A previously unknown e-mail address used by Huma Abedin was discovered on Thursday, just hours before the top Hillary Clinton aide prepares to testify in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
Conservative watchdog group Citizens United discovered the address in an e-mail exchange that shows Clinton Foundation CEO Robert Harrison forwarding a speaking invitation for then-Secretary of State Clinton to both Abedin’s State Department account and an unfamiliar Abedin address on November 6, 2012. “I tried to send this to your ‘clintonemail.com’ address, but it bounced back as undeliverable, so here it is again,” Harrison wrote.
The new address is titled “humamabedin,” and appears to be a private e-mail account. The State Department redacted the account’s domain name, citing a personal-privacy exemption.
A spokesman for the Benghazi Committee did not immediately respond when asked if the committee was aware of the e-mail account, and if it is under investigation for possibly containing official or classified government information on the September 11, 2012 attack on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya. In August, the State Department admitted to a federal judge that Abedin and others close to Clinton used private accounts to conduct government business, and that they were unable to search those accounts for official records.
#share#Technical issues seemed to plague Clinton’s private e-mail server at times, driving State Department aides and Clinton Foundation employees to use government or private accounts to reach Clinton and her top staff. “Is your e-mail working?” Abedin wrote to Clinton Foundation executive director Stephanie Streett on October 10, 2012. “Mine has been down [since] last night.” Abedin later added that she “can’t even get into my Clinton e-mail.”
#related#The news of an unknown e-mail account and additional technical troubles will likely factor in to Abedin’s closed-door testimony before the Benghazi Committee on Friday. In Abedin’s first appearance before the committee, lawmakers are expected to focus on work she did for the private, Clinton-connected consulting firm Teneo while she was still employed at the State Department.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) has expressed concern that Abedin acted as a conduit between Clinton and well-heeled Teneo clients. In one spring 2012 e-mail highlighted by the senator, Teneo’s president asked Abedin to convince Clinton to back Judith Rodin, the head of the Rockefeller Foundation and a Teneo client, for an Obama administration appointment.
— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.
Update: A Benghazi Committee aide said in a statement sent to reporters this afternoon that Abedin “will be questioned about issues pertaining to the committee’s charter,” specifically the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya and the Obama administration’s subsequent response. It appears she will not be subject to questioning on Teneo or the Clinton Foundation.