Hillary’s Secret Donor Meetings

Hillary Clinton’s official schedule from her days as Secretary of State was scrubbed of at least 75 entries listing names and meetings with political donors and State Department outsiders, according to an investigation carried out by the Associated Press.

Many of those donors and peddlers of influence had interests and business involving the State Department, surely buffeting Donald Trump’s statement Wednesday that Clinton may be the “most corrupt” candidate to ever run for president.

“It’s clear that any outside influence needs to be clearly identified in some way to at least guarantee transparency. That didn’t happen.”

After suing the government in federal court to receive the omitted details in March 2015, the AP began comparing Clinton’s 1,500-page official calendar with the records kept in planning schedules by the former Secretary of State’s aides. The investigation showed that at least 114 names of visitors who met with her were omitted from Clinton’s official calendar records. These discrepancies between official and unofficial records prompted Clinton’s critics to further question her transparency and honesty in the midst of her ongoing private email server scandal.

“It’s clear that any outside influence needs to be clearly identified in some way to at least guarantee transparency. That didn’t happen,” Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, told the AP. “These discrepancies are striking because of her possible interest at the time in running for the presidency.”

Nick Merrill, Clinton’s presidential campaign spokesman, shrugged off the critics’ concerns and attributed the discrepancies between the official schedule and the aides’ daily planners as insignificant and irrelevant, insisting that they “simply reflect a more detailed version in one version as compared to another, all maintained by her staff.”

But even John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, could not defend Clinton’s actions.

“[Clinton] has always made an effort to be transparent since entering public life, whether it be the release of over 30 years of tax returns, years of financial disclosure forms, or asking that 55,000 pages of work emails from her time of secretary of state be turned over to the public,” Merrill said on Thursday, according to the AP.

Although Clinton and her staff likely broke no federal laws in choosing to maintain their various calendars in the manner they chose, the American people aren’t likely to buy more excuses from Clinton considering the sheer volume of evidence that she used her official position to peddle influence, prep her presidential bid, and stock the Clinton Foundation with donations.

As a mountain of evidence continues to pile up around Clinton’s ethical struggles as Secretary of State, this latest controversy will lead to new and multiplying questions: Why did those who kept Clinton’s official calendar feel the need to omit the name of visitor Sidney Blumenthal, one of Clinton’s longtime advisers? Or Thomas “Mack” McLarty, a former chief of staff for Bill Clinton’s White House? Or what about Haim Saban, and entertainment magnate, or Joseph Wilson, a former energy lobbyist? Why were these names and records non-disclosed in the official calendar? Who was responsibly for the omissions? And what, in this case, was Clinton trying to hide?

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“The fact that some information was not captured isn’t necessarily a sign of bad faith,” Steven Aftergood, a government records expert at the Federation of American Scientists, told CBS News before adding, “It’s obviously more important to have a complete record than a scattershot one.”

But even John Kirby, the State Department spokesman, could not defend Clinton’s actions. “Regardless of the ongoing litigation I am not in a position — nor should I be expected to — to speak of the scheduling habits of a previous secretary of state,” Kirby said when questioned by reporters. “I’m not able to do that…It’s a case of ongoing litigation and I’m simply not able to discuss it further.”

Kirby was able to ensure reporters, however, that current Secretary of State John Kerry is not following in Clinton’s transparency-troubled footsteps.

“I can’t speak to how it was done in the past. But the secretary’s calendars are being properly preserved and maintained, and that includes who he’s meeting with,” Kirby said.