly."

While serving as U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly helped set up the US-NI Mentorship Program with the Worldwide Ireland Fund, and a 2010 participant who "also developed and successfully launched" its website "was fortunate enough to be invited" to the December 7, 2012 luncheon honoring Hillary Clinton. According to the menu, the food was seasoned with Guinness, Bushmills and Kilbeggan whiskey, and Titanic cabin biscuits were included with the meal.

State Department official invited Teneo CEO and other fundraisers to Ireland

Perhaps escaping US media attention in late 2012, Clinton supporter Niall O'Dowd's website revealed that a State Department official invited Teneo CEO Declan Kelly and other Irish-American fundraisers to accompany Hillary Clinton on what would end up being her last foreign trip as Secretary of State.

"Invitations have gone out from her top political aide Kris Balderston to key members of her fundraising and support group in the Irish American community to accompany her to Ireland,"Irish Central reported a few days before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's plane touched down at Dublin Airport on December 5, 2012. "It is the first time since Clinton became Secretary of State that there has been an effort to reunite her old coterie of Irish advisors."

Irish Central's Kate Hickey adds, "Among those invited are head of Irish American Democrats Stella O’Leary, former U.S Economic Envoy Declan Kelly, businessman John FitzPatrick, top lawyer Brian O’Dwyer, former Congressman Bruce Morrison, Irish Voice Founder Niall O’Dowd, and other key members of her Irish circle. Collectively the group raised millions for Hillary during her runs for U.S. Senate and president and several were on her main finance committee."

"They will accompany her to her human rights speech at Dublin City University and her visit to Belfast on Friday where she will address an American Ireland Fund lunch," Hickey also noted.

Kris Balderston was on Democratic New York Senator Hillary Clinton's staff for eight years, before serving as Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the US Department of State for nearly four years from April of 2009 to February 2013, according to his LinkedIn resume. While Clinton was in the Senate, Balderston served as her Legislative Director before being promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff. He quit the State Department - during the same month Clinton and Abedin left - to work in the private sector at a public relations firm. AdWeek's Patrick Coffee referred to Balderston's career move as "another sign of the very close proximity of PR to politics."

"Fleishman-Hillard today announced the appointment of Kris Balderston as senior partner and general manager of the firm's Washington, D.C., office,"a press release noted on February 7, 2013. "He comes directly from his position as Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State."

"At State, Balderston conceptualized and led the Global Partnership Initiative within the Office of the Secretary of State. In this capacity, he brokered alliances with more than 300 private sector businesses, nonprofit organizations and others. These partnerships employed practical, market-based solutions to advance U.S. diplomacy, further international development goals and address significant global humanitarian challenges. His 30-plus years of experience in Washington includes tenure in the Clinton White House, where he was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet and Deputy Assistant to the President."

"In addition, Balderston was Senior Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell at the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Labor, Senior Policy Associate and Project Manager at the National Governors Association, and Senior Policy Associate at the Council of State Community Affairs Agencies," the press release added. Former Maine Democratic Senator George Mitchell is now a Senior Advisor to Teneo. "In 1995, he served as a Special Advisor to President William J. Clinton on Ireland, and from 1996 to 2000 he served as the Independent Chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks," Mitchell's Teneo bio notes. "In 2000 and 2001, at the request of President Clinton, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Chairman Yasser Arafat, Senator Mitchell served as Chairman of an International Fact-Finding Committee on violence in the Middle East."

In the Fleishman-Hillard press release, Balderston hails Hillary Clinton: "The firm has a deep understanding of that dynamic and is enthusiastically embracing new ideas and innovative solutions. That spirit is similar to what Secretary Clinton brought to the State Department, and I'm excited to lead the Washington office in that kind of exciting and creative environment."

"Emails and other communications exchanged among three of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's inner circle of advisers and officials at her family's foundation and a controversial consulting firm are at the center of the latest transparency lawsuit to hit the Department of State," Sarah Westwood reported for the Washington Examiner on March 28, 2015. "Citizens United, a right-leaning activist nonprofit, sued the department March 16 after it ignored a series of Freedom of Information Act requests for written and electronic communications of Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and Kris Balderston, all longtime Clinton confidantes and close aides at the State Department."

Westwood added, "The group pressed for personal emails and letters between Abedin and a number of officials with ties to Teneo, including Band, company co-founder Declan Kelly and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell."

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes report about a "massive Clinton fundraising operation" and refer to Balderston as "Hillary’s special ops guy at State" in a new book called "HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton", which was excerpted at Salon on March 21, 2015.

"Hillary tapped Kris Balderston, the hit list author, to keep the Clinton political network humming at State. A longtime lieutenant to both Clintons, Balderston, who called everyone “buddy,” liked to talk in salesman’s terms about Hillary’s 'power to convene' and her commitment to making sure her partners could 'do well by doing good.' What he meant was that Hillary could use the Clinton Rolodex to focus private-sector money, government power, and the expertise at colleges and nonprofits to solve global problems. At best, they would do a public service and make a buck. At worst, they would make a powerful friend. Balderston became, for lack of a better term, Hillary’s special ops guy at State.

He wrote Hillary the first memo on his concept for an office that would mirror Bill’s Clinton Global Initiative on December 8, 2008, less than a week after she was named to her job and more than six weeks before she took office. Though she had to wait for some of her lieutenants to clear the Obama vetting process and a Senate confirmation vote, she had made it a priority to empower Balderston, the political fixer who could help her build unique networks connecting her State Department to other government agencies, the nonprofit sector, and the corporate world. While many Democrats believe that government is the answer to the world’s problems, and many Republicans believe the same of the private sector, Balderston’s office was the embodiment of Hillary’s core Clintonian belief that government, business, and charitable organizations are all vital components of a thriving society."

See also "Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo" and "Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland "

May 2nd correction: Chargé d'Affaires John Hennessey-Niland from the Dublin US Embassy met Hillary Clinton at airport, not Teneo CEO Declan Kelly (See photo description here). So I've deleted all references to that from this article.

May 1st update - Despite "ethics agreement" that a "former and future" Clinton Foundation director negotiated while at the State Department, Clinton Health Access Initiative kept Irish government's increase of funding a secret. Yesterday, Judicial Watch posted an article about my Teneo reporting. "Reporter Ron Brynaert is one example of this new breed of investigative gunslinger," Micah Morrison wrote. "A former executive editor for Raw Story, Brynaert has been digging deep into the Teneo connection and publishing his findings at his blog, '-gate news' and on Twitter."

April 28th update - After State Sec. Hillary Clinton announced "partnership" with Irish government in 2010, Irish Aid donated over $5 million to the Clinton Foundation from 2011 to 2014. More information added on State Department funding the Front Line Defenders - which was co-founded by Denis O'Brien - through a program created by Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. Also, The Wall Street Journal reported a few days ago, "Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, who heads a mobile-phone network provider called Digicel, won a $2.5 million award in 2011 from a program run by the State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development to offer mobile money services in post-earthquake Haiti. Mr. O’Brien has given between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation since its launch." However, WSJ reporters oddly claimed that it was "unclear" that donations were made when Clinton was at the State Department, and won't fully explain why they couldn't confirm what others have reported for years. O'Brien's media holding company, Communicorp Group Ltd, has also donated money to the Clinton Foundation.

A Digicel press release announced on June 23, 2011, "Digicel, the best value mobile operator in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific, has today been announced as one of the main partners with the U.S Department of State to support the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace." Digicel Group Chief Executive Officer Colm Delves posed with "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the launch of the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica," as seen in the photograph at the firm's website.

"CIM will be implemented in the context of the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA), which was launched by the U.S Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, on May 17th in Washington DC at the Global Diaspora Forum Other partners include the Inter-American Development Bank and Scotiabank."

As I reported last week, Teneo CEO Declan Kelly - who helped raise at least $1,500,000 on behalf of "Irish-Americans for Hillary" for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign - was on the Board of Directors for US Ireland Fund and his firm did public relations work for the Belfast fundraising event and may have helped fund, host or sponsor it. Huma Abedin still helped plan Clinton's trips while working for the State Department and Teneo from June of 2012 to February of 2013.

"I was very happy to be along with Hillary Clinton during her last visit to Ireland as Secretary of State, in December 2012,"Niall O'Dowd wrote for Irish Central on June 11, 2014. "It was also on that the trip that I realized she was certain to run for president in 2016."

Along with Teneo co-founder Paul Keary, O'Dowd is a member of "Irish-Americans for Hillary" - the group behind Kelly's fundraisers. Declan Kelly first met Hillary Clinton when he had "arranged an introduction" through O'Dowd years ago "at an Irish America magazine event in New York."

"As she writes in her new book, 'Hard Choices,' where she reserves several pages for her Irish work, the place still has a strong hold on her," O'Dowd adds, before quoting Hillary Clinton reminiscing about the party held in Belfast to honor her and help raise funds for the Worldwide Ireland Fund.

"My final trip as Secretary of State in December 2012 brought me again to Northern Ireland, a place where people have worked hard and suffered much to leave their past conflicts behind.

At a luncheon in Belfast, happily surrounded by old friends and acquaintances, we reminisced about how far we’d come together."

Then O'Dowd continues, "There was lots of reminiscing the day before in Dublin too when about 12 of us old-time Hillary supporters sat with her in a Dublin restaurant at a dinner hosted by businessman Denis O’Brien."

Digicel Group Chairman and Founder Denis O'Brien is a telecom billionaire who has reportedly given millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation and was honored with a Clinton Global Citizen award just two months before Hillary's trip to Ireland. Former President Bill "Clinton and Mr O’Brien formed a close working relationship in Haiti where the former acted as UN special envoy, and where Digicel has become the country’s largest foreign investor ever – pumping $600 million (€443 million) into an economy devastated by the 2010 earthquake,"Irish Times reported in October of 2013.

However, as Kevin Sullivan, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported for The Washington Post a few weeks ago, O'Brien and "the Clintons are facing a growing backlash that too little has been accomplished in the past five years and that some of the most high-profile projects they have backed — including a just-opened Marriott, another luxury hotel and the industrial park — have helped foreign investors and Haiti’s wealthy elites more than its poor."

O'Brien is also the chairman of Front Line Defenders, which "was founded in Dublin in 2001 with the specific aim of protecting Human Rights Defenders, people working in hostile conditions to uphold any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)." In February of 2012, founder Mary Lawlor noted that the Embattled NGO Assistance Fund "is the brainchild of Hillary Clinton" and that they get money from the US State Department and O'Brien gave them €3 million when she started the group.

A 2013 press release by the Front Line Defenders referred to O'Brien as "Chairman and co-founder", and he is still on the Board of Trustees. His biography at its website states, "Denis O'Brien is Chairman of the Digicel Group, one of the fastest growing cellular companies in the world. Mr. O’Brien is one of Ireland’s leading entrepreneurs with extensive investments across several sectors including international telecoms, radio, media, property, aircraft leasing, golf and other leisure interests. He founded the Communicorp Group which has a portfolio of media and broadcasting-related companies in Ireland and seven other European countries. Denis was Chairman of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Ireland and is Chairman of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He is on the US Board of Concern Worldwide. In 2000 he established The O’Brien Foundation to assist disadvantaged communities in Ireland and internationally."

The US State Department announced on July 1, 2011, "Last July at the Community of Democracies meeting in Krakow, Secretary Clinton announced that the United States would create an international fund to support embattled Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and invited like-minded governments to join in this global effort."

"One year later, the Department of State, together with twelve other democratic nations spanning the globe, launched the Lifeline: Embattled NGOs Assistance Fund in a meeting in Vilnius with the international consortium of organizations who will be implementing the Fund’s activities.

The Department of State is honored to partner with Australia, Benin, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in this unique effort to protect and support civil society worldwide. Together they have seeded the Lifeline Fund with over $4 million to begin a multi-year effort."

Hours before the dinner hosted by O'Brien, Secretary of State Clinton said in a speech, "We currently are providing emergency support to dozens of individual human rights activists around the world, who run into trouble because of their work. And the United States has created a fund – to which more than a dozen governments and two private foundations have contributed – to support embattled NGOs with legal representation, communication technologies like cell phones and internet access, and other forms of quick support."

According to the latest entry of "Front Line Defenders Annual Reports & Financial Information", it still receives donations from the Lifeline: Embattled NGO Assistance Fund. It also is supported by The Ireland Funds, which is a client of Teneo, and CEO Declan Kelly was on its Board of Directors when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was honored at a Belfast luncheon the day after the Dublin dinner, as I reported in March.

Front Line Defenders also receives funding from the Ireland government department Irish Aid, which has donated $5-to-10 million to the Clinton Foundation. On September 21, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at an event called "1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future" where she welcomed Ireland Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin.

"Thank you, Secretary Clinton, for those kind words about the Irish, but also for your inspiring words about the challenge that lies ahead and that is the focal point of this gathering here this morning," Michael Martin said. "And we thank your people who have worked so hard behind the scenes with Irish Aid and with my colleague, Minister Power, Peter Power, Minister of State Peter Power, in terms of the organization of this partnership with its focus on undernutrition."

A US State Department fact sheet on the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Framework, announced that Clinton and Martin would be "joined by leaders from governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector" at the September 21st, 2010 event.

At The Irish Times, Simon Carswell reported on April 24, 2015 about the money donated to the Clinton Foundation: "The Department of Foreign Affairs said this money was provided to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a charity affiliated with the foundation, for work on health promotion projects in Mozambique (€1 million) and Lesotho (€4 million) between 2011 and 2014. A further €170 million of Irish Aid went to the health ministries in those countries on projects that involved personnel from the Clintons’ health charity.

Despite agreeing in 2008 that the Clinton Foundation would inform the State Department if a foreign country chose to "increase materially its commitment" to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), it didn't. As revealed in a 2010 Irish government review of the partnership, the funding was supposed to end that year, but Irish Aid "recommend[ed] that the Partnership should be formally extended until 2015."

Last week, Irish Aid told the Irish Times that it ended up donating €4 million to CHAI from 2011 to 2015 for "work on health promotion projects" in Lesotho. A March 6, 2012 fact sheet at the US State Department's website notes, "A partnership framework that is aligned with the National Strategic Plan was signed in August 2009 by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Government of Lesotho."

But even though referring to Irish Aid, the US State Department "fact sheet" doesn't specifically mention its partnership with the Clinton Foundation which began years before Obama was elected: "The donor community is collaborating with the Government of Lesotho in a massive effort to address the HIV epidemic. Key international stakeholders include PEPFAR, UN agencies, Irish AID, other international donors, and dozens of non-governmental organizations."

On March 19, 2015, Jonathan Allen reported for Reuters, "In 2008, Hillary Clinton promised Barack Obama, the president-elect, there would be no mystery about who was giving money to her family's globe-circling charities. She made a pledge to publish all the donors on an annual basis to ease concerns that as secretary of state she could be vulnerable to accusations of foreign influence."

"At the outset, the Clinton Foundation did indeed publish what they said was a complete list of the names of more than 200,000 donors and has continued to update it," Allen continued. "But in a breach of the pledge, the charity's flagship health program, which spends more than all of the other foundation initiatives put together, stopped making the annual disclosure in 2010, Reuters has found."

Allen added, "In response to questions from Reuters, officials at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the foundation confirmed no complete list of donors to the Clintons' charities has been published since 2010. CHAI was spun off as a separate legal entity that year, but the officials acknowledged it still remains subject to the same disclosure agreement as the foundation."

"The State Department said it was unable to cite any instances of its officials reviewing or approving new money from any foreign governments [which included Ireland]," Reuters' Allen reported. "[CHAI spokeswoman Maura] Daley confirmed that none of the seven government donations had been submitted to the State Department for review."

Reporting for the Washington Examiner on April 30, 2015 about how the State Department is allowing the Clinton Foundation to review which Clinton emails can be released to fulfill reportedly 18 FOIA requests by the media and conservative-leaning watchdog groups, Sarah Westwood noted, "Like several other records caches that have been dribbled out of the department in recent months, the emails showed Cheryl Mills — the former Clinton White House aide who left the family foundation to serve as Hillary Clinton's chief of staff at State before returning to the charity's board — was routinely involved in official matters concerning both the foundation and the former chief executive's paid speeches."

"Mills was among several Clinton insiders who negotiated an ethics agreement between Hillary Clinton and President Obama before Clinton was appointed secretary of state," Westwood reported. "The agreement required both the Clintons and their foundation to undergo ethics reviews so State Department officials could determine whether a particular speech or event represented a real or apparent conflict of interest."

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton "raised concerns that a former and future foundation director was instrumental to orchestrating the legal footwork that allowed the Clintons to receive millions of dollars for speaking from foreign entities while Hillary Clinton served as the nation's chief diplomat." Fitton complained to the Washington Examiner, "There's no way [Mills] should have been involved in this, given where she was and where she was going."

