New State Department Documents Reveal Clinton Top Political Operative Pushed For Hire of Pagliano at State Department

Documents Show State Department IT Concerned about Political hire

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained Department of State emails showing that top Clinton aide Laura Pena helped push through the political appointment of former Hillary for President IT director Bryan Pagliano to a Schedule C position at the State Department in 2009. The new documents also show the involvement of Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, in Pagliano’s hiring.

The emails show others in the State International Resource Management (IT division) in which Pagliano would work questioned why a political appointee was being placed in the office. And the emails reveal that a political appointee could not even report directly to a superior in the International Resource Management division, raising further questions among Pagliano’s supervisors.

Before becoming Clinton’s State Department White House liaison, Pena served as the Hillary for President campaign’s Director of Hispanic Outreach and Deputy Director of Women’s Outreach, leaving that position to become the Deputy Political Director of Clinton’s Friends of Hillary PAC. In January 2009, Pena joined Clinton at the State Department where she helped secure the Pagliano’s political appointment one month later. While at the State Department, Pagliano allegedly provided tech support for Hillary Clinton’s non-state.gov email system.

The new documents were obtained in response to an April 8, 2016, District Court order directing the Department of State to begin producing materials for Judicial Watch in response to a September 3, 2015 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-01441)). The lawsuit was filed after State failed to comply with an August 5, 2015 FOIA request seeking the following:

All records concerning the hiring of Bryan Pagliano; All time sheets, calendars, or similar records of Bryan Pagliano; All records of travel to/from Chappaqua, NY. Such records include, but are not limited to, expense reports, reimbursement forms, and travel logs; All records of Bryan Pagliano concerning, regarding, or relating to the maintenance of former Secretary Clinton’s email server. Such records include, but are not limited to, expense reports, reimbursement forms, and maintenance logs; and All records of communications between Bryan Pagliano and any official, officer, or employee of the Office of the Secretary concerning former Secretary Clinton’s email server.

The emails obtained by Judicial Watch reveal that the political appointment of Pagliano was expedited after Clinton aide Pena sent an initial email to Patrick Kennedy on February 23, 2009:

From: Pena, Laura Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 11:25 AM To: Patrick Kennedy Subject: Bryan Pagliano Hi Pat, Please let me know when you are ready to give Brian his assignment at IRM, I’d like to give him a heads up and a better idea of the position. Many thanks, Laura From: Kennedy, Patrick F. Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2009 11:48 AM To: Pena, Laura Subject: RE: Ryan Pagliano Laura, Susan Swart and Charlie Wisecarver are very interested in him and were calling him to talk. Will get you a read-out Regards Pat From: Kennedy, Patrick F. To: Wisecarver, Charles D [Deputy, Bureau of Information Resource Management] Cc: Swart, Susan H [Director, Bureau of Information Resource Management] Subject: FW: Bryan Pagliano Charlie How did the conversation go and have you reached an agreement? Regards Pat From: Wisecarver, Charles D To Taglialatela, Linda S [then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Human Resources] Cc: Swart, Susan H; Fedak, Janice J Sent: Monday, Mar 09 06:54:07 2009 Subject: Schedule C? Linda, Pat passed on resume of a young man who ran technology for the Clinton for President campaign. Janice and I met with him on Friday and see the value in bringing him on. Charlie

According to a March 25, 2016, Reuters article, despite Swart’s and Wisecarver’s compliance in moving through the Pagliano appointment, both were concerned because “Schedule C hires usually work in agencies’ executive offices, not in technical areas like an IT department.” Reuters reported that a letter from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) to Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy in mid-March addressed those concerns. And the emails obtained by Judicial Watch revealed the extent of Swart’s and Wisecarver’s misgivings about the political nature of the Pagliano appointment:

From: Raymos, Jeanne N [former Director, Executive Resources and Performance Management] Sent: Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:08 PM To: Wiscarver, Charles D Subject: RE: Schedule C – Bryan Pagliano Charlie, As a Schedule C, Bryan must report to a PAS [Public Affairs Section], and since Ms. Swart is not a PAS, the PD should identify U/S Kennedy as the supervisor. From: Wisecarver, Charles D To: Swart, Susan H Sent: Wed March 11 21:45:45 2009 Subject: FW: Schedule C – Bryan Pagliano Your not a PAS! What is a PAS? Is this a reference for a confirmed A/S? From: Swart, Susan H Sent: Wed March 11, 2009 9:53 PM To: Wisecarver, Charles D Subject: RE: Schedule C – Bryan Pagliano I don’t know what a pas is. PFK [Patrick F. Kennedy] specifically said we didn’t need to be pol apptees but it sure sounds like we do. I am going to ask him. What a bunch a

On May 4, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted Judicial Watch “discovery” in another FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)) into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email system. The court order allows Judicial Watch to take testimony of Pagliano and Kennedy. Judge Sullivan also noted that “based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary.”

“These documents show that politics played a role in Clinton email witness Brian Pagliano’s hiring at the State Department,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Why place a political appointee in the IT department of the State Department? And it is no coincidence that this same controversial political hire helped Hillary Clinton with her illicit email system. No wonder Pagliano reportedly has received immunity from the Justice Department.”

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