State Dept. aide helped vet Bill Clinton gigs while on foundation board

Sept. 24, 2015: Cheryl D. Mills, Counselor and Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of State, listens during a commitment workshop titled "Haiti: Lessons for the Future" on the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative 2012 (CGI) in New York. (Reuters) (REUTERS)

Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff at the State Department was involved in the review process for Bill Clinton’s speech and consulting requests while also serving on the board of the Clinton Foundation, newly released emails indicate.

Cheryl Mills joined the State Department on Jan. 22, 2009, but did not formally step down from the board of the William J. Clinton Foundation until an undisclosed date in March of 2009, according to the foundation.

“While Cheryl’s official resignation was in March of 2009, she didn’t participate in any board activities after Dec 2008,” a Clinton Foundation official told the Washington Free Beacon. The official declined to provide the exact date Mills stepped down.

Between January and March of 2009, Mills was copied on numerous memos between Clinton Foundation aides and State Department ethics officer Jim Thessin as part of the review process for Bill Clinton’s speaking requests. The Obama administration required the State Department to vet these requests for potential conflicts of interest as part of an ethics agreement with Hillary Clinton.

Emails published last week by the watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that Mills had a more active role in the review process during this time period than previously known.

A State Department ethics official said in one email to the Clinton Foundation that he had discussed a consulting request with Mills in late February 2009, but needed more deliberation before it could be approved.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.