"He noted that it's possible Mills, as a top Clinton Foundation official, is presently involved in reviewing the emails she herself wrote and was copied on during her time at the State Department, thanks to the agency's unusual arrangement with the charity.

A State Department official who requested anonymity was 'not in a position to comment on ongoing litigation' but noted that FOIA 'provides an exemption for privileged or confidential trade secrets.'

'When the department receives a FOIA request for records which contain privileged or confidential commercial or financial information and determines that it may release them, we are obligated by law to consult with the entities or persons who first provided those records to the Department, and it is our practice to do so,' the official said."

Whatever reasons or excuses provided by Obama's State Department before, during and after Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, one might conclude that the Irish government was being more forthcoming than the US government and the Clinton Foundation.

On April 17, 2015, at the Wall Street Journal, James V. Grimaldi reported, "Potentially any foreign government could make multimillion-dollar donations to the Clinton family’s largest philanthropic venture, a global public-health charity, according to a new policy put in place this week." Defending this new move, "Officials of the Clinton health charity, which employs 1,500 workers in more than 30 countries, said the more lenient policy came because 'foreign governments are among the largest funders of global health programs.'"

"Mr. O’Brien has given between $5 million and $10 million to the Clinton Foundation since its launch," James V. Grimaldi, Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas reported for The Wall Street Journal on April 22, 2015. "It is unclear whether Mr. O’Brien gave while Mrs. Clinton was at the State Department because of the way the foundation discloses its donations."

When Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, the Clinton Foundation agreed to list its contributor amounts annually on the internet, so it's breathtaking that the Wall Street Journal hasn't been at least copy-and-pasting that information once a year. Unfortunately, the way the Clinton Foundation website was set up, it's difficult to find archive links for contributors in previous years, except for the highest donors. However, simple Google searches of news organizations and blogs that did at least copy-and-paste the data reveal that Denis J. O'Brien's donations to the Clinton Foundation went from zero in December of 2008 (according to Fox News) to $10,001-to-25,000 before January of 2012 (according to The New York Times) and $1M to $5M (according to a blog reporting on a defamation lawsuit by Denis O'Brien against his first cousin Donald MacAllister who claimed in November of 2012 the billionaire was the "largest contributor to the Clinton Foundation". Interestingly, O'Brien ducked that specific accusation, even though it appears to conflict with what the Clinton Foundation has claimed.) during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State.

"[Digicel]'s founder, Denis O'Brien, is a major Clinton Foundation contributor and chairman of the Clinton Global Initiative's Haiti Action Network, a consortium of largely private-sector partners who have committed more than $224 million to reconstruction projects," Janet Reitman reported for Rolling Stone in August of 2011.

At Breitbart.com, in an article quoting from a Fox News Channel special based on the soon-to-be-published Peter Schweizer book "Clinton Cash" (which the Wall Street Journal based their story on, too), Ian Hanchett noted, "Schweizer said, 'shortly after the Clintons began reconstruction in Haiti, and began handing out contracts, sometime during that period of 2010 or 2011 he [Digicel’s owner Denis O’Brien] made a multi-million dollar contribution to the Clinton Foundation.' And that O’Brien also arranged for three 'lucrative' speeches by Bill Clinton...Schweizer then reported, 'two of the speeches that Bill Clinton gives, actually, are sandwiched around Digicel being given a grant, by the taxpayers for $100,000 as part of the HMMI Award. At the same time, you have taxpayer money, $2 million being committed to the Digicel Foundation in Jamaica.'"

Grimaldi, Ballhaus, and Nicholas specifically noted that they couldn't reach Mr. O'Brien and that the Clinton campaign "didn't respond to request for comment", but that they did talk to a Clinton Foundation spokesman. It's unclear why the Wall Street Journal didn't specifically ask the Clinton Foundation to provide this information which they already provided once a year on the web or why it didn't contact any groups that monitor politically-related donations before publishing their story. All three Wall Street Journal reporters have ignored tweets regarding why they reported that it was "unclear" that Denis O'Brien donated to the Clinton Foundation, while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.

O'Brien also owns many Irish media outlets - and according to a 2012 Guardian article was the "largest shareholder with a 29.9% stake" in Independent News and Media (INM) - has been accused of possessing a "stranglehold" in an "attempt to silence his critics."The Irish Times reported in December, "Recently, the National Union of Journalists called on [the Irish government's Department of Communications] to 'call a halt' to what it saw as O’Brien’s threat to media diversity."

Communicorp Group Limited, "a media holding company, founded in 1989 by Irish Entrepreneur Denis O’Brien" whose "media holdings include radio stations and digital media service companies", has also donated $10,000 to 25,000 to the Clinton Foundation. According to this 2012 haiti week press release, "Lucy Gaffney of Communicorp" was an "Irish member" of the Clinton Global Initiative. Communicorp Group Limited Chairperson Lucy Gaffney is a longtime friend and associate of O'Brien, and is on Digicel's Board of Directors and "was appointed to the Board of Independent News & Media plc as a Non-Executive Director in March 2009."

On September 30, 2010, former President Bill Clinton gave a speech at the Business & Finance Outstanding Contribution to Ireland Awards in honor of Loretta Brennan Glucksman and the American Ireland Fund. In the following video, Clinton thanks Declan Kelly (who was on the US Ireland Fund's board of directors until at least 2012 and created the US-NI Mentorship Program with it - in partnership with the State Department - after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland) and Denis O'Brien - who are seated onstage together - for their introductions:



"Thank you very much first to Declan and then to Denis for telling all those lies about me," Clinton joked. "I want to thank Declan Kelly who has done a really wonderful job as the Secretary of State's envoy to Northern Ireland. Hillary always did have good taste in men."

O'Brien was also in the audience when Hillary Clinton gave a speech at Dublin City University during her Ireland trip, the Irish Independent reported.

While working for Teneo and the State Department, Huma Abedin also did consulting work for the Clinton Foundation.

So, in this last Ireland trip that Abedin probably planned for the outgoing Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton attended a luncheon tied to Teneo and a dinner hosted by a top Clinton Foundation donor where she dined with fundraisers. There must have been some sort of prior planning involved by Teneo and O'Brien for both events to accommodate Clinton's schedule, although the thrust of her trip apparently was to "participate in the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)" to "discuss proposals to strengthen the OSCE’s capacity to promote comprehensive security in Eurasia, as well as meet with civil society representatives from across the OSCE region." The Belfast luncheon was held in the ballroom of a top tourist attraction, and may have been planned months in advance before it was officially announced one day apart by the State Department and a Teneo press release in November of 2012.

However - as I reported a few weeks ago - Abedin wrote to Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), "I was not asked, nor did I undertake, any work on Teneo's behalf before the State Department (and I should note that it is my understanding that Teneo does not conduct business with the Department of State). I also was not asked, nor did I provide, insights about the Department, my work with the Secretary, or any government information to which I may have had access. And, I certainly 'never gathered information from government sources for the purpose of informing investment decisions of Teneo's clients' as the Senate letter suggests."

O'Dowd's article added, "In the small private dinner setting just off Stephen’s Green in Dublin she made clear that the fire still burns. The affection for Ireland and the desire to serve again was very clear that night. 'She’s running,' said one of her longest-term supporters and friends that night 'bet on it.' She went around the table asking each of us for our memories from our Clinton campaign involvements."

"It is unclear what special knowledge or skills Ms. Abedin possessed that the government could not have easily obtained otherwise from regular government employees," Senator Grassley wrote Inspector General for the US Department of State Steve Linick on March 19, 2015 (pdf link).

Senator Grassley also asked Secretary of State John Kerry on March 19, 2015 (pdf link), "Did the Department consider any other candidates besides Ms. Abedin for the expert position requiring expert knowledge on policy, administrative, and other matters? If so, please provide the supporting documentation. If not, why not?"

"Please provide the work papers, background documents, and/or emails that concluded that Ms. Abedin’s employment as an SGE did not present any ethical concerns or conflicts of interest with her multiple private sector jobs," Grassley added in his letter to Kerry.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's last trip to Ireland seems to have been geared towards meeting up with potential fundraisers presuming she runs for president again in 2016, and her longtime aide Huma Abedin may have helped schedule it while working for the State Department.

Last month Anita Kumar reported for McClatchy, "More than 40 percent of the top donors to the Clinton family foundation are based in foreign countries, which could lead to conflict-of-interest questions for Hillary Clinton as she prepares to launch her campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination."

"Mohammed Al-Amoudi, a billionaire businessman who lives in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, retired German race car driver Michael Schumacher, and Denis O’Brien, the Irish chairman of Digicel phone company, each donated between $5 million and $10 million," Kumar added.

The Ireland trip was Clinton's "final overseas trip as secretary of state. She had planned further trips but canceled them after falling and hitting her head after returning from Dublin and Belfast," Anne Gearan reported for The Washington Post on March 16, 2015. Gearan also noted that Niall O’Dowd - the co-founder of Irish America Magazine which gave Clinton a lifetime achievement award last month - "is a longtime Democratic donor and served on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 finance committee." New York Times reporter Amy Chozick neglected to mention that in her March 17, 2015 article, although she did refer to O'Dowd as a "longtime Clinton supporter." In her February 2, 2015 article, Chozick didn't even reveal that much to New York Times readers.

Last September, in an interview with Denis O'Brien, Niall O'Dowd asked, "Speaking of politicians, you are a big fan of Hillary Clinton. Do you think she is going to run for the White House in 2016?

"I’d say she is going to see what the lay of the land is, like any clever politician, to see who’s there on the Democratic side," O'Brien responded. "I think a year out from the primaries last time, not a lot of people had heard of Obama and never saw him as a serious candidate, so obviously she is waiting to see who’s there. And yes, I am a fan."

See also "Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton"; "Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo" and "Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland".

Developing... More to come...

May 2nd correction: Chargé d'Affaires John Hennessey-Niland from the Dublin US Embassy met Hillary Clinton at airport, not Teneo CEO Declan Kelly (See photo description here). I've removed all references to that from this article.

In September of 2012, the world was under the impression that Huma Abedin was still Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's full-time Deputy Chief of Staff. But that June her job at the State Department furtively changed to part-time, and she became a Special Government Employee (S.G.E.) so that she could allegedly work from home at the pricey new Park Avenue condo - owned by a friend of the Clintons - she just moved into with her husband, former NY Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, who infamously resigned in 2011 for lying about sexting. Abedin claims that she became a S.G.E. to take care of her baby, but she took on consulting jobs and went on at least one foreign trip with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as I exclusively reported last month (See Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton).

However, clients of Teneo - a firm co-founded by two Clinton associates - would've known that Abedin was wearing two hats as early as September 16, 2012.

A September 2012 Teneo brochure (pdf link) touts Huma Abedin as "Senior Leadership" for the firm, and her specific job title is listed as a "Senior Advisor". Longtime Clintons aide Justin Cooper - who registered the www.Clintonemail.com domain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin secretly used to send and receive emails instead of official State Department accounts - is featured on the same page.

"Teneo's highly experienced and dedicated professions come from diverse backgrounds including investment banking, private equity, corporate finance and strategy, government, government affairs, communications, investor relations, media, and public policy," the brochure states.

Clients were told that Huma Abedin was a Senior Advisor for Teneo, but there doesn't appear to be any sign that Teneo ever noted it on its website, where the public and journalists would know that she was working for them while still at the State Department. The Weiners, Clintons and the State Department didn't inform the public or press that she was working for four clients at the same time: the State Department, Teneo, the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton, herself. As I reported in 2013, Acting Deputy Spokesperson and Director of the Press Office Patrick Ventrell didn't correct a journalist who specifically referred to Huma Abedin as Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff during a July 18th, 2012 press conference. I also reported how the Weiners and Clintons often inform the press about mistakes on their behalf, but they said nothing when The New York Times wrongly reported Abedin was still Hillary's Deputy Chief of Staff throughout 2012 in multiple articles. President Barack Obama defended Huma Abedin in an August 10, 2012 speech while she sat beside his podium. Obama said she worked "exhaustingly" at the State Department, but he also essentially kept her part-time status a secret.

On Sunday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that she was running for president. But recent polls show that the emails controversy may haunt her, since she deleted over 30,000 emails without independent oversight, after the State Department asked her to turn them over, in part, because of a Congressional investigation of the Benghazi scandal.

Clinton's and Abedin's emails are also being sought by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) who is probing Teneo and the SGE program. In addition, lawsuits by the Associated Press, Citizens United and Judicial Watch have been filed related to unfulfilled Freedom of Information Act requests from 2013 regarding Abedin's counseling for Teneo and the Clinton Foundation, while working at the State Department, too. Earlier today, Judicial Watch's Micah Morrison tweeted that my "upcoming articles could derail #Clinton2016".

DEVELOPING...MORE TO COME...

See my previous stories for more details:

Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo

Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton

State Secretary's last dinner in Dublin hosted by Clinton Foundation donor

Is Weiner planning to try and win back his old Congress seat?

State Dept. spokesman fielded question about Hillary Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff after Huma Abedin 'quietly' left position

Anthony Weiner company led by former board director for firm investors blasted as 'CROOKS'

Friends of Weiner may get hit with FEC audit or enforcement action

Weiner paid 'fund-raising whiz' $8K a month after he resigned .

(Hat tip to Huffington Post's Ryan Grim)

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce may only appear once on former State Secretary Hillary Clinton's mandatory financial disclosure form, but the 2016 US presidential candidate seems to have netted close to ten percent of her recent speech income from the bank which has a history of "often" being investigated for fraud by the US. Since campaign officials and organizers duck multiple media inquiries, it's hard to get the whole financial picture just from what has been publicly revealed. But it appears that the foreign bank paid close to $900,000 for Hillary Clinton speeches just in the last eight months alone.

"Hillary Clinton gave 51 paid speeches for a total of nearly $12 million since January 2014,"Josh Gerstein and Louis Nelson reported for Politico.

However, four-to-five of those speeches appear to have been sponsored by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), and Clinton's fee also seemed to rise until she entered the presidential race.

Less than a year ago, Hillary Clinton was paid $150,000 for a speech in Toronto, Canada on June 16th and $100,000 for one in Edmonton two days later. Both events were handled by the two-man firm tinePublic - who have prospered booking many speeches by former US political leaders across Canada - including both President Bushes and Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton earned $225,000 for a March speech handled by tinePublic in Calgary. Press accounts for both speeches in June only mentioned that they were to promote Hillary Clinton's book, "Hard Choices", and didn't mention any possible corporate sponsors.

But the Edmonton speech apparently included a moderated question-and-answer forum with Victor Dodig, who was Senior Executive Vice-President for CIBC, at the time. Not long after, in late July, Dodig was promoted to CEO and bank president.

And after an October 6, 2014 speech for a Canada 2020 event, Hillary Clinton did another "interview" with Dodig. But this earned Clinton more than double what she earned in Edmonton: $215,500. She earned $674,000 for three speeches sponsored by CIBC in 2015, but it's unclear if the bank also paid her $315,000 for the Edmonton and Ottawa sessions in 2014.

The Canada 2020 website placed CIBC first in a list of sponsors for the Ottawa speech at a "special" luncheon: "Join Canada 2020 for this special luncheon event featuring a keynote address from Secretary Clinton followed by an on-stage Q&A." And the photo credit for the picture of Dodig and Clinton - shown above - that it links to at Flicker, reads, "Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered keynote remarks at a special Canada 2020 luncheon event sponsored by CIBC on Monday, October 6th 2014."

"Following her address in Ottawa Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat with CIBC CEO Victor Dodig for an informal interview,"according to an October 6, 2014 report from Canada's iPOLITICS. "The two had met before in Edmonton, which Dodig reminisced on fondly."

Journalists following the Clinton 2016 presidential campaign as it travels across the US have complained that she went over three weeks without replying to questions from the press, but Dodig has essentially paid her for at least four "interviews" delivered to thousands of Canadians within the last year.

On Twitter, CNN political producer Dan Merica - who is currently covering the Clinton campaign - joked, "@cibc CEO Victor Dodig has interviewed Hillary Clinton 3x (Edmonton, Ottawa & Winnipeg) in the last yr. What U.S. news anchor can say that?"

In a Canadian newspaper article published in January called "Clinton Tickets Selling Fast" (which isn't currently readable on the internet), Andy McCreath of tinePublic Inc explained, "We did an event in June with Clinton in Edmonton and Toronto, and Victor was the moderator then and he was fantastic, so it was an easy decision" to do it again for the Winnipeg show this year.

January's speeches for the bank garnered some bad publicity for Hillary Clinton, before she officially entered the race, but media outlets noting the speeches didn't realize she may have earned double the amount that they estimated - since they didn't know about the January 22nd speech in Whistler and the bank's sponsorship of the Ottawa luncheon. Both the organizers and campaign officials ducked questions from multiple media outlets in Canada and the United States regarding details and fees.

