May 28, 2015

What was Sidney Blumenthal hired to do for his $120,000 a year full-time salary at the Clinton Foundation during the four years that Hillary was Secretary of State? Was he hired to provide off-the-shelf intelligence to Hillary? And to trash her critics and possible opponents?

That’s what it looks like.

Blumenthal has always been Hillary’s expert on the vast right wing conspiracy and he is superb at stoking her paranoia and investigating and attacking anyone who threatens the Clinton orbit. He’s the one that spread the groundless rumor, conceived by Hillary, that Monica Lewinsky was an unwelcome and unstable stalker of an innocent president. Anything for Hillary.

We know that Sidney sent 20 dense emails chock full of cloak and dagger “intel” about Libya and Algeria to the Secretary of State. We also know that Hillary took Sid’s information and advice seriously and circulated his emails to her top aides in the State Department (after scrubbing Sid’s name).

There’s something else we know: Sidney had absolutely no experience in foreign affairs and the source of his information was, in part, a party with a financial interest in Libya.

What we didn’t know was that shortly after the Obama Administration refused to allow Hillary to hire Sidney, he landed on the Clinton Foundation payroll — as a full-time employee with a big salary and benefits. After Hillary left the State Department, Sidney was demoted to a consultant — he kept his salary but the benefits were cut. It was only a few months ago — in March — that he left the Clinton Foundation. Right about the time that his emails surfaced.

At the same time that he worked full-time at the Foundation, Sidney also worked for Media Matters — the aggressive pro-Hillary group headed by the wacky David Brock. In addition, Sidney was a consultant to a pro-Hillary PAC. He was a busy man — consumed with defending Hillary.

So Sidney was at Hillary’s full disposal while she was Secretary of State. Sidney’s claims that he sent the emails as a “private citizen” don’t sound too good. He may have been a private citizen, but he was paid by the Clintons.

So maybe his “unsolicited” advice on Libya wasn’t so unsolicited after all.

When Hillary was asked about Sidney’s emails, she never mentioned his employment at the Clinton Foundation. Here’s what she said: “We’ve been friends for a long time,” said Clinton during an event in Iowa. “He sent me emails I passed on in some instances. That’s part of the give and take…I’m going to keep talking to my old friends, whoever they are.”

Once again, Clinton is skirting the truth. Initially, when Blumenthal’s connection to the Clinton Foundation was made public, a spokesman said that he helped with “research” and “planning a commemorative event.”

Now that we know that he was a full-time employee, the Clinton Foundation is now saying that Sidney worked on President Clinton’s “legacy.”

It’s now obvious that Sidney was there to help Hillary in her political work. That’s not what the Clinton Foundation is supposed to be doing.

Blumenthal has been subpoenaed by the Benghazi Committee. Here’s one question it should ask: Did Sidney Blumenthal do any work — with Media Matters, for example, — to counter criticisms of Hillary’s role in Benghazi?

ONE MORE QUESTION: What other political activities were funded by the Clinton Foundation?