Clinton Foundation staff urged the Obama administration to permit a meeting between Bill Clinton and powerful Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg as then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought investors for a project under his purview, new emails reveal.



The Washington Examiner reports that although the emails do not reveal any illegal activity by the State Department, Clinton or the foundation, they do raise further questions about the blurred lines between the Clinton's political, business and philanthropic relationships while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.

The ties with Vekselberg, whose Renova Group donated up to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation, takes on greater significance after his company was raided last week in Moscow on suspicions of bribery.

The Clinton Foundation pressure on the State Department to allow Bill Clinton to meet the oligarch in Russia came as Hillary Clinton worked to create interest in a technology-sharing project, led by Vekselberg, called Skolkovo, which was conceived during the Obama administration's "Russia Reset" in order to attract investors to Moscow-based technology start-ups.

Hillary Clinton's efforts as secretary of state to promote the project resulted in 28 companies becoming key partners in Skolkovo, 17 of which were also Clinton Foundation donors, according to a report by "Clinton Cash" author Peter Schweizer.

Many of these companies sponsored speeches by Bill Clinton, and, in addition, Russians tied to Skolkovo also made donations to the Clinton Foundation, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The paper details a more disturbing fact, which is that American military experts warned from the beginning that, although the venture was supposed to be civilian in nature, the Russian were using the joint project with the U.S. to gain access to classified and sensitive technologies. These eventually may have helped boost the Russian military as Moscow became more aggressive in its expansionist plans and a greater threat to U.S. interests.

The relationship to Vekselberg continued throughout Clinton's tenure at the State Department and, the Examiner points out, comes as Clinton now tries to counter allegations during the presidential campaign that the Clinton Foundation posed a conflict of interest for her family while she served as secretary of state. This has become especially problematic since new evidence from the FBI indicates that Clinton's staff destroyed possible evidence that the investigators sought.