"Clinton has given dozens of speeches since leaving office as Secretary of State, many for free and many drawing paychecks of as much as $200,000 to $300,000," McClatchy's Anita Kumar reported on January 19, 2015. "The Wednesday addresses could stand out, as they’ll be hosted by a foreign bank with a history of investigations by U.S. officials."

"In 2003, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce settled a case with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $80 million for allegedly helping the Enron energy company mislead investors through a series of transactions over a period of several years, according to the SEC. At least two executives agreed to settle charges of aiding and abetting the fraud, paying a total of $600,000.

In 2005, CIBC settled another case with SEC for $125 million after it was accused of financing late trading to increase their customers' trading profits at the expense of long-term mutual fund shareholders, according to the SEC.

And again in 2005, the bank agreed to pay nearly a half million dollars to settle SEC allegations that it broke the law by underwriting municipal securities for the state of California after making campaign donations to six politicians, including former Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis, according to the SEC. Securities law forbids a corporate donor from doing municipal securities work for an issuer within two years of a contribution."

"Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce agreed yesterday to pay $2.4 billion to settle claims that it helped hide losses at the Enron Corporation, raising to $7.1 billion the sum that banks and other defendants have thus far agreed to pay to compensate investors," Jeff Bailey reported for The New York Times August 3, 2005. "The Enron lawsuit accused CIBC and other firms of creating false investments in elaborate and complex Enron partnerships that had the effect of deceiving investors and moving billions of dollars of debt off the company's balance sheet."

Even though it agreed to pay a few billion dollars, Bailey noted that "CIBC said it admitted no wrongdoing in the Enron matter, and that it had settled to avoid uncertainties of further litigation."

Reporting in 2009 for the Financial Post, John Greenwood wrote, "Four years after Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce paid a record $3-billion settlement to disentangle itself from Enron litigation, the spectre of the failed U.S. energy trader has come back to haunt Canada’s fifth-largest bank."

"CIBC disclosed Wednesday that it is preparing to go to court with the Canada Revenue Agency to defend its position that the settlement is tax-deductible," Greenwood noted. "If the bank wins it will recognize a tax benefit of $214-million, but if the government prevails CIBC could end up having to pay $826-million."

Another McClatchy article from January - "Hillary Clinton talks to be hosted by bank often investigated for wrongdoing" - noted, "Hillary Clinton, the presumed frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, will give a pair of speeches on Wednesday in Canada hosted by a major bank that has been the subject of several investigations into wrongdoing over the past dozen years."

"Ms Clinton and the bank refused to say if she's being paid for the speeches," the story added. "But the appearances are all but certain to fuel complaints that she's too close to the corporate elites, especially coming a day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech focusing on the plight of the middle class and signs that several top Republicans also plan to make economic populism a centrepiece of their campaigns."

"More recently, it was hit with a series of class action lawsuits seeking $US4 billion over allegations that it did not adequately warn investors of its exposure to the US subprime market. In each case, even the ones in which CIBC settled, it denied any wrongdoing.

Clinton will speak in Winnipeg and Saskatoon as part of the Global Perspective speakers series sponsored by the Toronto-based bank with millions of clients and tens of thousands of employees. Tickets are being sold for the events that will be held in large arenas, at the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre and the TCU Place.

CIBC and a Clinton spokesman did not respond to questions from McClatchy."

On January 20, 2015, Washington Free Beacon Staff noted, "Hillary Clinton will give two speeches Wednesday in Canada and is co-hosted by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The bank has recently come under investigation from the United States for helping wealthy Americans offshore money in the bank’s Caribbean accounts to avoid paying federal taxes."

"The Elizabeth Warren-supporting wing of the Democratic party has not been quiet in reminding people that Hillary Clinton has connections to Wall Street and big banks," the Free Beacon staff editorialized. "These poorly timed paid speeches will raise some eyebrows and show misgivings of Hillary Clinton’s connections."

CBS News reported, "Clinton's speaking engagements like this one have drawn attention because of the high fees she commands. Her twin speeches Wednesday, in particular, have been criticized because CIBC has reportedly been the subject of federal fraud investigations. And while Clinton has said that the cash collected goes to her foundation, some have still used Clinton's lucrative speaking tour to tie her to the wealthy elite."

"Organizers did not respond to a request for information about whether Clinton was paid to speak in Winnipeg and, later Wednesday, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan," the CBS News story about the two known speeches in January.

Last December CNN's Dan Merica reported, "Clinton's events in Canada have run the gamut, from speeches at high priced dinners to question and answer sessions in theaters. Most have been promoted and organized by TINEPUBLIC, a special events and conference organizer in Canada. CNN's calls to the group went unanswered on Monday."

Although its numbers were off, the conservative leaning WND.com complained in April, "Since leaving the State Department in January 2013, Hillary has given six paid speeches in Canada. At $200,000 to $300,000 a speech or more, that’s between, $1.2 million and $1.8 million of personal income courtesy of the Canadians."

MSNBC also reported in January that "Gordon Giffin, a longtime Clinton donor who served as ambassador to Canada under Bill Clinton, is on the board of directors of the CIBC, the bank sponsoring Clinton’s appearance, and has lobbied for the company hoping to build the Keystone pipeline."

"Giffin, who as a “Hillraiser” bundler for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and has donated $1,000 to the pro-Clinton super PAC Ready for Hillary, is a lawyer specializing in international energy issues. His firm was a registered lobbyist for Transcanada for several years, and Giffin personally lobbied for the company trying to build Keystone pipeline in 2007 and 2008, according to Senate ethics records. Transcanada did not fully takeover the Keystone pipeline until 2009.

Giffin is also on the board of Canadian Natural Resources, an energy company pushing for Keystone to be built. Also on that board with him is his former counterpart, Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. who has moderated discussions with Clinton on previous visits to Canada. "

"A post in Canada, our biggest trade partner, brings plenty of future earnings potential,"Muckety reported in April of 2011. Former US Ambassador to Canada "Gordon D. Giffin, named to the job by President Bill Clinton, received more than $990,000 (Canadian) last year in cash, stock and other compensation for his work on four Canadian corporate boards." Five years ago, while living in Atlanta, GA, Giffin was "director of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canadian National Railway Company, TransAlta Corporation and Canadian Natural Resources Limited."

According to this Canadian Press article, around 2,000 people attended the Winnipeg speech Hillary Clinton gave - a day after President Obama's State of the Union address - and tickets sold for $300 each. "Tickets for Clinton's appearance in Saskatoon ranged from $96 to more than $300." The bank paid $524,500 for those speeches, and another $150,000 for one given in Whistler, Canada the day after on January 22, 2015, was for the bank itself, at the CIBC 18th Annual Whistler Institutional Investor Conference (link).

"Great afternoon with @CIBCEquities and @HillaryClinton talking social media & US/Canada ties at #CIBC2015Whistler,"IntergulfGroup tweeted.

Dodig "interviewed" Clinton again, according to Quentin broad: "Meet & greet with @HillaryClinton followed by a speech & fireside chat with CIBC CEO Victor Dodig #cibcwhistler2015.

"I know it's been a busy schedule already. I said I'm extremely impressed with CIBC to bring in Hillary Clinton as a warm-up speaker for the uranium section is really kind of over the top. I thought so. Anyway, ...," Tim Gitzel, the president and CEO of Cameco Corporation, joked in an online transcript of a "fireside chat" with Tom Meyer - Executive Director, Institutional Equity Research, Base Metals & Minerals Analyst at CIBC - regarding the global uranium market held at 1:30 PM on January 22, 2015. (pdf link).

Later, in the transcript, Cameco CEO Gitzel references Hillary Clinton two more times, and he uses her words to pitch the case that uranium is the best option for foreign countries to power their electricity.

"So, you know, in countries—where are we seeing the growth? It's in countries, China, India, South Korea, Russia, countries with—Middle East now—big growing populations that need more electricity going forward, but they need large baseload electricity; electricity to run health care systems, transportation systems, education systems. I can tell you we're all for wind power. We love it. We love wind power and we love solar. You're not going to run a health system on solar power; not today you're not. You need backup power for that, and so what are your choices? You heard them from Hillary Clinton. I mean you've got coal. Some like, some don't like that. You've got oil; maybe, but not much electricity generated by oil anymore. Gas; gas is a big competitor for us in North America and you heard her, on a competitive basis, nuclear is—can't touch $2 gas. You've got hydro, and some like or don't like that. Try damming up a river up here somewhere and see how that goes over for you. So, you know, there's choices to be made. None of them are perfect. We think nuclear fits nice in Asia. We're spending a lot of our time now over in Asia with the Chinese, in South Korea. India's going to be a big market for us going forward. The Canadian government's been very helpful getting agreements in place that will allow us to ship our uranium into India, and if they can get coordinated with their build-out, it's going to be a big market as well."

2014-2015 Hillary Clinton speeches that appear to have been sponsored by CIBC:

tinePublic Inc. 6/18/2014 Edmonton, Canada $100,000

Canada 2020 10/6/2014 Ottawa, Canada $215,500

tinePublic Inc. 1/21/2015 Winnipeg, Canada $262,000

tinePublic Inc. 1/21/2015 Saskatoon, Canada $262,500

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 1/22/2015 Whistler, Canada $150,000

Updates at bottom: Investors Hub board calls firm that current Weiner business associate formerly worked for as Compensation Committee chairman a "criminal enterprise"; Bill Clinton met with another Anthony Weiner client, posed for photos at March conference where he allegedly "highly admired" firm; NY Post apparently misreported Weiner went to Florida sex addiction clinic instead of work trip for client in July of 2011

"It did not take Mr. Weiner long to embark on a new career after he left Congress on June 16, 2011,"Michael Barbaro reported for the New York Times on April 29, 2013. "On July 7, he quietly incorporated a new firm, Woolf Weiner Associates, named for his great-grandfather, an Austrian immigrant to the Lower East Side."

According to Barbaro's article, former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner - who I reported was mulling running for NYC mayor months before anyone else, based on FEC records a year ago - "counseled a biofuel firm about expansion into the emerging markets of Latin America and Africa."

The NY Times article continues,

"'Business is business,' said Harold Gubnitsky, formerly executive vice president at Parabel, a Weiner client that harvests an algae-like crop used for food and fuel."

....

"At Parabel, Mr. Weiner was credited with distilling the company’s complex business model into easy-to-understand sales pitches for potential investors and foreign officials, at times to the amazement of the businessmen in the room. Mr. Gubnitsky recalled how Mr. Weiner employed the concept of 'economic ecosystems' to highlight the positive impact of the firm’s technology on farmers and consumers. "

"We have very exciting projects and in both Asia and Latin America,"Gubnitsky was quoted in a July 5, 2011 interview with Algae News.

Weiner apparently snagged Parabel as a client within two weeks after incorporating his firm, since he appeared to be doing homework on the way back from his reported sex addiction clinic trip. However, the New York Post story - which many media organizations unquestionably reported - assuming Weiner visited Florida in July of 2011 for therapeutic reasons related to the scandal appears to be wrong.

"A Post reporter spotted Weiner on Wednesday night flying first-class from Orlando to La Guardia Airport on a Delta flight, carrying nothing but his iPad and several documents,"Josh Margolin, Brigitte Stelzer and Dan Mangan reported for the New York Post on July 22, 2011. "Orlando is near the Winter Park, Fla., offices of the New Leaf Center, which on its Web site says it provides outpatient therapy for sexual addiction and sexual compulsivity issues, including for 'politicians.' Staff there asked a reporter to leave when he asked about Weiner yesterday."

The following picture credited to Brigitte Stelzer noted, "Former Rep. Anthony Weiner -- worried about regaining the trust of wife Huma Abedin, her mom, Saleha, and his wife's boss, Hillary Clinton, after his sex-addiction treatment -- shields his face aboard a mystery flight from Orlando to New York."


"Bizarrely, during his flight home from Orlando, Weiner was carrying a detailed analysis of energy issues in sub-Saharan African countries, as well as what appeared to be real-estate listings for two different grazing and farming properties in Kenya," the July 22, 2011, NY Post article added.

On June 16, 2011 - the same day Anthony Weiner resigned from Congress - PetroAlgae (which changed its name to Parabel in 2012) hired Anthony Tiarks to be CEO. A few weeks before, at Seeking Alpha, hedge fund manager Edward Schneider noted that PetroAlgae had "net debt of $57M, total assets of only $4M, and last 12 months' net loss of -$38M. Petroalgae has not generated any revenues since inception in 2006."

Considering the fact that Weiner's infamous tweet was only captured by one person on Twitter, @PatriotUSA aka Dan Wolfe - who I interviewed in late June of 2011 before he mysteriously vanished - it also seems kind of "bizarre" that the former Congressman would name his firm "Woolf Weiner Associates."

Reporting for the Sunlight Foundation on May 2, 2013, Lisa Rosenberg observed, "Shock and outrage (and some really amusing if not-ready-for-prime-time bits on the Daily Show) accompanied the former representative’s slimy use of social media. But there’s no shock or outrage accompanying his even slimier use of his former position for profit. Indeed, the New York Times seems to think Weiner’s secret lobbying on behalf of corporate clients somehow serves 'as a compelling campaign credential' as he considers a run for mayor."

"Rather than touting it as a career booster, Weiner’s stealth lobbying should be seen as still more evidence for the need to strengthen current lobbying disclosure laws," Rosenberg adds. "The only people in Washington who seem to support secret lobbying are the members of Congress who want to keep that lucrative career path open to themselves when they leave government service."

Also, kind of "bizarrely", the same reporter who wrote a soft article about Weiner's post-Congressional "stealth lobbyist" work, worked on, perhaps, the most devastating NY Times article on Weiner, before he resigned.

Michael Barbaro co-wrote the June 9, 2011 article "In Reckless Fashion, Rapid Online Pursuits of Political Admirers" with Ashley R. Parker, who interviewed Weiner on the same day he sent Andrew Breitbart's future source his "full Monty" picture, as I reported in September of 2011. May 18 was the same exact day that fake teenager Starchild111 claimed she was unfollowed by Rep. Weiner after asking him to the prom, the same day one #BornFreeCrew member asked another, "Did that thing ever surface? I gotta go to work," and the same day that Meagan Broussard allegedly talked on the phone to Weiner and was sent two photos, including the one showing an erect penis; and the same day that a Republican contacted Drudge and Andrew Breitbart on Broussard's behalf.

The June 9, 2011 NY Times article was the first real interview with Gennette Cordova, who was the recipient - although she claims it was deleted before she actually saw it - of the May 27, 2011 underwear tweet that the mysterious Dan Wolfe saw and tweeted to Andrew Breitbart and Dana Loesch, who broke the story before anyone else.

"Ms. Cordova’s experience with Mr. Weiner appears to fit a pattern: in rapid and reckless fashion, he sought to transform informal online conversations about politics and partisanship into sexually charged exchanges, at times laced with racy language and explicit images," Barbaro and Parker wrote.

However, Cordova claimed she never sexted with Weiner and the underwear tweet wasn't extremely explicit. But the Times was unable to reach any of Weiner's actual sexters so they ran with the Cordova interview (I've interviewed two of them, as I will report at a future date). Also, "bizarrely", Cordova later hinted to me on Twitter that she shared screenshots of alleged Direct Messages with Weiner where he allegedly told her to get one of the fake teenage girls - I helped expose with New York Times reporter Jen Preston, who often RT's Barbaro's stories - to follow him, as I reported in April. Weiner allegedly asked Cordova to "lead her back to" him, and suggested that she ask @starchild111 "did you take my advice and follow anthony?"

Preston's story revealing the teens were fake wasn't published until the day after Weiner resigned from Congress. While my research only theorized they were fake, Preston reported that Mediaite's Tommy Christopher - who had written an article on the teens and nastily argued with bloggers who suspected they were fake - sent her a California driver’s license with the name of their alleged mother "Patricia Reid, at a Los Angeles address, as well as school identification for the girls.

NY Times reporter Preston reported all the documentation sent to Christopher was fake "according to California state officials and school district officials," but never posted screenshots or reported the potentially criminal deception to law enforcement, even though it's possible that the same fraudsters could have been involved in the Weinergate-related SWATtings of conservative bloggers. Preston and Christopher also "bizarrely" never reported on the fake 911 calls that sent police to conservatives' homes, even though they had exclusives on the first two a year before the news broke.

5/7/13 Update: No definitive proof Weiner went to clinic in Florida

Although part of the headline for the 7/22/11 exclusive New York Post was called "Weiner in Therapy," the tabloid never actually proved that Weiner's trip to Florida was to visit a sex addiction clinic. And there doesn't even seem to be any definitive proof Weiner spent all that much time in therapy, or even saw a doctor after leaving Congress and starting his firm just weeks later.

