WASHINGTON – The State Department got slapped with a lawsuit Wednesday by a government watchdog demanding details of the sweetheart pay deal for longtime Hillary Rodham Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
Abedin, who is also the wife of former mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, freelanced for the Bill Clinton-linked Teneo international consulting firm while collecting government pay as deputy chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Clinton.
“As is so often the case with the Clintons, or those close to them, Ms. Abedin’s questionable dealings are wrapped in secrecy,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, as he announced his group’s lawsuit.
The legal action follows the State Department’s failure to comply with a June request by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act for details about Abedin’s employment contracts.
“The State Department’s stonewall on Abedin suggests that there is something to hide,” said Fitton.
Abedin left the State Department with Clinton in February 2013 and continues to work for her, although the embarrassment of Weiner’s failed bid for mayor has strained the Clinton-Abedin relationship.
While at the State Department, Abedin was employed since June 2012 as a “special government employee,” a consultant position that allowed her to also represent outside clients.
But Abedin’s outside clients included Teneo, an international strategic consulting firm co-founded by former Bill Clinton right-hand man Doug Band.
She reportedly raked in $355,000 as a consultant to Teneo, while simultaneously pocketing $135,000 in government pay.
The arrangement raised eyebrows because Abedin failed to disclose the exact nature of her work for Teneo, which represents a long list of foreign clients and has offices in Brussels, Dubai, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Munich and Zurich.
Taneo describes its business as providing “the leaders of the world’s most respected companies, nonprofit institutions and governments with a full suite of advisory solutions.”
Abedin’s double dealing is also the target of an investigation by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He has charged that Abedin’s work arrangement “blurs the line between public-and private-sector employees, especially when employees receive full-time salaries for what appears to be part-time work.”
A State Department official said that the agency “takes seriously its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and will handle this request [from Judicial Watch] accordingly, as it does all requests.”
The official noted that the State Department received more than 18,000 FOIA requests last fiscal year.