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Top Clinton aide overpaid at State Department: Probe

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton (R) and her longtime confidante Huma Abedin.

Federal investigators have found that Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides, was overpaid by nearly $10,000 while working at the State Department.

The findings became public after GOP Senator Charles Grassley wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry, demanding more information about a probe into possible “criminal” conduct by Abedin regarding her pay, The Washington Post reports.

Abedin was paid for vacation as part of her compensation at the State Department while she never formally requested any vacation or sick leave during her three and a half years as government employee.

However, Grassley wrote that the investigation found evidence that Abedin did take time off, including a 10-day trip to Italy.

The finding that Abedin, who now serves as vice chairwoman of Clinton’s presidential campaign, had improperly collected taxpayer money could have ramifications for Clinton’s candidacy.

In letters to Abedin, Kerry and the State Department’s Inspector General, Grassley wrote that investigators had found “at least a reasonable suspicion of a violation” of law concerning the “theft of public money through time and attendance fraud” by Abedin, according to The Post.

The Iowa senator also alleged that efforts to investigate the accusations were stymied because Abedin’s exchanges were conducted by Clinton’s private email server.

In addition to serving as a close aide to the former secretary of state, Abedin also worked at the Clinton Foundation and Teneo, a private firm with Clinton ties.

An attorney for the longtime Clinton confidante has dismissed the federal report as “fundamentally flawed.”

“No hardworking, dedicated public servant should be subjected to irresponsible allegations based on a fundamentally flawed report, and the State Department has undertaken a review of the report,” attorney Karen Dunn said.


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