"It is unclear where Weiner is undergoing therapy -- and whether it's simply as an outpatient on a shrink's couch or involves more intensive therapy at a special clinic," the Post actually reported, about the 7/20/11 flight that photographer Brigitte Stelzer happened to catch Weiner on. The photograph oddly didn't show Weiner's face, as if he was embarrassed being captured on the trip, and it's strange that one showing his face wasn't used instead.

Brigitte Stelzer is the same photographer who happened to chance upon Weiner bizarrely packing a box into his car the day before Democratic candidate David Weprin lost to Republican Bob Turner in the special election held for Weiner's empty seat. Oddly, the caption under Stelzer's photo said Weiner "loads a chair," while the picture showed him carting a linen box, with a surprised look on his face. Perhaps Weiner was surprised to see the same NY Post photographer catch him outside a house he already had moved out of and who happened to be on the same Florida-to-New York trip two months before.


"Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner did his fellow Democrats no favors yesterday -- moving out of his district just as his panicking party struggled to hold on to his endangered congressional seat," Jennier Gould Keil reported for the New York Post on September 13, 2011. "Weiner took the last remaining items from his Queens co-op just in time to remind voters why they have to vote today -- because he resigned in a sexting scandal that made him a national laughingstock."

The Post reported that Weiner "came back for an office chair and a box," but didn't explain why they weren't picked up by the moving van that he assumingly hired that "virtually emptied" his apartment on Friday September 9. Weiner "declined to comment on his move," so it's unknown why he waited three days to pick up the last remaining box and a chair.

"The Weiner seat, in the state’s 9th Congressional District, is likely to be chewed up by redistricting, so whoever is elected today will represent his Queens-Brooklyn constituents for only the unexpired one year of Weiner’s term," the September NY Post article correctly predicted.

A long, but mostly non-informative ten-page April 14, 2013 story in The New York Times magazine - that read like a P.R. piece - claimed that "Weiner started seeing a therapist almost immediately after the scandal broke." Weiner presumably revealed to Jonathan Van Meter that the only doctor he visited was in New York, since he wouldn't have been able to sneak out-of-state during the height of Weinergate.

"Therapy wasn’t something that came naturally to me," Weiner told Van Meter. "I am this middle-class guy from Brooklyn, the men in our family don’t hug each other, we don’t talk about our feelings. It wasn’t a comfortable place to be. And now I start sentences with, 'My therapist says....'"

Strikingly, Van Meter begins the next paragraph with, "What does your therapist say? I asked the next time we met," but Weiner responds in the past tense: "It’s none of the easy stuff. She didn’t tell me: 'You have a sex addiction! You were abused as a child!' None of that stuff, which in a lot of ways, I’d kind of prefer.' He laughed. "It’s an easy explanation that people intuitively get."

Another sentence uses the present tense to report that Weiner was "in therapy," but there doesn't seem to be any definitive proof that the potential mayoral candidate even saw a doctor after leaving Congress.

The corporate offices for Parabel Inc. are located at 1901 S. Harbor City Blvd. in Melbourne, Florida, so Weiner might have actually been on an all-business trip when Stelzer happened to catch him on an Orlando-to-New York flight. That's only about a 60 mile distance or an hour's drive from the airport in Orlando.

Yesterday, a May 6th New York Post article credited to Sally Goldenberg and Carl Campanile claimed, "Sugar daddies bailed out Anthony Weiner when he was down and out — giving him work after stuffing his many political campaigns with donations."

"Hedge-fund brothers David and Eugene Grin helped Weiner with consulting work after he resigned from Congress following his sexting scandal, The Post has learned," the article continued. "The Grins also assisted his mayoral and congressional races, raising nearly $50,000 for Weiner, who is now considering a mayoral run. Through two hedge funds, the Grins control Parabel, a company that claims to harvest an algae-like crop."

Goldenberg and Campanile report, "What Weiner failed to mention was that on Jan. 13, Parabel transferred nearly all of its assets to a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands — on the same day a United Arab Emirates firm pumped $15 million into Parabel, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission document."

Weiner's memory from only five months ago appears to be stinted since he told the paper, "I’m not even sure I was consulting for them during this period."

I found - through searching the NYC CFB website - $1,250 from Weiner's "sugar daddies" aka the brothers Grin in mayoral campaign contributions dating back to December of 2004 (link), about $10,000 in mayoral campaign contributions in May of 2008 (link), approximately $4700 from David Grin to Friends of Weiner in the fall of 2008 and 2009, and $2,000 from Eugene Grin in 2002 and 2003 and $2,400 in 2009 from Eugene Grin to Friends of Weiner (according to searches in FEC database). In 2008, David Grin collected $31,850, through intermediaries for the 2008 NYC mayoral campaign (as Gold pointed out to me on Twitter), which never happened but would apply to the current race if Weiner enters the field. For some reason, the Grins stopped contributing in 2009, but altogether the brothers - who appear to mostly donate to Republicans - gave and collected close to $53,000 in donations for Weiner campaigns dating back to 2002.

5/9 Update: Firm Weiner consulted for brags former President Bill Clinton "highly admired" its role in making healthcare more affordable and transparent

Anthony Weiner "signed up a New York firm called CureMD, an electronic medical records provider,"the NY Times reported on April 20, 2013. The very first line of Michael Barbaro's article breathlessly reported, "Anthony D. Weiner has demystified the details of the 906-page Affordable Care Act for an electronic medical records company." The EMR provider tweeted a link to the NY Times story on Weiner.


According to its website, "At CureMD, healthcare technology is our core focus. This single vision has enabled us to continuously innovate products and services that facilitate care providers, while providing steady growth and profitability." Its FAQ page adds, "CureMD is the leading provider of innovative health information systems and services that transform the administrative and clinical operations of healthcare organizations. Our award winning solutions simplify decision making, streamline operations, and ensure compliance with industry standards and best practices; ultimately saving time and effort to maximize value and returns."

Just before election day, CureMD_EMR interestingly tweeted a link to a MedCity News article called "The impending disaster of the Obamacare health insurance exchanges." Sally Pipes argued, "Like so much of the president’s gargantuan healthcare entitlement, the exchanges are burdened by a spider’s web of confusing regulations, poor design, and a top-down, command-and-control structure."

"Like Obamacare itself, the exchange system is plagued by incompetent management, burdensome regulations, and inept political calculations," Pipes added. "Even if the president manages to eke out a victory on election day, November could still prove his undoing."


Another tweet by the firm on March 6 said, "HIMSS News Feed - Ex-President Clinton admires CureMD innovation and its role in making healthcare more affordable and transparent..." At its website, CureMD wrote, "CureMD unveiled innovative EMR technology at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Meeting (HIMSS) in New Orleans, March 3-7. Former President, Bill Clinton was also present at the event and admired CureMD’s role in making healthcare more affordable and transparent. At the event, the rapidly growing New York based company also announced the completion of their third acquisition since January, 2013."

The firm's Facebook page modified its own press release claim to "Former President Clinton highly admired CureMD innovation and its role in making healthcare more affordable and transparent at the Annual HIMSS Conference in New Orleans," and includes four pictures of Bill Clinton posing with CureMD executives CEO Kamal Hashmat and CIO Bill Hashmat (pictured below, left and right).


CureMD CEO Kamal Hashmat contributed $2,500 to Weiner's 2008 NYC mayoral campaign fund, according to the New York State Board of Elections Contributions website.

"Bill Clinton Stumps For Health IT At HIMSS,"a headline for a Information Week story by Neil Versel noted, after the former president's March 6 Keynote speech. "Clinton said that the ultimate outcome of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act depends on how the 2010 law is implemented, and on decisions that people make outside the framework of the law itself."

Versel added, "The former president's William J. Clinton Foundation last fall started the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, in partnership with General Electric, Tenet Healthcare and Verizon Communications, to work toward closing health disparities between different socioeconomic groups in U.S. communities." Clips of Clinton's speech can be viewed at these YouTube links: "President Clinton Introductory Remarks at HIMSS 2013" where he expresses "gratitude to GE and Verizon, who have partnered with the Health Matters Initiative," and "President Clinton at HIMSS on Reducing Obesity." Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush's Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, also attended the HIMSS conference, where he had a debate with political consultant James Carville, who "helped Bill Clinton win the Presidency" in 1992, as a HIMSS press release notes.

I was unable to find a transcript of Clinton's speech and didn't hear the former president specifically mention CureMD in any YouTube video clips, but the following may be related to Weiner's client, CureMD: "One of the things that I like in the technology area is this new federal initiative Blue Button which makes data directly available to people who can use it for a number of applications," Clinton told the "standing room only" New Orleans crowd, Healthcare IT Connect noted. "Organizations that serve more than 80 million Americans have now pledged to make healthcare information available digitally."

A commenter at a Healthcare technology blog owned by Brian Ahier, a Health IT Evangelist at Mid-Columbia Medical Center - who posted some of the Clinton clips on YouTube - asked, "Do you know why he didn't mention the HIMSS involvement that was announced the same morning"? Ahier responded, "Andy, if you mean the HIMSS involvement with Clinton Global Initiative and the Healthcare Transformation Project he absolutely did mention it. Watch the first video above - right about 2:30 he talks about the $2.5 million commitment of HIMSS to the project."

"HIMSS, itself a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) since September, announced this week that it would commit $2.5 million over the next five years to its HIMSS Healthcare Transformation Project as part of its pledge to take action furthering the goals of CGI," Neil Versel reported in his Information Week article. "The HIMSS Healthcare Transformation Project is a collaborative forum of senior healthcare executives, while the CGI looks to address a variety of problems around the world, including inequities in the provision of public services."

A HIMSS press release stated, "The Healthcare Transformation brings senior healthcare provider leaders together, with year-round events, research and networking, as they decide and act upon their own commitments to action. HIMSS also announces its participation with CGI on March 6, the same day former President Clinton speaks to the conference attendees during HIMSS13 in New Orleans. More than 35,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibiting companies have come to the Big Easy for the conference."

According to its website, "HIMSS is a cause-based, not-for-profit organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare." The About page adds, "HIMSS Board members are leaders in the field of healthcare information technology—top executives in both vendor companies and healthcare provider systems--who serve a three-year term to help grow and lead the industry." CureMD was touted as one of the Corporate Members of the Week in an HIMSS newsletter that was released shortly before the annual conference in March.

Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, began working for Hillary Clinton sixteen years ago. She "began working for Clinton as a White House intern in 1996, eventually becoming the former first lady's traveling chief of staff -- or 'body man' -- during her campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,"CNN reported on June 8, 2011, "joined Clinton's State Department staff in 2009, serving as a senior aide," and "Former President Bill Clinton officiated at their July 2010 wedding."

Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton have also famously played the "good wives," and stood by their men. Bill Clinton weathered and survived his sex scandal and his wife's political career may have even been boosted by her unwavering support for her still extremely popular husband. The Weiners are - no doubt - hoping for similar results, which is probably why Anthony mentions Huma frequently in his post-Weinergate interviews with the media.

5/15 Update: Investors Hub board calls firm Weiner associate worked for a "criminal enterprise"


Harold Gubnitsky figured prominently in Michael Barbaro's April 29, 2013 NY Times article which revealed that "good capitalist" Anthony Weiner has a two-year old consulting firm. Along with the quotes up top, the former executive vice president at Parabel also "recalled how Mr. Weiner employed the concept of 'economic ecosystems' to highlight the positive impact of the firm’s technology on farmers and consumers."

Barbaro also reported "Weiner was credited with distilling the company’s complex business model into easy-to-understand sales pitches for potential investors and foreign officials, at times to the amazement of the businessmen in the room," but doesn't mention if his only source for that was Gubnitsky, since the article doesn't quote anyone else who worked or currently worked for Parabel, which used to be called PetroAlgae. As noted above, PetroAlgae hadn't "generated any revenues since inception in 2006," according to a profile written shortly before Weiner landed it as a client after leaving Congress.

Weiner, Barbaro reported, even created a new company - which isn't named, but is "a consulting firm led by Mr. Gubnitsky" which "will focus on renewable energy in Latin America." I searched through Florida and New York corporation databases but was unable to find any information on this "new company," created by possible NYC mayoral candidate Weiner.

"Biophan Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: BIPH), a developer of next-generation biomedical technology, today announced that the Company has named Harold Gubnitsky to the board of directors,"a press release issued on February 7, 2008 states. Biophan's PR also noted Gubnitsky "is a seasoned executive who has worked with and within several large, medium, and small corporations with a wide range of responsibilities spanning executive management and operations."

The moderator and many participants at a message board for Investors Hub Daily, which claims that it's "[o]ne of the most active financial forums in the world," believe that Biophan is a "criminal enterprise."The "About Us" page claims,"Investors Hub has been online for over 13 years and currently has 398,699 Members who have posted 87,953,548 Messages on 21,927 Boards. Our Members currently write on average 40,000 new Messages each trading day."

At the top of the Biophan Technologies Message Board on Investors Hub, the moderator's welcome message states, "As Biophan is now officially dark, having elected to go "Pink" and non-reporting, please note that none of the information below can be considered to be current, and quite possibly is inaccurate."

"And as the 'management' of Biophan transferred between $10 million and $17 million of shareholders' funds to private individuals just prior to going dark, some people (your Mod is one) think the company is essentially a criminal enterprise. Others don't, hence the content of the remainder of this iBox," the welcome message adds.

The last press release at Biophan's website, which was released on July 22, 2009 - 17 months after Gubnitsky became a board director - said that it "filed a Form 15 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, voluntarily terminating the registration of its securities and its obligation to continue filing reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934."

"The Biophan board of directors unanimously resolved to take this action to conserve its cash resources," the press release also noted. "Other actions taken by the board in this regard include management and staff reductions."

Apparently in response to this news, someone at the Investors Hub message board, wrote, "What a bunch of CROOKS that are involved with this POS!!" In response, a fellow complainer, said that he was "glad" he was out, and added, that he had spent "to[o] many years believing in good technology run by con men."

The forum's moderator "sunspotter"alleged that the Chief Executive Officer and President John Lanzafame had committed "an actionable breach of both fiduciary duty but also of securities legislation," and "must think Biophan shareholders are an extraordinarily naive and gullible group (!)." He alleged, "A more obvious and egregious breach of fiduciary duty was Mr. Lanzafame's extraordinary move to sell the Myotech CSS technology at a knock down price to his own shell company set up by him with his pal Frank Terrizzi." A week later, "sunspotter"argued, "The chaps (phew! close one there - I nearly wrote "crooks"!) running this show have decided that they've pretty well wrung you shareholders out, and now it's time for a new game...Frankly, anyone who doesn't acknowledge that the game is up, and that the ordinary shareholder has been fleeced, is either extraordinarily optimistic to the extent that they are in denial of the facts, or is not being entirely straigh[t]forward in their posts."

Still angry years later, on February 20, 2013, "sunspotter" wrote at the forum he moderates, that he "can only imagine that long-running scam BIPH is being lined up for a mega-pump, and that a $30-$50 day crew is being lined up for a promo blitz. Par for the course for the crooks behind the whole Technology Innovations/Biophan scam, Michael Weiner, Jim Wemett and John Lanzafame. As a buy-and-hold investment, empty shell BIPH will continue to stink, of course."

"And with a long line of previous marks lining up to exit this sorry criminal conspiracy, any strength in the pps will be unlikely to last long," the Investors Hub moderator added.

[Editor's Note: Michael Weiner left Biophan before Gubnitsky was hired, and doesn't appear to be related to Anthony Weiner, as far as I can tell.]

Although his name no longer appears on the Biophan website, an archive link reveals that Gubnitsky was still listed as one of four board members as late as September of 2009.

In September of 2008, Gubnitsky replaced fellow Board Director Stan Yakatan on the Compensation Committee, according to a press release. A May of 2009 filing lists Gubnitsky as "Director and Chairman of the Compensation Committee," and said that he received $14,000, so far, for chairing the committee, that year.

"The Compensation Committee is currently composed of Mr. Gubnitsky," the filing continued. "Ms. Labosky also served on this committee until her resignation from the Board on November 11, 2008. The responsibilities of the Compensation Committee is more fully set forth in the Compensation Committee Charter adopted in June 2005 and posted on our website at www.biophan.com, include reviewing our compensation policies, establishing executive officer compensation, and administering our stock option plans. The Compensation Committee met informally several times during our fiscal year ended February 28, 2009. Each member of the Compensation Committee attended all of the meetings during their respective period of service. None of the members of our Compensation Committee has ever been our employee."

[Editor's Note: On 5/16/13 I changed headline from "Stealth lobbyist Anthony Weiner worked during alleged sex addiction clinic trip" to "Anthony Weiner company led by former board director for firm investors blasted as 'CROOKS'" since the New York Post story that inspired the former appears to be wrong.]

