New Year's Eve FOIA Dump of Hillary Clinton Emails Shows UN Wanting US Names, Marco Rubio Called "Scared of DeMint"

By Matthew Russell Lee, Series

UNITED NATIONS, December 31 -- Among the more than 3000 Hillary Clinton email that the US State Department released or dumped on New Years Eve, there are 45 which mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Those in which Jeffrey Feltman was chosen to head UN Political Affairs - by the US - are nearly entirely redacted.

  Not so an email in which Hillary Clinton in July 2012 recounts being asked by Ban for the US name; the subject line is “High Level” and so Inner City Press surmises this was the High Level Post-2015 panel announced that month, with John Podesta as the US name.

  Another redacted email has Israel's then-Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor speaking (about Turkey) with Ban's “right hand Kim Won Soo.” On Palestine, a summary is given of (part time) UN official “Terje Larsen's vanity dinner.”  Yemen's then Ambassador to the US says a long goodbye to Huma Abadin - contrast to the US-supported Saudi coalition bombing Sana'a tonight, on New Years Eve.

  On the political front, this email snarks on cloture about Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio, saying that Rubio was “scared of DeMint.” We'll have more on this.

Back on November 30 among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department was this one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwarded the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, after starting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On December 1, 2014, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: about Mr. Feltman, yesterday, as happens monthly, there was a release of… of e-mails by the US State Department.  And without getting into all the… all 5,000 of the e-mails, I wanted to ask about the ones that involve Mr. Feltman, specifically in the time frame after he left the State Department and came to the UN.  So, there’s an e-mail in 19 October 2012.  This is months after he was at the UN, in which he forwards to Jake Sullivan and others in the State Department his communications with Derek Plumbly about Lebanon.  And he says, “Here’s my communications with my guy in Lebanon”, redacted, redacted, redacted, “please tell me what you think and advise.”  And I guess I wanted to ask you, is it… what is the… what’s the protocol for a former… of any government, not just the US, for a UN official to share what are presumably confidential UN communications with his previous employer, and how would you… how do you respond to this?

Spokesman:  I think the way to look at it is that, I think, through our mediation efforts, UN officials are often in touch with Foreign Ministries or permanent missions and share our analysis.  And that’s often how we get our work done.  I’m not going to comment on the exact… you know, what exactly was said.  I haven’t seen the e-mail.  But I think it’s… you know, we have contact, and we share our analysis with members of the Security Council, with permanent missions and Foreign Ministries.

Inner City Press:  My question is one of the e-mails… in one of the e-mails, Mr. Feltman says, I’ve tried to send this through Hotmail, but it didn’t work, which to me implies it wasn’t necessarily as a UN official.  Like, would you say… in what you’ve described as the protocol, should this be done very clearly as a UN official seeking advice from the…?

Spokesman:  As I said, I think there is nothing untoward with senior UN officials who we often… in dealing with mediation, we need to consult with different sides and share analysis and share information.

Inner City Press:  [Did he] share with others, other than the US?

Spokesman:  I’ll leave it at that. 

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf --saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He was not using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, the M23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" emailabout February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

New Hillary Emails Have Only 17 on Libya, 38 on" Sudan," Ban Ki-moon Praises NATO

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- Among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on August 31 are only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by now UN official Jeffrey Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer is angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" emailabout February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.
   

Newly Released Hillary Clinton Emails Have Only 14 on Libya, Gaddafi in NJ, Feltman on NGO

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 -- Among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.
   

At UN, Easy First Question for Hillary Clinton Was Arranged with UNCA, Then False Tradition Claimed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 -- Hillary Clinton chose the UN as her venue to address her use of a private email server for work as US Secretary of State, and chose the first questioner.

 It was a correspondent from Turkish television who said “on behalf of the UN Correspondents Association, it's wonderful to see you here again” then asked if there would be the same inquiry of Hillary Clinton were a man.

   There was groaning at the stakeout; this first question being arranged with the correspondent had been witnessed in the run-up to its asking.

  But it gets worse.

  Responding to questions about how this set-aside question came about, UNCA president Giampaolo Pioli -- an Italian journalist who has never asked the UN about either Central African Republic or Burundi but is nowflying with the UN Security Council to both -- and his vice president claimed to Al Kamen and Colby Itzkowit of “In the Loop” that it is tradition that UNCA gets the first question.

   As to the stakeout where Hillary Clinton spoke on Tuesday, this is not true, as a simple review of past stakeouts on UNTV's website shows.

   The only “tradition” at issue here is one of servility.

  Even as to the sit-down UN Press Briefing Room, where Hillary Clinton did NOT appear, UNCA claim for set-aside first questions is contested; when Chad was the president of the Security Council in December 2014, for example, UNCA did not get the first question. Often UNCA doesn't sent anyone to press conference, for example one on Tuesday about women in legislatures.

   So why did this UNCA get the first question to Hillary Clinton and why was what was asked (about if Hillary Clinton were a man the email / FOIA controversy not arising) asked?

   UNCA performs this softball question function for Ban Ki-moon, routinely. In fact, UNCA has shown itself willing to ask for the expulsion of the investigative Press which was critical of Ban (and UNCA) on inaction on Sri Lanka and other issues.

   At the stakeout on Tuesday, Clinton pointed to give the first question to UNCA, saying “Nick” is choosing the questions. But it was not Nick seen negotiating the question with UNCA. We'll have more on this.

In disclosure, when UNCA's Pioli ordered Inner City Press to take off the Internet its reporting on Sri Lanka and Inner City Press refused, instead offering to publish any letter to the editor Pioli would submit, UNCA board members tried to get Inner City Press expelled not only from UNCA but the UN. 

