On Thursday, the State Department agreed to deliver all the detailed schedules from Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state to The Associated Press by the middle of October. This is a surprising about face from government officials, as it was originally believed they would not be made available til after the November election.
The State Department will be providing a detailed minute-by-minute overview of Clinton’s schedule from between 2009 and 2013 to the AP. Releasing Clinton’s calendar may not seem like a huge revelation, but this gives an inside look at who she met with while serving in the Obama Administration. Many have criticized Clinton for her lack of transparency, but this latest action may provide a lot of insight. But there is a slight caveat to the situation, as the AP reports that some of the schedules have been edited with some names even being omitted.
The AP has been provided with two years worth of schedules thus far. While reviewing who Clinton met with while serving as the secretary of state, the AP — according to The New York Times — found that more than half of the people on her schedules were either people or groups who donated to the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton camp has maintained it did not exchange donations for access to Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted he hopes these newly released documents will allow people to see Clinton as flexible and open to providing information:
We are glad to have schedules released as quickly as possible. It will be best for public to see the full picture, not cherrypicked subset.
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) September 2, 2016
This situation seems to be a bit of a double-edged sword for Clinton. On one hand, she looks to be silencing the critics that have questioned her honesty by releasing the documents. But on the other side, it appears to be a can of worms for the continuing controversy surrounding the Clinton Foundation.
(Via The New York Times & CNN)