International consulting firm Teneo was founded by a longtime Bill Clinton associate and two Hillary Clinton fundraisers, one of whom the former US Secretary of State now running for president appointed US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland. Former US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were hired by Teneo months after its official launch in 2011, which generated world publicity attracting top firms willing to pay up to six figures a month for consultancy from a firm connected to former world leaders. Former British counterpart to Hillary Clinton, Foreign Secretary William Hague is the latest big shot to sign up with Teneo, after leaving or taking a rest from politics.

Photo credit: "Friday, July 15, 2011 U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and British Foreign Secretary William Hague chat during the Libya contact group meeting in Istanbul July 15, 2011. REUTERS/Osman Orsal"

"Hague, 54, who stepped down as an MP at the general election, has started work for Teneo, a New York-based corporate advisory firm whose clients include Coca-Cola, UBS and Standard Chartered," James Lyons and Tim Shipman reported for the UK's Sunday Times on May 31, 2015. "It charges clients a monthly retainer of up to $250,000 (£163,000)."

Teneo is currently being probed by GOP Congressional leaders for its communications with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her former staff members that also work on her political campaigns and media outlets on the right, left and neutral have lawsuits seeking information from the State Department. Meanwhile, the Boston Business Journal reported on June 5th, that Boston 2024 - "to support its Olympics pitch" - has "signed a contract in April with Teneo Sports, a bid presentation firm, valued at up to $1.25 [million] annually."

On May 31, in an opinion piece for The Daily Mail - bearing the headline "Are ex-MPs REALLY just in it for all they can get?" - Peter McKay complained, "William Hague was retiring at 54 to write books, we were previously told. Now we hear the former Tory leader and Foreign Secretary is joining Teneo, a big-bucks New York-based consultancy firm which has employed those highly respected ex-public servants Bill Clinton and Tony Blair."

"‘How is the public interest served by ex-ministers taking the skills and insider knowledge they gained in government and flogging them to private interest?’ wonders Tamasin Cave, of pressure group Spinwatch. Not shy of stating the obvious, Ms Cave adds: ‘There is a reason why companies hire outgoing ministers. It has become another way of buying influence.’

But is there genuine public disquiet about ex-politicians making their fortunes in retirement by ‘advising’ big companies and in some cases governments? If so, it is not mentioned by politicians themselves. A few obscure Left-wing MPs protest from time to time, but I can’t think of a single prominent politico from any major party who has made an issue out of the self-enrichment schemes of retired colleagues.

Hague has friends across the political spectrum. As a former Foreign Secretary, he has made excellent business contacts internationally. Thanks to his support for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s campaign against the sexual abuse of women in war zones, he has also established himself in America, where the hiring of big-name politicos by business firms is uncontroversial."

"Surely we all have a right to share the knowledge and expertise which ministers accrued in public service," McKay opines. "It must be wrong for it to be used so that companies, or foreign regimes, benefit."

It was reported in May of 2011, just after Declan Kelly quit his envoy post, that Blair and former President Clinton would join the newly launched firm, but the official announcement didn't come until June 30, 2011, as I noted in March. According to the New York State Corporation & Business Entity Database, Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC was registered on November 18, 2009, which was two months after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had appointed him US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland. He has helped raise millions for her, and I also broke the news that her last foreign trip as State Secretary was to a event held in her honor by a Teneo client. Teneo CEO Declan Kelly was also on the Board of Directors for American Ireland Funds (part of the Worldwide Ireland Funds) when they held the Belfast luncheon for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012.

Two years ago, on January 29, 2013, the AFP reported, "British Foreign Secretary William Hague Monday hosted a private dinner to bid farewell to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she steps down from her post this week, officials said. The dinner was being held at the British embassy in Washington, and came amid a whirlwind of events for Clinton's last week as America's top diplomat.

"Hague on Monday joined the chorus of praise for Clinton's achievements as secretary of state, in an opinion piece for the Huffington Post in which he set out plans to seek G8 action against rape as a weapon of war.

Britain will chair the Group of Eight richest nations this year, and Hague said he would make it a 'personal priority... to secure new international action against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.'

'In the crowded field of Secretary Clinton's achievements her work on women's rights is particularly inspirational. In this as in so many of the challenges of our time, Britain and the United States are natural allies,' he wrote."

Hogue was awarded the 2014 Hillary Clinton Prize for Women, Peace and Security on February 25, 2014 at Georgetown University, and gave a speech that thanked and praised her.

"Everyone remembers who they shared a desk with at school. Well Hillary and I shared a desk for 2½ years when I was a brand-new Foreign Secretary, at the UN Security Council and in meetings around the world where they seat nations in alphabetical order.

She would silence any room, just by walking into it. She always spoke the truth as she saw it, fearlessly. And she was fond of passing notes in class. I remember one that said ‘William, let’s get out of here and have some fun’.

Hillary, you enhanced the standing of US diplomacy in the world. You strengthened the State Department. You created new opportunities for your country, breaking fresh diplomatic ground in Asia and Africa. You are one of the world’s resolute champions of human rights, and in doing all these things and more you placed the United States in a stronger position for the 21st century. You are a remarkable stateswoman and an outstanding American, and I am glad to call you my friend."

"We both started off a bit cautiously with each other, but, much to my delight, I found him a thoughtful statesman with good sense and good humor," Hillary Clinton wrote about William Hague in her book "Hard Choices", according to Daily Mail. "He also became a good friend."

"Mrs Clinton says: 'Hague brought to his job the understanding that diplomacy is slow and often boring but absolutely necessary.' She adds: 'Hague was the David Beckham of toasting!'"

In an April interview with Absolute Radio, Hague said he had "fun" having drinks with Hillary Clinton over the years. "I always got on with her," Hague said, after selecting her alone out of all the most "personable" world leaders he has known or worked with.

The former UK Foreign Secretary has over 250,000 followers at his Twitter account @WilliamJHague. He joined Twitter in March of 2010 and his profile also notes, "Leader of the House of Commons and MP for Richmond (Yorks) 1989-2015. Co-Founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative." However, it doesn't yet mention that he began working for Teneo a few weeks ago.

After two years of investigating longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's concurrent work at Teneo while still working for the former Secretary of State, a top Republican senator accused the State Department of erecting a "stone wall" to evade his questions. In his June 13, 2013 request to the State Department, Senator Chuck Grassley sought "all documents and/or communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent," which would have to include Bill Clinton, since along with being a paid adviser and an unpaid adviser for the firm, he was also a Teneo client, as I noted in March.

Huma Abedin was still in charge of helping to arrange former State Secretary's Hillary Clinton's schedule and worked for Teneo when both attended the December 2012 Belfast luncheon. In April, I reported that a September 2012 Teneo brochure touted Abedin as 'Senior Leadership' for the firm to clients, and her specific job title was listed as a 'Senior Advisor', even thought the media and public didn't know she worked for both at the time. Longtime Clintons aide Justin Cooper - who registered the www.Clintonemail.com domain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin secretly used to send and receive emails instead of official State Department accounts - was featured on the same page.

"Teneo's highly experienced and dedicated professions come from diverse backgrounds including investment banking, private equity, corporate finance and strategy, government, government affairs, communications, investor relations, media, and public policy," the brochure states.

Last month, conservative-leaning watchdog Judicial Watch posted an article about my Teneo reporting. "Reporter Ron Brynaert is one example of this new breed of investigative gunslinger," Micah Morrison wrote. "A former executive editor for Raw Story, Brynaert has been digging deep into the Teneo connection and publishing his findings at his blog, '-gate news' and on Twitter."

At The Washington Examiner, Sarah Westwood wrote, "Reporter Ron Brynaert first noted the connection between Teneo and the Ireland Funds on his blog, -gate News."

"A longtime Clinton aide, Abedin reportedly advised Clinton on her schedule and travel as deputy chief of staff — raising questions about whether she played a role in steering the secretary of state to an event in which her other employer was involved," Westwood reported, based on my articles, adding, "State Department officials did not return a request for comment" and "Teneo did not return a request for comment on its involvement with the Ireland Funds."

DEVELOPING...MORE TO COME...

See my previous stories for more information on the links between Teneo and the Clintons:

2012 Teneo brochure touted Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin as Senior Adviser for firm

Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo

Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton

State Secretary's last dinner in Dublin hosted by Clinton Foundation donor

Is Weiner planning to try and win back his old Congress seat?

State Dept. spokesman fielded question about Hillary Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff after Huma Abedin 'quietly' left position

Anthony Weiner company led by former board director for firm investors blasted as 'CROOKS'

Back in the nineties, many conservatives speculated that Sidney Blumenthal - a journalist with ties to the Clintons - and pornographer Larry Flynt were working together to dig up dirt on Republicans and, perhaps, commit political "dirty tricks." An email hacked from Blumenthal's account might add new fuel to that conspiracy fire.

"Starting weeks before Islamic militants attacked the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, longtime Clinton family confidante Sidney Blumenthal supplied intelligence to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gathered by a secret network that included a former CIA clandestine service officer, according to hacked emails from Blumenthal's account," ProPublica's Jeff Gerth and Gawker's Sam Biddle reported in a joint investigation on March 27, 2015. "The emails, which were posted on the internet in 2013, also show that Blumenthal and another close Clinton associate discussed contracting with a retired Army special operations commander to put operatives on the ground near the Libya-Tunisia border while Libya's civil war raged in 2011."

"The dispatches from Blumenthal to Clinton's private email address were posted online after Blumenthal's account was hacked in 2013 by Romanian hacker Marcel-Lehel Lazar, who went by the name Guccifer. Lazar also broke into accounts belonging to George W. Bush's sister, Colin Powell, and others. He's now serving a seven-year sentence in his home country and was charged in a U.S. indictment last year."

"It's unclear who tasked Blumenthal, known for his fierce loyalty to the Clintons, with preparing detailed intelligence briefs," Gawker and ProPublica reported. "It's also not known who was paying him, or where the operation got its money. The memos were marked 'confidential' and relied in many cases on 'sensitive' sources in the Libyan opposition and Western intelligence and security services. Other reports focused on Egypt, Germany, and Turkey."

"Indeed, though they were sent under Blumenthal's name, the reports appear to have been gathered and prepared by Tyler Drumheller, a former chief of the CIA's clandestine service in Europe who left the agency in 2005. Since then, he has established a consulting firm called Tyler Drumheller, LLC. He has also been affiliated with a firm called DMC Worldwide, which he co-founded with Washington, D.C., attorney Danny Murray and former general counsel to the U.S. Capitol Police John Caulfield. DMC Worldwide's now-defunct website describes it at as offering 'innovative security and intelligence solutions to global risks in a changing world.'

In one exchange in March 2013, Blumenthal emailed Drumheller, 'Thanks. Can you send Libya report.' Drumheller replied, 'Here it is, pls do not share it with Cody. I don't want moin speculating on sources. It is on the Maghreb and Libya.' Cody is Cody Shearer, a longtime Clinton family operative—his brother was an ambassador under Bill Clinton and his now-deceased sister was married to Clinton State Department official Strobe Talbott—who was in close contact with Blumenthal."

Gerth and Biddle noted that "Drumheller's attorney and business partner Danny Murray confirmed that Drumheller 'worked' with Blumenthal" and "Shearer said only that 'the FBI is involved and told me not to talk. There is a massive investigation of the hack and all the resulting information.'"

According to a letter reportedly sent from prison, which was translated and published on June 9, "Guccifer" regrets that he wasn't able to hack into Max Blumenthal's account, too.

"If I had a frustration, it was that I hadn't managed to also penetrate the Yahoo account of his son, Max, a young lizard, maker of dirty games, journalist and blogger, 'righteous heir' of his father's, known whippersnapper in Chicago's high-life," Guccifer allegedly complained.

"In conclusion, Hillary Clinton profited fully from the information supplied by the Blumenthal-Shearer-Drumheller-Grange clandestine network in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Especially that in 2011 and 2012 – the apex of the Libyan crisis – according to personnel lists, the American State Department didn't have a bureau chief in Libya, and in the entire Maghreb – Algeriia, Tunisia, Libya – were only two employees of the department on official duty."

In the middle of one email conversation about Libya on March 20, 2011, Cody Shearer - who has many ties to the Clintons - tells Sidney Blumenthal, "Off to meeting with Flynt shortly, heavy rain here."



Of course, Shearer may have been referring to someone other than Larry Flynt, but the manner in which his name was raised does seem to be related to the strange spy network machinations, and many questions are being asked about who was funding the alleged operatives all around the world referred to in many of the hacked emails. If Shearer was meeting Flynt in Los Angeles on March 20, 2011 or thereabouts, the weather was reportedly rainy that week.

While one reference in an email is a lot to hang a conspiracy theory upon, there is no doubt that Flynt and Shearer have long ties to one another.

"Fasten your seat belts-this is the book that official Washington does not want you to read," Cody Shearer wrote about Larry Flynt's 2004 book, "SEX, LIES AND POLITICS: The Naked Truth", which the Hustler publisher and freedom of speech anti-hero used to help hype it.

"In 1999, Sam Dealey reported in the New York Post that Shearer was connected to pornographer Larry Flynt, who had been going after Republicans in response to the Clinton scandal," Mark Hemingway blogged at Weekly Standard in late March.

Dealey noted that Flynt told reporters that he hadn't "seen" then Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott "in years"...[b]ut he is married to a sister of a very good friend of mine"; and asked, "Could Shearer be passing Flynt the goods on GOP members? Neither Shearer nor Flynt returned calls seeking comment."

"Cody's twin sister Brooke - Strobe Talbott's wife - has been a friend of Hillary's since their college days," Dealey wrote in his 1999 New York Post column: "Brooke joined the Clinton's 1992 campaign as an aide to Hillary. 'Sometimes at the end of the day, when Bill telephoned,' she reminisced of the campaign, 'we'd be laughing so loud, doing imitations and carrying on, that he'd say, 'You guys sound like you're having a lot more fun than I am.' After the campaign, she headed up Hillary's White House fellows program, and later moved on to become a senior advisor to the Interior Department."

Weekly Standard's Hemingways adds, "And two, [in a 1999 article] Slate also notes that'it was Shearer who, during the 1992 presidential campaign, introduced the world--through the unlikely medium of Doonesbury--to Brett Kimberlin. Kimberlin, you may recall, was the convicted bomber, habitual liar, and all-around sociopath who claimed to have sold drugs to Dan Quayle. Was Shearer acting on behalf of the legendary Clinton ‘opposition research' outfit, which had floated damaging rumors during the '92 primaries about Paul Tsongas' health and Jerry Brown's drug use? Or was he just an enthusiastic free-lancer?' In recent years, Kimberlin has been involved in number of frivolous lawsuits aimed at shutting down conservative blogs."

On May 1, 2015, John Heilemann reported for Bloomberg that Flynt was endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. "The Hustler honcho has long supported Democrats—and thinks Clinton could get a chance to shift the balance of the Supreme Court," Heilemann explained.

"Flynt’s people had lured me out West with the promise that he had something of import to say about the Democratic front-runner," Heilemann added. "It took little prompting to get it out of him. 'I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president!' Flynt declared."

"Flynt’s backing of Clinton is, on the face of it, unsurprising. His support for Democrats at the presidential level has been lifelong and unfailing; one of his better friends in politics is California Governor Jerry Brown, who, as it happened, was next in line to see Flynt after I exited the building. His famous/infamous practice of trawling for the sexual indiscretions of public figures—which reached its apogee during the impeachment furor around Bill Clinton and claimed the scalp of House Speaker-to-be (and then not-to-be) Bob Livingston—has been directed almost entirely at Republicans. On his desk the day we met were galleys from the next issue of Hustler, including an column that confers on George W. Bush the honorific 'A--hole of the Century.'

For Clinton, a raft of endorsements from Capitol Hill to Hollywood have been a rare bright spot in a campaign launch filled with poor reviews and worse headlines. But whatever her private views of Flynt and his profession, it beggars belief that she and her team will be issuing any press releases touting the latest bold-faced name to clamber aboard her bandwagon.

Flynt is well aware of that most politicians prefer to keep their distance from him, and that Hillary will likely be among them. And he professes not to care. 'Hillary doesn’t need no help from me,' he says. 'All she needs to do is start fighting back'—in particular against Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer, whose campaign against Hillary Flynt likens to that of his bete noire Jerry Falwell against Bill Clinton in 1992. 'One of the biggest evangelists in the world put out a video accusing President Clinton of murder—[and Schweizer’s book] is the same kind of smear tactic.'"