  The latter was exposed, including using the US Freedom of Information Act. When Inner City Press' elected term on the UNCA board expired, Inner City Press quit the group and co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access. The UN shouldn't be an easy venue for softball questions.

   

At UN, Hillary Takes Hand-Picked Questions About Deleted Emails, Gration in the Can

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 -- Once Hillary Clinton chose the UN as the backdrop for her press availability to address email-gate, the UN Security Council media stakeout area began to fill up.

 Questions included, isn't it the government which is supposed to review what is public and private in a government official's email? (See, for example, this FOIA response with cell phone numbers redacted.)

   Awaiting Hillary, the UN moved the flags of the 15 Security Council members to the side, in front of the replica of Picasso's Guernica. But the blue sheet saying “Security Council” remained.

      From an ill-attended press conference about women in parliaments, at which the front row middle seats were blocked off with a signs, “Andrea Mitchell” and “NBC,” Inner City Press passed through the glass turnstiles to the stakeout. 

 The aforementioned Andrea Mitchell was already there in front. Incongruously an officer of what's called the UN Correspondents Association was also in front, getting whispered to. BuzzFeed needless to say was in the (Glass) House, as were a number of TV faces.

  The speeches in the Economic and Social Council chamber continued, from English into German, much praise of corporations and their work for women's rights. When it was over, Hillary Clinton and entourage came to the stakeout, which hushed.

   After some opening remarks about Beijing + 20 and the 47 Senators' letter said to only help Iran, Hillary turned to her emails - and for the first pre-selected questions, conveniently, to the UN Correspondents Association, which offered thanks and, predictably, a softball.

   (Inner City Press quit this UNCA after their board tried to demand changes or removal from the Internet of articles about Sri Lanka and conflicts of interest, among other topics, then co-founded the new Free UN Coalition for Access which presses, as relevant here, for a UN Freedom of Information Act)

   Questions started getting somewhat better: why did Hillary delete what she called private emails? A journalist tried to ask about Ambassador Scott Gration, reportedly fired for similarly evading the Federal Records Act, but the journalist got shouted down.

   Inner City Press, tweeting and Vining in the back, started shouting “Scott Gration” during each brief lull. At the end Hillary Clinton said to go online and read the inspector general's report (and yes, there is more: Gration working off Gmail in a bathroom in the Nairobi embassy, here.)

   A UN true believer complained that the press didn't call about gender equality, only email-gate. But it was Hillary who chose this venue, and who chose the questions, at least the first one. This may not end well. Watch this site.

   

In UNGA on Syria, 107 Votes Is "Big Loss for Qatar," Kidnap Email Mystery

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- After the Syria resolution drafted by Qatar garnered only 107 "yes" votes on Wednesday, compared to over 130 the past two times, many diplomats described it to Inner City Press as a "big loss" for Qatar, "and for France and the UK, the 'brains' behind" the resolution.

  French Ambassador Gerard Araud took the floor to try to get a few more votes. Afterward a Latin American Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the count would have been below 100 if not for some "last minute arm-twisting."

  Even days before the vote, when Inner City Press asked Saudi Arabia's affable Permanent Representative if he predicted 110 yes votes, he said plus or minus, probably plus. But it was not to be.

  The vote Wednesday was 107 yes, 12 against and fully 59 abstentions. By that count, it seems that 15 countries didn't vote at all -- "got coffee," as one African Permanent Representative put it to Inner City Press before the vote.

  Inner City Press is putting the vote list online here.

The African Group met on Tuesday, asking Qatar to defer the vote. But Qatar rejected this. As Tanzania said, while concerned about Syria, it was not convinced that the resolution would help anything.

On the drama of Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari waving at the end of his speech an email he said showed that the opposition's "ambassador" in Qatar was involved in the kidnapping of four UN peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martyr's Brigade, Inner City Press ran to the UN noon briefing to ask.

  Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said he would not disclose any more about the negotiations to free the peacekeepers.

  Back in front of the General Assembly after the vote, Ja'afari briefly showed Inner City Press a copy of the e-mail, saying he could not give it out. It had on it among other things a telephone number -- presumably the number Ja'afari read out in the GA Hall -- and the word "Milad."

  Ja'afari told Inner City Press it was from a UN person in Damascus, telling headquarters of the involvement of the Syrian opposition ambassador in Doha in the kidnapping.

  Inner City Press asked, a UN person working for Envoy Brahimi's office? Ja'afari did not say yes.

There is much more to ask. Inner City Press ran to cover what was called a stakeout by UK prime minister David Cameron, where it turned out the questioner (Reuters, or UNCA) -- and the Syria question? -- were selected in advance. There are scams everywhere. Watch this site.

Syria Says Email Shows Opposition in Qatar Led Yarmouk's Kidnapping of UN Peacekeepers

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- Just before the Syria session of the UN General Assembly, Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari stopped and told Inner City Press that at end of his speech he would make an unexpected move.

And after Qatar's ambassador spoke in favor of the resolution his country drafted (and re-drafted several time), Ja'afari did deliver on his pledge. 

 At the end of his speech he said that there an e-mail, from the representative of the Syrian opposition given Syria's embassy in Qatar, showing their involvement in the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. He read out a phone number from the e-mail.

Outside the GA, Inner City Press asked UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant about Ja'afari on the e-mail. Lyall Grant called it confused. Another Permanent Representative, from a Troop Contributing Country, said that if true, it's very problematic.

When Secretary General Ban Ki-moon thanked Qatar for its role in the release of the UN Peacekeepers, is this what he meant? Inner City Press asked then, and will ask again. Watch this site.