#PodestaEmails30: Hillary Clinton ‘made clear’ CGI ally be given key diplomatic post – WikiLeaks

In a newly leaked email from 2009, then-US Defense Secretary Robert Gates asks for the resumé of Beth Jones, whom Hillary Clinton insisted be the next US ambassador to Iraq. Jones was a top executive of a PR firm and partner of the Clinton Global Initiative.

“At Friday's meeting, Hillary made clear Beth Jones was her first choice for Ambassador to Iraq,” Secretary Gates wrote on January 12, 2009 to current Clinton presidential campaign manager John Podesta. “Since I don't know her, we agreed that I should meet with her today or tomorrow. If she is still the frontrunner, would you have someone send me her resume and also reach out to her to ask her to call my office.”

Beth Jones is Executive VP at the public relations firm APCO Worldwide, which happens to be a Clinton Global Initiative partner and donor. APCO, which gives free PR for the Clinton Global Initiative, according to the Daily Caller, has multiple ties to the Democratic presidential candidate.

APCO has reportedly contributed up to $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation, and has worked alongside it for more than eight years. A strong Clinton theme runs through the staff. A former Clinton donor heads the firm, backed up by some former Clinton allies, including Mark Medis, who served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton, and Lisa Osborne Ross, a Clinton administration official for both of his terms.

In December 2015, APCO and Teneo, another PR firm with close links to the Clintons, reportedly discussed a possible merger, but the deal collapsed in January 2016.

Teneo was co-founded by two Hillary Clinton fundraisers, including CEO Declan Kelly, who she appointed as an envoy to Northern Ireland, and Doug Band, who led the Clinton Global Initiative for years.

Bill Clinton was once a paid advisor, and Hillary’s vice chair for her 2016 presidential campaign Huma Abedin worked for Teneo and the Clinton Foundation while working for the State Department.