The pornographer claimed to Heilemann, that at a 2006 fundraiser, former President "Bill Clinton—apparently still grateful for the porn king’s role in the downfall of Bob Livingston, a key moment in the deflation of the impeachment bubble—walked over, shook Flynt’s hand, and said, 'You’re my hero.' As I prepare to leave, Flynt shows me a photo on his desk of him and Clinton from the fundraiser, noting that the former president has denied the quote in question. 'He can say whatever he wants,' Flynt chuckles. 'I have three witnesses.'"

"While advising Mrs. Clinton on Libya, Mr. Blumenthal, who had been barred from a State Department job by aides to President Obama, was also employed by her family’s philanthropy, the Clinton Foundation, to help with research, 'message guidance' and the planning of commemorative events, according to foundation officials," Nicholas Confessore and Michael S. Schmidt reported for The New York Times on May 18, 2015. "During the same period, he also worked on and off as a paid consultant to Media Matters and American Bridge, organizations that helped lay the groundwork for Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 campaign."

The New York Times story continued, "Some of Mr. Blumenthal’s memos urged Mrs. Clinton to consider rumors that other American diplomats knew at the time to be false. Not infrequently, Mrs. Clinton’s subordinates replied to the memos with polite skepticism."

One of the emails from Blumenthal that Hillary Clinton finally provided to Congressional investigators who have sought her communications on Libya that the New York Times recently published was a forwarding of an email originally sent by Drumheller to Blumenthal and his colleague at DMC Worldwide, John T. Caulfield (page 189 of pdf) on September 12, 2012.

According to his biography from the scrubbed DMC Worldwide website, "In over twenty-five years of service to Congress and the Capitol Police, Mr. Caulfield has provided all kinds of counsel, including as a legal strategist and accomplished expert on the legislative process and government investigations, and received numerous commendations and awards. Mr. Caulfield also gained unique and invaluable hands-on expertise in all aspects of emergency response and crisis management as the Chief Legal Advisor for the multi-agency and asset Congressional Response Management Team relative to the anthrax terrorists' acts against the U.S. Congress."

As shown above, Caulfield's bio oddly refers to "anthrax terrorists" instead of "anthrax terrorist". This is either a typo or DMC Worldwide knows something about the attacks that wasn't reported.

"DMC guides companies as they address the most pressing security threats of today and the next five to ten years: supply chain risk, cyber-security, climate change risk, and extreme events such as nuclear, biological or chemical terrorist (and other) attacks," the firm's website claimed (archive link).

But "Defensive Approaches to Risk are No Longer Sufficient", DMC Worldwide's firm argued.

"Not only are the types of threats changing; global expectations are as well. As the Danish cartoon crisis, troubles faced by American contractors in Iraq and various divestment campaigns show, image as well as community and legal challenges can hurt a company as dramatically as a direct attack on a facility."

DMC Worldwide claimed, "In order to enhance their competitive position, a major defense industry contractor wished to change how the government perceived them and improve the training and research that went into the services they provide. DMC developed a comprehensive strategy that included new training for employees, detailed analysis of the current governmental view on security, a targeted government relations campaign, and analysis of the devices being developed in relation to projected terrorist concerns."

"Many of DMC's experts choose to remain anonymous until their expertise is required for a particular client,"an archive cache of the scrubbed DMC Worldwide website reveals. "This is due to their high profiles and past careers. Below is a list of some of the network members."

Along with Drumheller, Caulfield and Murray, the website listed Tom Fahy, Michael Driggs, Clifford L. Downen, Ralph J. Marlatt, Donald B. Mathis, Mike Michael, J. Douglas Smith and Kurt A. Wagner as "network members." Based on Google searches and online bios, nearly everyone listed appears to be in their late fifties or older. Tom Fahy - who is currently a Lobbyist for Weather, Warnings and Satellite public policy - doesn't even name DMC Worldwide on his Linked In resume. William "Mike" Michael and J. Douglas Smith spent decades working for the CIA.

Here are excerpts from their bios (Zoom info archive link):

"Tom Fahy is one of the leading advocates and experts on the intersection between technology, public broadcast systems, and homeland security. The U.S. Department of Justice honored him by selecting him to serve on the first National AMBER Alert Advisory Board that made policy recommendations to the Attorney General. He collaborated with three state emergency management agencies to upgrade the Emergency Alert System capabilities with a satellite link for instantaneous emergency messaging to benefit law enforcement with AMBER Alerts, which was expanded to include All-Hazards alerts and warnings to the public for homeland security.

Tom Fahy serves on the Board of Directors for the Emergency Interoperable Consortium (EIC), which works in cooperation with the US Department of Homeland Security to create a national approach for the adoption of XML data interoperability standards and accurate exchange in incident information throughout the Emergency Management Community.

Mr. Driggs is recognized as an expert in economic analysis. He also demonstrated strong management ability when he took the lead in the management of the Chrysler Corporation as the government provided assistance for the reconstruction of that company. Mr. Driggs has strong international business experience as President of ICN, a company that provides preferred access to private clubs around the world.

Mr. Downen is a native of Illinois and graduated from McKendree College with a BA in History and Political Science. After graduation he was elected as the youngest member of the Illinois Continental Convention where he served on the revenue and finance committee. After successfully serving on the campaign staff of President Reagan in Illinois, California, and Kansas City. In 1978 he became chief of staff to Congressman Daniel Crane. His duties included the Foreign Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Downen served as the Public Affairs Officer for the Chairman of the Federal Matime Commission. He was then appointed as Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. President George H.W. Bush designated Mr. Downen as the Director of Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Since 1993, Mr. Downen has been serving as an advisor to the Parliament of the Ukraine, working with the Council of Advisors to the Parliament. He also served as Executive Director of the U.S./Malaysia Exchange Council and worked extensively with members of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Ralph Marlatt has over 35 years experience as an international management consultant specializing in association capacity building, government affairs, and international business development. Strategic planning and leadership training are fundamental to the success of any endeavor. Mr. Marlatt has provided technical expertise to business associations and public organizations in Egypt, Brazil, Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary, Romania, Uganda, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Mr. Mathis brings to DMC the real-world skills from twenty-five years with the BellSouth Corporation plus nearly a decade of private consulting in a wide variety of industries and disciplines. The client base of his consulting organization ranges from Fortune 500 companies (Sikorsky Aircraft, Philip Morris, Service Corporation International, etc.) to local hotels, law firms, developers, entertainment groups, and government organizations.

William "Mike" Michael brings over twenty-five years of extensive experience as a Senior Intelligence Service Officer in various leadership positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Department of State.

Mr. Michael initiated programs and unprecedented cross-government Memorandum of Understanding which generated millions in cost savings for, and greatly enhanced security of, the largest critical threat security program ever undertaken by the U.S. Government. He transformed the largest Working Capital Fund enterprise from negative to positive assets in less than one year.

Mr. Michael rebuilt relationships across bureaucratic borders to enable the longest construction program ever undertaken by the CIA to be completed successfully and securely. He has also managed a large support platform overseas during wartime, developing solutions to provide on-the-spot surge capabilities without the traditional infrastructure.

Mr. Michael facilitated the relocation of the then largest overseas presence of the CIA personnel, ahead of schedule and under budget. He also developed the strategic plan and secured Congressional support for the largest CIA program of its kind involving external leased facilities, implementing the plan on time and under budget. Mr. Michael has received numerous Exceptional Performance Awards and Senior Intelligence Service Awards. He has also received the National Intelligence Medal of Distinction, and the Secretary of State Meritorious Award.

Mr. Smith currently works as a security and counter-terrorism consultant based in Athens, Greece, following a 31-year career with the CIA. "While serving with the CIA, he held numerous senior positions directing operations in Greece, Austria, Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), and Mozambique. He also directed counter-terrorism operations in Athens. Mr. Smith spent five years on active duty in the Navy.

Kurt A. Wagner is the founding member of the Law & Consulting Offices of Kurt A. Wagner, P.C. and a founding partner of Wagner & Schell, L.L.P. with offices in the United States and the European Union. Mr. Wagner brings experience, expertise and contacts from government, business and academia to the DMC network. Prior to establishing his international business law practice, he served eleven years as a U.S. diplomat in Europe focusing on strategic economic, political and security matters including postings as the Ambassador's staff aide in Austria, head of the political-labor section in Malta and as a political officer in Portugal. Before joining the diplomatic service, Mr. Wagner was a business consultant in London to British firms with interests in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

"

(Editor's Note: Cody Shearer helped push the alleged claim that convicted bomber Brett Kimberlin once sold pot to Dan Quayle. I've been - absurdly - and wrongly accused of committing crimes including "political terrorism" on behalf of Brett Kimberlin, partly due to his alleged ties to my former employer, RAW STORY. RAW STORY founder and publisher John Byrne is (or was) friends with Max Blumenthal, and my former boss has ducked questions about Kimberlin for four years. During my 4-year tenure as Executive Editor, RAW STORY published articles by Max Blumenthal, and Hustler published a story by Larisa Alexandrovna based on her reporting for RAW STORY.)

DEVELOPING...MORE TO COME...

In 2012, less than a year after her husband resigned from Congress after being caught lying about leaked explicit private messages by falsely claiming his Facebook account was hacked, Huma Abedin was hired by international PR firm Teneo while still working for then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Teneo was co-founded by two former Hillary Clinton fundraisers - including CEO Declan Kelly who she appointed as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland - and former President Bill Clinton's "body man", Doug Band. And, now, three years later, the global advisory firm will take on online social networking service Facebook as a client.

Despite its close ties to both Clintons, and the fact that its founders helped raise millions of dollars for 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the past, Teneo's "rapid" expansion across the UK is being overlooked by the US press. Multiple media organizations - including the Associated Press and Gawker - have sued the State Department for stalling investigative reports by providing insufficient FOIA responses, but the reporters covering Hillary Clinton's campaign have mostly ignored Teneo and barely ask her questions about it. Last month, I reported that Teneo hired the former British counterpart to Hillary Clinton, former UK Foreign Secretary William Hague. Even though Clinton and Hague are friends, and her State Department worked with him, the news was mostly unreported in America.

"Teneo Holdings today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Blue Rubicon and StockWell, two of the UK's leading strategic communications and reputation management firms,"a press release stated yesterday"The acquisitions of the two businesses, in addition to Teneo's existing UK operations, will create one of the largest strategic communications practices in the European market. It will also augment Teneo's operations in other parts of the world. All members of the Blue Rubicon and StockWell senior management team will continue as part of the Teneo leadership team. Terms of the transactions have not been disclosed."

"Blue Rubicon, widely regarded as one of the most progressive strategic communications consultancies to have emerged in London in the last 20 years, provides senior counsel to some of the world's largest companies as they navigate high-stake issues including succession planning, corporate restructuring, re-launches and post-M&A integration. Founded 15 years ago the firm has been led by Senior Partner, Fraser Hardie, CEO, Gordon Tempest-Hay, Partners Chris Jones and Fiona Joyce. Blue Rubicon today employs more than 225 people operating globally from offices in London, Doha, Dubai and Singapore.

StockWell was founded in 2010 and is led by its three Managing Partners: Tim Burt; Philip Gawith and Richard Holloway. The firm is headquartered in London and has 30 staff. StockWell specializes in providing boardroom level strategic communications advice to leading corporations and individuals across the UK, Europe and beyond."

In the press release, Chairman and CEO Declan Kelly states, "The acquisition of Blue Rubicon and StockWell is a transformational moment for Teneo as we continue to grow across the globe, building on our reputation as one of the world's leading advisory firms. Teneo is fortunate to advise many of the world's most senior business leaders on a daily basis. This requires us to be able to provide the highest-level strategic counsel at all times. Today's acquisitions will help us to enhance Teneo's offering even further in this regard."

"Blue Rubicon gives Teneo an expanded communications team with more than 225 employees across four offices — in London, Doha, Dubai, and Singapore — and a client roster that includes Facebook, Lloyds Bank, Mondelez, Unilever, and British supermarket chain Tesco,"Fortune's Tom Huddleston, Jr. reported yesterday. "StockWell, meanwhile, has a staff of nearly 30 people and a list of clients that includes French telecom giant Orange and Vivendi."

The article added, "Blue Rubicon also works with Coca-Cola, which is also part of Teneo’s client list — a roster that includes Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, Dow Chemical, and British bank Standard Chartered. Teneo’s recently landed a role advising Britain’s Willis Group Holdings on its $18 billion merger with U.S. consulting firm Towers Watson."

"So far this year, Teneo has advised clients on communications and investor relations for 10 different M&A deals worth a total of over $60 billion," and it "has grown rapidly from a 20-person team to one with more than 275 employees across 12 offices around the world," Huddleston noted.

According to its website, other Blue Rubicon clients include HSBC, Vevo, Instagram, McDonalds, Prudential, Samsung, Western Union and ebay.

"The former Congressman switched his Facebook account from Anthony.Weiner to AnthonyDWeiner in November of 2010, and only left one message there afterward, on the same day he stopped posting at his new account, three days after the 'Weinergate' scandal publicly began on May 27, 2011,"as I reported in 2012.

"We are having a big 'going out of business' sale on this page," Weiner wrote on November 24, 2010. "But we have double coupons and huge discounts on a far better site. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/AnthonyDWeiner. ill be posting there. so this one may get a little dusty."

According to reports - and one of my sources who sexted with Weiner - the old account was used by Weiner in 2011 strictly to speak to his female admirers (it's possible Weiner used his older account to speak to other people, but none have come forward). My source told me that she never exchanged any communications with Weiner on his newer Facebook account which contains his middle initial "D". Also, he ignored her pleas to contact her after the scandal broke out.

Weiner abandoned both accounts on May 30, 2011, but he only left a message referring to his hacking at his older account, which appears to have been unnoticed by the press.

"Hello friends," Weiner wrote on May 30, 2011 in his first message at his old Facebook account in six months. "I know this page has been dry for a while, but if you've gotten any odd emails, chats or notices from here recently, drop me a note. And thanks for supporting me over at our fully jazzed page linked above."

Since the message was left before he admitted to sexting a week later, Weiner - perhaps - was thinking of pretending that the older account had been hacked.

In January of 2012, I asked Facebook a number of questions regarding both of Weiner's accounts and its policies - in general - when someone claims to be hacked. On May 28, 2011, Ginger Adams Otis at The New York Post reported, "'Anthony's accounts on both Facebook and Twitter were hacked,' said spokesman Dave Arnold," and "Weiner, who represents parts of Queens and Brooklyn, got a message about a week ago from Facebook alerting him that his password might have been tampered with, Arnold said. But the warning was ignored, granting the hacker carte blanche to hijack Weiner's online identity."

Is there any way I can confirm that Rep. Weiner and/or his office received such a message from Facebook in the last week or two of May? I'm curious why if this wasn't true no one from Facebook denied it.

Were any hacking investigations launched after Weiner's claims hit the airwaves?

Did Weiner contact Facebook to probe or vice versa after Weiner's spokesman mentioned the hacking?

Did the Secret Service or FBI or any other law enforcement agencies contact Facebook to probe the claim before or after the news hit the press?

If there was such a probe, has it ended or is it ongoing?

What does Facebook normally do when a celebrity claims that their account was hacked? I would assume it would be a black eye for the company, and you would want to ensure that the claim was true. Have there been circumstances when you probed such a claim and found no proof of it?

Would Facebook ever consider taking legal or criminal action when a false hacking claim is made?

Approximately how many confirmed Facebook hackings occurred in 2010. How many reported? Does Facebook keep track of such events (obviously, I'm assuming you do)?

"Thanks for your inquiry," a manager from Facebook's Public Policy Communications sent me an email by iPhone - months later - on May 13. "We'll decline to comment."

After two years of investigating longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's concurrent work at Teneo while still working for the former Secretary of State, a top Republican senator accused the State Department of erecting a "stone wall" to evade his questions. In his June 13, 2013 request to the State Department, Senator Chuck Grassley sought "all documents and/or communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent," which would have to include Bill Clinton, since along with being a paid adviser and an unpaid adviser for the firm, he was also a Teneo client, as I noted in March. Almost immediately after his resignation, disgraced Democratic NY Rep. Anthony Weiner also reportedly landed consulting gigs through Bill Clinton.

Huma Abedin was still in charge of helping to arrange former State Secretary's Hillary Clinton's schedule and worked for Teneo when both attended the December 2012 Belfast luncheon. In April, I reported that a September 2012 Teneo brochure touted Abedin as 'Senior Leadership' for the firm to clients, and her specific job title was listed as a 'Senior Advisor', even though the media and public didn't know she worked for both at the time. Longtime Clintons aide Justin Cooper - who registered the www.Clintonemail.com domain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin secretly used to send and receive emails instead of official State Department accounts - was featured on the same page.

"Teneo's highly experienced and dedicated professions come from diverse backgrounds including investment banking, private equity, corporate finance and strategy, government, government affairs, communications, investor relations, media, and public policy," the brochure states.

