Secretary of State Hillary Clinton violated federal criminal statutes governing

ethical conduct by showing preferential treatment to political campaign donors

and Clinton Foundation financial supporters, according to a formal complaint filed
by a watchdog group obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The non-profit Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust filed a complaint on
January 8 formally asking the Office of Government Ethics to conduct a full
investigation into Clintons apparent breach of ethics rules, according to the
document.
The organization charges Clinton gave preferential treatment to individuals with
which she had financial ties and regularly granted access to billionaire donors,
celebrities, and even powerful foreign nationals.
FACTs complaint comes in the wake of the State Departments release of
thousands of Clinton emails that were on her private server and provide the first
public glimpse of how as Secretary of State mixed government business with a
network of rich and politically powerful donors.
FACT, founded by former U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker, charges Clinton with
violations of Title 5 of the U.S. Code that governs the ethical conduct set for
federal officials.
Clinton was allowing insider access, pay-to-play politics where donors to the
Clinton Foundation got access to the Secretary of State, said Whitaker in an
interview with TheDCNF.
Theres a growing narrative surrounding her in the way in which she does
business, he said. Essentially if someone wants to have access to her, they
need to be a significant donor to her political campaigns or to her philanthropic
endeavors.
Ironically, Title 5 was codified from an Executive Order into federal law by her
husband, Bill Clinton. The regulation became effective on February 3, 1993 and
was codified in 5 CFR, part 2735, the provision was invoked by FACT in its
complaint.

The law directs OGE to establish a clear set of executive branch standards for
ethical conduct and refer any criminal violation to the Department of Justice.
Subpart B of the law cited by the organization prohibits employees from
soliciting or accepting gifts from prohibited sources or gifts given because of their
official position, according to the OGEs website.

The term prohibited source includes anyone seeking business with or official
action by an employees agency and anyone substantially affected by the
performance of the employees duties, according to OGE.
When ethics officials find evidence that an employee has violated an ethics
criminal statute or regulation, they must refer the that evidence to the appropriate
authority for action, according to the law.
The names of the rich and powerful come up repeatedly in the thousands of
emails released by the State Department under a Freedom of Information Act
request by Judicial Watch.
Clinton granted access to such people as billionaire George Soros,
philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, designer Diane von Furstenberg and her
husband Barry Diller, retired Citigroup Chairman Sanford Weil, real estate
magnate Walter Shorenstein, former Lorel CEO Bernard Schwartz and media
mogul Haim Saban.
The emails show Clinton met twice as Secretary of State with billionaire donor
George Soros, even going as far as to appoint his personal candidate as the U.S.
Governments special envoy to Albania during a period of political unrest. Soros
has given at least $2 million to super PACs supporting Clinton, according to the
Washington Post.
Georg Soros is anxious to see you before he leaves for Europe next Tuesday,
an aide wrote to Clinton. Could I fit him in for tomorrow, the aide asked. Yes,
Clinton replied.
Melanne Verveer, a top Clinton aide who followed her from the White House to
the State Department passed on to the Secretary the views of Victor Pinchuk, a
Ukrainian Oligarch who married the daughter of former Ukrainian Communist
president Leonid Kuchma.
Both Bill and Hillary Pinchuk have personally met Pinchuk, even attending his
2014 annual conference the he hosts at Livadia Palace, the last Russian czars
summer retreat on the Black Sea. He has given at least $13 million to the
Clinton Foundation, according to the New York Times.
Civic reform groups widely criticized Kuchmas presidency as riddled with
corruption and nepotism. The former communist leader was tainted with
allegations by a Ukrainian prosecutor that he was tied to the grisly murder of a
prominent anti-government journalist whose headless and mutilated body was
found in 2000.
FACT charges Clintons contacts with the rich and powerful with were not a single
event, but rather Clinton Foundation and political donors were regularly granted

access to Secretary Clinton or one of her aides to discuss issues before the
State Department.
The ethics laws require that all citizens be treated equally and fairly by
government officials and that citizens are confident in the impartiality and
integrity of the government, FACT states in their letter to OGE.
The donors were able to meet with high-ranking State Department officials,
voice their opinions, and advocate for certain government opinions, the group
asserts.
Even the mainstream media has reported on Clintons mixing of State
Department business with political donors.
Because she and her family have raised so much money over the years from
wealthy individuals and major corporations, reported Washington Post reporter
Tom Hamburger about Secretary Clinton in October, 5 of last year, her public
business as secretary inevitably brought her in contact with private interests that
helped boost her familys philanthropy and income.