Phone records indicate Clinton Foundation executive was frequently in touch with State Department aide

Cheryl Mills
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Donald Trump has blasted the Clinton Foundation as being "the most corrupt enterprise in political history," and now new reports are raising concerns about the relationship between one of the Foundation's senior executives and a top aide at the State Department during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. Call logs reveal that Cheryl Mills, Clinton's chief of staff, received at least 148 phone messages from the Clinton Foundation's chief operating officer Laura Graham between 2010 and 2012, Fox News reports, noting that "no other individual or non-profit appears in the logs with anything like that frequency or volume."

Mills has come under particular scrutiny in recent days by critics as it was revealed she spent two days in New York in 2012 having "volunteered" to interview job applicants for the Clinton Foundation. Still, Fox News notes that there is no evidence of misconduct in the contact or calls between Graham and Mills; "Secretary Clinton's ethics agreement at the time [she assumed office] did not preclude other State Department officials from engaging with, or having contact with, the Clinton Foundation," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

But "it's an amazing thing that the State Department spokesperson would actually make an argument Hillary Clinton would be obligated under an ethics agreement that the White House made her sign with the foundation but her top employees would not be under that same agreement. I find it's just very Clintonesque," said Citizens United President David Bossie.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.