In May, conservative-leaning watchdog Judicial Watch posted an article about my Teneo reporting. "Reporter Ron Brynaert is one example of this new breed of investigative gunslinger," Micah Morrison wrote. "A former executive editor for Raw Story, Brynaert has been digging deep into the Teneo connection and publishing his findings at his blog, '-gate news' and on Twitter."

At The Washington Examiner, Sarah Westwood wrote, "Reporter Ron Brynaert first noted the connection between Teneo and the Ireland Funds on his blog, -gate News."

"A longtime Clinton aide, Abedin reportedly advised Clinton on her schedule and travel as deputy chief of staff — raising questions about whether she played a role in steering the secretary of state to an event in which her other employer was involved," Westwood reported, based on my articles, adding, "State Department officials did not return a request for comment" and "Teneo did not return a request for comment on its involvement with the Ireland Funds."

DEVELOPING...MORE TO COME...

See my previous stories for more information on the links between Teneo and the Clintons:

Controversial consulting firm linked to Clintons hires another former political big shot

2012 Teneo brochure touted Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin as Senior Adviser for firm

Questions linger about Clintons-linked firm co-founded by former US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland

Staff employed by State Dept. as administrative support for Clinton envoy helped launch Teneo

Teneo worked on Belfast event honoring Hillary Clinton

State Secretary's last dinner in Dublin hosted by Clinton Foundation donor

Is Weiner planning to try and win back his old Congress seat?

State Dept. spokesman fielded question about Hillary Clinton Deputy Chief of Staff after Huma Abedin 'quietly' left position

Anthony Weiner company led by former board director for firm investors blasted as 'CROOKS'

IRS filing reveals Teneo earned $75K fundraising while lobbying Fifa officials with ex-President Clinton in 2010

In its latest press release, Teneo - a PR firm co-founded by two former Hillary Clinton fundraisers, including CEO Declan Kelly who she appointed as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, and former President Bill Clinton's "body man", Doug Band - claims that it "is a global advisory firm founded in 2011 by Declan Kelly, Doug Band and Paul Keary with a vision to create a new breed of advisory firm focused on working exclusively with the leaders of major corporations to help them address a wide range of business and reputational issues and opportunities."

However, Teneo's first paying gig was actually in 2010, while Kelly was still working for the State Department.

"The BBC has learnt New York-based Teneo Holdings has been retained in the wake of the criminal investigation launched into football's world governing body by the US Department of Justice in May,"BBC Radio 5 Live Sports News Correspondent Richard Conway reported today. "The company's president is Doug Band, who served as a director on the US 2022 World Cup bid committee."

Conway notes, "Band, together with Fifa executive committee member Sunil Gulati and others, made the final World Cup bid presentation to high-ranking officials in Zurich in 2010."

On April 8, 2010 a US Soccer press release announced, "Counselor to President Bill Clinton, Douglas Band, has formally accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors for the USA Bid Committee in its effort to bring the FIFA World Cup™ to the United States in 2018 or 2022."

"Band has worked alongside President Clinton for more than 14 years, serving a variety of roles dating back to Clinton’s time in the White House. He has served as President Clinton's chief adviser since 2002, counseling him and serving as the key architect of Clinton's post-Presidency. He created and built the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that to date has raised $57 billion for 1,700 philanthropic initiatives around the world spanning climate change, global health, citizen service, education and the empowerment of women and girls, which in total impacts more than 200 million people in 170 countries.

'Doug has spent most of his professional career working with President Clinton on topics that range from international and domestic policy to global philanthropic and environmental issues,' said Sunil Gulati, the Chairman of the USA Bid Committee and President of U.S. Soccer. 'His vast experience and multi-national contacts, along with his passion for the game of soccer will be key assets to the bid as he travels the world alongside President Clinton in the months to come.'"

The 2010 press release added, "All candidates must have their bid applications to FIFA by May 14, 2010. FIFA’s 24 member Executive Committee will study the bids, conduct site visits and name the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments on December 2, 2010, completing a 21-month bid and review process."

According to an IRS filing (pdf link; page 28) by the USA Bid Committee Inc. that appears to have been submitted on May 13, 2011, Teneo Strategy Consulting raised $1,392,500 through phone and email solicitations and earned $75,000 for its work in 2010. "Teneo Strategy Consulting was engaged to provide phone and email solicitations," the filing states on page 30. On page 8, listed second between Chairman Sunil Gulati and Vice Chairman Carlos Cordeiro, Honorary Chairman William Clinton is named as only one of three officers for the USA bid committee.

One month after the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team and U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with former US President Bill Clinton, in a May 2010 visit to the White House, Foreign Policy's P.J. Aroon reported on June 24, 2010, "Clinton, who was president when the United States hosted the World Cup in 1994 and women’s World Cup in 1999, was in Africa primarily to lobby FIFA’s executive committee on the U.S. bid for 2018 or 2022, though his trip includes visits to Malawi and Tanzania to check up on Clinton Foundation projects."

According to his website biography, Teneo Strategy Senior Vice President Michael Coakley "has been an advisor on a number of sports-related engagements including the United States bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Qatar’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games." However, his LinkedIn resume claims that he didn't work for the firm until 2011.

As his biography notes, Doug Band also"was part of the negotiation team that handled all aspects of Hillary Clinton’s becoming Secretary of State." Although it states that he "served...in 2010 on the Board of Directors of the United States Bid Committee for the World Cup," the Teneo website doesn't note that they were paid for this service.

"Teneo is believed to have been hired by Fifa following advice from Quinn Emanuel, the American law firm working on its behalf,"the BBC reported today. "It's understood the firm's links with senior politicians and with the US Department of Justice were a motivating factor for Fifa's choice as it seeks to mitigate the legal and financial threats facing it."

"The indictment from the DoJ in May led to the arrest and detention of 14 football officials and sports marketing executives on charges of 'rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted' corruption following a major inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The DoJ insists its investigations are only just beginning."

The BBC added, "Teneo's links with the upper echelons of US politics are well established."

At least two partners at the San Francisco based law firm Quinn Emanuel worked for the Clinton Administration: Michael Lyle was "the Director of the White House Office of Administration in the Clinton Administration" and Stephen Neuwirth served as "Associate White House Counsel to President Clinton from 1993-1996." Quinn Emanuel's Susan Estrich - who was 1998 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis' campaign manager - wrote a 2004 book called "The Case for Hillary Clinton" and endorsed her 2008 POTUS campaign.

Also, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service gave Quinn Emanuel a $2.5 million contract to advise an IRS audit of Microsoft, which has drawn controvery. "Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee" charged, "The IRS’s hiring of a private contractor to conduct an examination of a taxpayer raises concerns because the action: 1) appears to violate federal law and the express will of the Congress; 2) removes taxpayer protections by allowing the performance of inherently governmental functions by private contractors; and 3) calls into question the IRS’s use of its limited resources,"as Reuters reported last month.

On May 27, a Teneo consultant was quoted in a Bloomberg article regarding Qatar, who beat out the United States for the 2022 World Cup bid.

"'There are lots of foreign firms working on the projects, but essentially the investment is all coming from the Qatari government,' Crispin Hawes, managing director of research firm Teneo Intelligence in London, said by phone.

In the U.S. investigation, the immediate 'procedural, legal, logical implications are very limited for Qatar, at the simplest level,' he said. Still, 'If there is an additional investigation that is specifically targeting 2022 or 2018 awards, then it’s not going to die down.'"

On his Twitter account, the BBC's Richard Conway also notes, "Teneo recently bought Blue Rubicon – a pr firm that has worked closely with the Qatar 2022 World Cup supreme committee for a number of years." (More on that acquisition can be read in my last article).

Late Thursday, Simon Evans at Reuters reported, "The [US] bid lost out to Qatar in a vote of FIFA executive committee members that is now one subject of U.S. and Swiss investigations."

Sunil Gulati's relationship with Bill Clinton and Doug Band may cause a distraction for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

"Congress turned its attention to world soccer for several hours Wednesday afternoon as a Senate subcommittee convened a hearing to examine what the United States Soccer Federation had known about widespread corruption within FIFA, the sport’s global governing body,"Rebecca R. Ruiz reported for The New York Times on July 15. "But one of the senators’ most persistent lines of inquiry was simpler: why had U.S. Soccer’s top official, Sunil Gulati, declined to show up?"

The NY Times article claims that Gulati drew "ire" for not appearing. "Asked repeatedly why he had been sent to testify rather than Mr. Gulati, who sits on FIFA’s governing executive committee and has long associations with several of the indicted officials, [Daniel Flynn, chief executive and secretary general of U.S. Soccer] said it was at the advice of an outside lawyer, and because he had greater familiarity with U.S. Soccer’s daily operations than Mr. Gulati does."

"Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said that U.S. Soccer should have acted on its discomfort.

'There had to be either willful ignorance or blatant incompetence,' he said, noting that he hoped U.S. Soccer would conduct an internal inquiry on top of complying with investigations by the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service."

At the hearing, Senator Blumenthal also blasted FIFA sponsors such as Coca-Cola as "enablers". Coca-Cola is also a Teneo client and has given generous donations to the Clinton Foundation.

"Both FIFA and the Qatari Supreme Legacy and Development Committee have donated to the Clinton Foundation,"Travis Waldron reported for the Huffington Post. "FIFA gave between $50,000 and $100,000, according to the foundation’s documents, while the Qatari committee donated between $250,000 and $500,000."

In an April 30 article covering my reporting on Teneo, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch's Micah Morrison wrote, "Brynaert pays close attention to the timelines. Kelly served as U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland from September 2009 to May 2011. Brynaert asks, 'When exactly was Teneo founded? If Declan Kelly helped found the firm while he was also envoy, that might complicate Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign even more.'"

"The official line from Teneo is that it was founded in 2011. But Brynaert reports that Teneo appears to have been registered as a business as early as 2009. 'According to the New York State Corporation & Business Entity Database,' Brynaert writes, 'Teneo Strategy Consulting LLC was registered on November 18, 2009, which was two months after Declan Kelly was appointed to the No. Ireland envoy post.' Brynaert notes as well that the website www.TeneoStrategyConsulting.com was registered on November 20, 2009, and began redirecting to www.TeneoHoldings.com on September 30, 2011."

The IRS filing by the USA Bid Committee Inc. submitted on May 13, 2011 according to its electronic stamp came after an April request for an extension to file. This was two days after then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's May 11, 2011 statement regarding Kelly's resignation as US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland.

"A joint investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy, raising questions about whether the Clintons fulfilled ethics agreements related to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state," Luke Rosiak and Micah Morrison reported for the Washington Examiner on July 30, 2014.

On June 11, 2011, "the State Department approved a consulting agreement [(pdf link)] between Bill Clinton and a controversial Clinton Foundation adviser, Doug Band."

The consulting work that Band, Clinton and Teneo provided the US World Cup bid apparently wasn't approved by the State Department, since it transpired a year before it was even contacted about Teneo.

Both The New York Times and Gawker not only published erroneous articles with bogus headlines concerning Inspectors General memos to the State Department related to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails, they also seem to have missed a recommendation which could be interpreted by critics as yet another governmental roadblock to fulfilling dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests by the media and watchdog groups.

"It is unclear if the Department of Justice is reviewing the emails before FOIA release," an OIG memo from June 15 states. "Former-Secretary Clinton's emails are the subject of numerous FOIA requests and multiple FOIA lawsuits. It may be prudent to integrate the Department of Justice into the FOIA process review to ensure the redactions can withstand legal challenges. If not already being done, recommend the State Department FOIA Office incorporate the Department of Justice into the FOIA process to ensure the legal sufficiency review of the FOIA exemptions and redactions."

As the Times reported, "a federal judge sharply questioned State Department lawyers at a hearing in Washington about why they had not responded to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press, some of which were four years old."

"“I want to find out what’s been going on over there — I should say, what’s not been going on over there,” said Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court, according to a transcript obtained by Politico. The judge said that “for reasons known only to itself,” the State Department “has been, to say the least, recalcitrant in responding.”"

In an editorial published by Daily Caller, Micah Morrison - the Chief Investigative Reporter for the conservative-leaning Judicial Watch - asks, "Is FOIA reform finally at the tipping point? The federal Freedom of Information Act was designed to give citizens prompt access to information about their government. Instead, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare, a vast black hole of years-long delays and heavily censored documents."

"In recent weeks, a trifecta of powerful federal judges, each acting independently, has blasted the Obama Administration’s FOIA delays," Morrison observes, before opining, "It is never good to anger a federal judge. Angering three over the same issue is unprecedented."

"It may take fed up federal judges to lead the charge on FOIA reform. Mrs. Clinton’s stonewalling aside, the problems with FOIA are obvious. FOIA offices, housed within every government department or agency, are underfunded and understaffed. FOIA personnel get no respect from their colleagues. FOIA rules on what not to disclose are routinely abused by bureaucrats with something to hide or simply no desire to cooperate with the law. The system is in ruins.

At a Congressional FOIA hearing last month, noted the Washington Post, House Oversight Committee witnesses 'delivered a powerful verdict that federal agencies do a terrible job of responding to document requests — across the board, just about all the time.'"

Adding another government agency into the process would logically result in further delayed release of the emails, which critics complain is being done purposely to protect Hillary Clinton as she runs for president.

After publication, Judicial Watch's Micah Morrison linked to this article, tweeting, "New HRC email referrals fracas could result in FURTHER document release delays, as @ronbryn notes here." In the evening, Politico's Jeff Gernstein reported, "Transparency advocates say the procedures the inspectors general recommended for handling the release of Clinton’s email have the potential to slow to a complete stop the already glacial Freedom of Information Act process."

"'This is a recipe for paralysis,' said Steven Aftergood, a classified information expert with the Federation of American Scientists. 'Their recommendation essentially is to give more reviewers a veto over disclosure. They not only want to bring in intelligence community reviewers, but also Justice Department officials.'

'By adding on layers of review, and the corresponding ability to block disclosure, the IGs' approach would ensure that the least possible amount of information gets released,' Aftergood added."

Patrice McDermott of Openthegovernment.org told Gernstein that the recommendation to use DOJ on all redacted FOIA responses "to ensure [they] can withstand legal challenges" was "ridiculous", adding, "It would grind government to a halt and it would grind DOJ to a halt as well. ... It’s absurd."

The Politico story added, "McDermott said the recommendations seemed to be a roundabout way of the intelligence community saying it doesn’t trust the State Department to make classification decisions. 'This is them saying you don’t recognize highly classified information when you see it if it’s not marked,' she said. 'Those are entirely separate issues from the FOIA process.'"

However, responses to the OIG request indicate the Department of Justice is already involved in the review of Clinton's emails.

On June 25, Patrick F. Kennedy - the under secretary of state for management - replied, "the Department finds the issues raised by the ICIG are either already addressed in current processes or are inconsistent with interagency practices. Further, the recommendations provided by the ICIG would add to the FOIA review process schedule and make it more difficult to meet the U.S. District Court order for rolling productions without meaningfully enhancing the review process."

In an attachment, the memo added, "Emails with Department of Justice equities (including those of its component entities) are forwarded to the relevant DOJ entities for review. Legal sufficiency review of the FOIA exemptions and redactions are conducted by attorneys from the Office of the Legal Adviser; they consult regularly with the Department of Justice's Federal Programs Branch regarding FOIA issues and litigation, including litigation involving the former Secretary's emails. This type of process is common throughout the interagency."

On July 14, another memo sent by Kennedy argued that "as noted previously, Department attorneys consult regulary with the Department of Justice's Federal Programs Branch on legal issues that arise in the context of the FOIA and FOIA litigation. This practice is longstanding and continues with respect to this review; L attorneys met with attorneys from Federal Programs on Monday of this week."

The New York Times article by Michael S. Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo originally published on July 23, 2015 was full of so many mistakes that it probably merits its own internal probe, but one of the corrections added afterwards seems to blame "senior government officials" for the paper's misreporting.

"An article and a headline in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state misstated the nature of the request, using information from senior government officials," a New York Times correction added to the article on July 25 stated, after the paper falsely reported the 2016 presidential candidate was facing a "criminal referral" by two Inspectors Generals. "It addressed the potential compromise of classified information in connection with that email account. It did not specifically request an investigation into Mrs. Clinton."

A second New York Times correction to the same article on July 26 added, "An article in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state referred incorrectly, using information from senior government officials, to the request. It was a 'security referral,' pertaining to possible mishandling of classified information, officials said, not a 'criminal referral.'"

Unlike the New York Times, the Gawker article by Sam Biddle doesn't contain any self-corrections, just a note that the Times corrected its story, but the headline still inaccurately suggests that the Inspectors General recommended a "criminal investigation."

[Editor's Note: Sam Biddle blocked me on Twitter in December of 2012 because I criticized his reporting on a teenage hacker he apparently befriended. The hacker had been convicted for SWATtings and other computer crimes, then reportedly broke his plea deal, but Biddle argued in his defense with no evidence. Michael S. Schimdt has ignored multiple tweets I've sent him regarding an article he wrote for The New York Times in March, which I believe wrongly reported that the Clinton aide who set up the private server currently works for Teneo. Judicial Watch and Micah Morrison have highlighted much of my reporting on Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, and Teneo (see: Teneo and the Clinton machine).]

Huma Abedin being represented by two different high-powered law firms using attorneys with long ties to Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama; Rockefeller Foundation has paid Teneo at least $9 million since 2011

An article published late Friday night by the Washington Post about a top Hillary Clinton aide allegedly being overpaid by the State Department refers to a charity that donated to the Clinton Foundation and has paid Teneo - a consulting firm co-founded by Clinton colleagues - millions of dollars, but doesn't name it.

"State Department investigators concluded this year that Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s closest aides, was overpaid by nearly $10,000 because of violations of rules governing vacation and sick leave during her tenure as an official in the department," Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig reported for the Washington Post. "The finding — which Abedin has formally contested — emerged publicly Friday after Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters to Secretary of State John F. Kerry and others seeking more information about an investigation into possible 'criminal' conduct by Abedin concerning her pay."

Forgetting that Huma Abedin also worked for Hillary Clinton personally, Grassley wrote Kerry on Thursday, "At one time, Ms. Abedin held three positions simultaneously - as an SGE for the Department of State, as an employee of Teneo, and as an employee of the Clinton Foundation. During her time at the Department, Ms. Abedin allegedly sent or received on her government email account approximately 7,300 emails that involved Mr. Douglas Band, President of Teneo. These are among the documents the Judiciary Committee requested two years ago, but the State Department has failed to provide. Likewise, the Associated Press has requested similar information since August 2013."

"In one email exchange, Mr. Band allegedly emailed Ms. Abedin to request that she reach out to then-Secretary Clinton to encourage President Obama to appoint Ms. Judith Rodin to a White House position," Grassley continues. "At the time, Ms. Rodin was a client of Teneo and President of the Rockefeller Foundation which donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, a fact which Mr. Band allegedly noted in his email to Ms. Abedin. Ms. Abedin allegedly forwarded this email from her official email to her non-government email address located on Secretary Clinton's non-government server. This is but one of several troubling allegations of Ms. Abedin being solicited for and delivering favors for preferred individuals."

A footnote in Grassley's letter links to a September 2013 Rockefeller Foundation blog article that announced, "The Rockefeller Foundation was proud to make our $100 million commitment to resilient cities at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative. Judith Rodin was joined onstage by New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and our partners Swiss Re, Palantir, World Bank Group, American Institute of Architects, and Architecture for Humanity, to advance our vision for global urban resilience."

In his Thursday letter to Abedin and her lawyers at two different firms, Grassley complained, "On June 13, 2013, the Judiciary Committee asked that you provide, among other things, all documents and communications between the Department of State and Teneo, and any client or entities they represent. You did not provide the requested documents in your response on July 5, 2013. Since then, the Judiciary Committee has received additional allegations that further inform the original request. The Committee has learned of allegations that, during your simultaneous employment by the Department of Stete, Teneo, and the Clinton Foundation, you were solicited for and delivered favors for preferred individuals."

"For example, while employed by the Department of State, you allegedly sent or received approximately 7,300 emails on your official Department of State address that involved Mr. Douglas Band, President of Teneo," Grassley continued. "In one email exchange, Mr. Band allegedly emailed you to request that you reach out to then-Secretary Clinton to encourage President Obama to appoint Ms. Judith Rodin to a White House position. "At the time, Ms. Rodin was a client of Teneo and President of the Rockefeller Foundation, a large donor to the Clinton Foundation, a fact which Mr. Band allegedly noted in his email. In addition, you allegedly forwarded this email and others to your non-government account ending in @ clintonemail.com. As a result, investigators were unable to review any subsequent emails on the chain, as they were shielded from the Department's records systems on Secretary Clinton's non-government server."

Even though their article links to both of Senator Grassley's letters naming the Rockefeller Foundation and its president (and The Washington Post even hosts the letters on its website without retractions), Hamburger, Helderman and Leonnig don't specifically cite either. This might be in reaction to the controversy surrounding the false story that The New York Times published last week about a non-existent "criminal referral" against Hillary Clinton, since Grassley doesn't provide proof or explain how he learned of this alleged email.

"In one instance, Grassley wrote, Band allegedly e-mailed Abedin to request her help in landing a White House appointment for a friend who led a charity that later hired his firm and donated to the Clinton Foundation," the paper reports. "However, Grassley did not release the e-mail in question, nor did he allege any wrongdoing by Abedin. And the timeline of events does not clearly support an allegation of conflict of interest: The Band friend was named to a White House panel in 2010, before her charity hired Teneo and before Teneo hired Abedin."

"Band did not respond to requests for comment. Dunn, Abedin’s attorney, said: 'We are unaware of this e-mail and Senator Grassley has not shared it with us or the media. But every piece of this letter has issues with accuracy and we have no reason to believe this is an exception.'"

Last week, an attorney for a watchdog group who has been - so far, fruitlessly - pursuing Abedin's emails through F.O.I.A. requests was unable to tell me the name of any of her lawyers, but The Washington Post article refers to one: Karen Dunn. However, the top Washingtion Post investigative reporters don't provide any background on Dunn or name her firm, even though she has extensive ties to Hillary Clinton and the White House.

"Former White House associate counsel Karen Dunn last week joined Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP as a partner, part of a push by the New York-based litigation giant to enhance its Washington presence," Mary Jacoby reported for Main Justice in February 2014. "Dunn has been a communications director for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton; a law clerk to Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and to Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court; a deputy to chief strategist David Axelrod on the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, associate in the Obama White House counsel’s office, and most recently an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia."

Jacoby also noted that "[i]n Washington, Dunn will work with partner Heather King, another former Senate aide to Hillary Clinton."

In January of 2014, Politico's Maggie Haberman listed Karen Dunn as one of "Hillary Clinton's 50 influentials."

"After making a name for herself as an assistant US attorney and debate adviser to high-profile politicians like President Barack Obama, Karen Dunn helped Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP defend Apple Inc. in $351 million trial, making her one of five attorneys chosen for Law360’s list of Competition Rising Stars," Allissa Wickham wrote for Law360 in March, in an article that mentioned various clients Dunn was defending, but didn't mention Huma Abedin. "Currently, Dunn said she's representing Beats in a case with Monster LLC, and will be teaming up with Isaacson again in September for a trial on behalf of Oracle Corp. She's also playing a major role in a pending D.C. Circuit case over budget autonomy for the district, representing the D.C. Council pro bono."

Critics may wonder if Abedin is bearing the full cost of such a high-powered, expensive law firm or if the legal services are being provided pro bono.

Grassley's letter was also addressed to another attorney from another D.C. firm: Miguel Rodriguez from Bryan Cave LLC.

As his bio states, "Immediately prior to joining the firm, Rodriguez served as an Assistant to President and Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In this role, he served as President Obama’s primary liaison to the United States Congress, working to advance the administration’s legislative agenda and promote its policy priorities. Among his responsibilities, Rodriguez oversaw the confirmation of the President’s Cabinet and other prominent nominees requiring the advice and consent of the Senate, including the Secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury, Commerce, and Labor."

"Prior to his appointment as Director, Rodriguez served as a Special Assistant to the President in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs," the bio adds. "In this capacity, he was the White House’s primary point of contact for four standing Senate committees (the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Intelligence, and Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committees), and three Appropriations subcommittees."

Huma Abedin's second attorney from a second firm also has ties to 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: "From 2005 to 2009, Rodriguez was Chief Counsel for then Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, serving as the Senator’s Legislative Director from 2008 until 2009. In these roles, Rodriguez worked with the Senator to formulate her policy agenda and led her legislative team in developing and implementing policy priorities."

As I reported in March, "According to the foundation's website, Teneo received $3,447,150 as part of the Centennial Fund "[i]n support of a project, in connection with the Rockefeller Foundation's centennial in 2013, to build capacity, create new coalitions, strengthen existing networks, and advance public policy by convening gatherings and providing multimedia tools and resources for identifying challenges and proposing tangible solutions to global problems." The terms of the grant are listed as 6/1/2011 – 3/31/2012."

Back on December 5, 2011, Neil W. McCabe - in a Human Events article - wrote, "Teneo landed its first major client June 1, when the Rockefeller Foundation gave Teneo a $3,447,150, six-month contract to help plan the foundation’s 2013 centennial."

"The foundation is another member of the Clinton’s extended family," McCabe added. "It gave Clinton its Lifetime Innovation Achievement Award July 27 and the foundation is listed as a between $1 to $5 million contributor to the William J. Clinton Foundation, along with several members of the Rockefeller family who are listed as individual contributors."

An IRS form 990-PF (pdf link) shows that Teneo Strategy Consulting was the highest paid independent contractor for the Rockefeller Foundation in 2012, earning $5,731,639.

The 2011 annual report for the Rockefeller Foundation (pdf link) also shows $350,000 was given to the Clinton Global Initiative "toward the costs of its 2011 annual conference, designed to catalyze a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to global challenges such as energy and climate change, poverty alleviation, global health, and education", and $594,960 to the Clinton Health Access Initiative, "for use by its Rwanda Country Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, to upgrade District Health Strengthening Tool software and provide regional training and support for the local-level integration of new eHealth technologies country-wide."

The Rockefeller Foundation gave "[t]hanks especially to Andy Maas, Max Dworin, and. Michael Coakley," who all worked for Teneo in 2011. "Andy Maas drove the bus, Max Dworin kept us on the road and Michael Coakley made sure we had fuel in the tank," the centennial book "Beyond Freedom" (pdf link) states. "Tom Shea provided commentary. Working with this team has been a pleasure."

Still at the firm, Managing Director Andy Maas - according to his Teneo biography - was "managing director of global corporate communications for FTI Consulting" where he worked with Declan Kelly. Michael Coakley - as his Teneo bio states - "is a Vice President at Teneo Strategy where he advises organizations on business strategy, operational issues and reputational challenges." While, according to his LinkedIn resume, Max Dworin worked as an intern for the office of Bill Clinton from June to August of 2010, then began consulting for Teneo in June of 2011, before being promoted to associate in 2013, and then left Teneo to become New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer's Deputy Press Secretary in December of 2013, and then his Press Secretary in April of 2014. "Max Dworin, A&S '11, a consultant with Teneo Strategy, spearheaded a project in 2013 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York City called the Art of Philanthropy,"John Hopkins Magazine states. "The foundation developed a crowdsourced art piece in celebration of the accomplishments of philanthropy in the U.S. and abroad."

"Prior to joining Teneo, Mr. Shea served as Chief of Staff to Jon S. Corzine, both during Mr. Corzine’s tenure as a United States Senator and member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as Governor of New Jersey," Managing Director Tom Shea's Teneo bio states. "Mr. Shea also served in several capacities at the White House, most notably as a Special Assistant to President William J. Clinton."

Shea's original Teneo biography noted, "Before joining Mr. Corzine, Mr. Shea managed the United States Department of State's New York Foreign Press Center (FPC), and served as Director of Communications and Spokesman for the United States Mission to the United Nations. In that capacity, he was responsible for explaining U.S. policy pursued at the world body to both the media and the general public, and coordinated the Mission's media activities related to its participation in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council."

8/4 Updates

Due to the Wall Street Journal's firewall, I didn't realize that they ran a story one half-hour before The Washington Post on Friday night.

"Mr. Grassley’s letter cited 'potential criminal conduct,' but the issue apparently never became a criminal matter because a subsequent letter written in May by Ms. Abedin’s lawyers to a State Department agency indicates the government asked her to refund the disputed amount," Devlin Barrett and Peter Nicholas reported for the Journal, with Byron Tau and Victoria McGrane contributing.

The story adds, "According to a May letter to the department from Miguel Rodriguez, another lawyer for Ms. Abedin, she worked such long hours, even when out of the office, that she clearly wasn’t overpaid. Ms. Abedin was known to frequently work 16- or 20-hour days, and in an average month sent about 1,592 emails, the letter said. In January and February of 2012, when she was home with her baby, she sent about 1,000 emails, Mr. Rodriguez said."

A July 31 Wall Street Journal blog post adds, "Mr. Grassley’s office said Friday it did not have a copy of that email, and the letter does not cite a date when the email was allegedly sent or forwarded. The Clinton campaign referred comment on these matters to Ms. Abedin’s attorneys."

"The White House in 2010 appointed Ms. Rodin to the White House Council for Community Solutions, a panel charged with getting citizens, non-profits, businesses and government to work together on local problems. It’s not clear if the appointment was related to the position Mr. Band allegedly sought for her.

A spokesperson for the Rockefeller Foundation declined to comment."

CNN reported on August 1, "'Ms. Abedin often worked seven days a week and around the clock for the Secretary and the Department. Given these facts not in dispute, there is no basis for the OIG (Office of Inspector General) to conclude that Ms. Abedin must refund her salary earned during those periods, as if she had not worked at all," Miguel Rodriguez, one of Abedin's lawyers with the firm Bryan Cave, wrote the Office of the Comptroller back in May after Abedin was informed of the request to repay the government."

"In particular, there are two periods of time the report looked at, according to Abedin's attorneys: an overseas vacation in August 2011 -- during which Abedin was working, her lawyers say -- and an almost three-month maternity leave after she gave birth in December 2011. Her lawyers wrote that Abedin was 'working as she went into labor and returning to her duties shortly after (her son's) birth.'

Her lawyers told the government there was no effort at the time to calculate the amount of time she worked during those periods.

'Huma Abedin is widely known as one of the hardest working and most dedicated public servants over the nearly two decades she served. The IG's report is fundamentally flawed, including contradicting its own conclusion by proving that Huma worked hard even while on maternity leave,' Karen Dunn, one of Abedin's attorneys with the firm Boies, Schiller and Flexner, told CNN.

'No hardworking, dedicated public servant should be subjected to irresponsible allegations based on a fundamentally flawed report and the State Department has undertaken a review of the report. Huma has been nothing but cooperative in helping the Department work through its record keeping issues, and she will continue to do so in the hope the right thing is done,' Dunn added."

Rodgriguez also told CNN: "There is no criminal investigation and never has been. To say otherwise is just patently false and needlessly inflammatory."

"The State Department inspector general has determined that Huma Abedin, the close confidant of Hillary Rodham Clinton, must return more than $9,000 for alleged overpayments made to her during her time working for the department when Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state, according to her lawyer and Senate documents," Mikayla Bouchard blogged for The New York Times on August 1.

I guess it shouldn't be unexpected that a week after The New York Times gets into trouble for not specifically quoting a government document that they'd again paraphrase an alleged inspectors generals action. What exactly does "has determined" and "must return" mean and what are the consequences?

"The inspector general directed Ms. Abedin to refund the government $9,857.73, according to a letter released Saturday by her lawyer, Karen L. Dunn, who said Ms. Abedin will challenge the finding. Her lawyers criticized the inquiry for 'holes in its methodology' and 'unsupported allegations,'" Bouchard added.

"Huma has been nothing but cooperative in helping the department work through its record-keeping issues, and she will continue to do so in the hope the right thing is done," Dunn absurdly tells The New York Times, considering the fact that the State Department has been allegedly unable to fulfill F.O.I.A. requests or respond to lawsuits and a congressional committee seeking Abedin's emails because she sometimes used the private Clinton server.

The Times blog added, "John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, said in an email, 'We are in receipt of Senator Grassley’s letter and will respond to it accordingly.'"

On August 3, Sarah Westwood noted at The Washington Examiner that "Abedin has drawn fire for the SGE arrangement that gave her heavy influence over Hillary Clinton's schedule and travel while allowing her to serve as a senior adviser at Teneo. Critics have said the personnel rule was quietly bent to permit Abedin to collect her government paycheck while wielding her influence to the benefit of her other employers."

Westwood then referenced her article based on my exclusive reporting, "For example, Hillary Clinton jetted to Ireland with Abedin at her side for her last official trip as secretary, during which she attended an event hosted by a major Clinton Foundation donor that had been promoted by Teneo."

Abedin's lawyers certainly did get a lot of space to respond in all the articles, while the campaign itself and the government have stayed silent.

Some of the unasked - and so, of course, unanswered - questions in all the stories include: How long has 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton known that the vice chairwoman for her campaign was under some kind of investigation for allegedly being overpaid by the government? Why wasn't the media or public told about this? Are the two law firms charging full rate? Who is paying for Abedin's legal fees? Wouldn't it have been cheaper for Huma Abedin to return the money to the government than to pay for her attorneys' work on this particular dispute since at least May? Is it prudent to prolong the controversy during a presidential campaign?