Emails: Clinton Foundation donor lobbied State Department for Haiti hotels

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A donor to the Clinton Foundation reached out to Hillary Clinton’s office to promote a Haiti hotel project that later received support from the U.S. government and Bill Clinton, according to emails released by the Department of State.

Richard L. Friedman, a Boston hotel developer emailed Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, to tout the project on May 17, 2011.

“We had a good meeting with Jean-Louis, Marriott executives, [the Overseas Private Investment Corporation], etc regarding building hotels in Haiti—I am pursuing this vigorously and hope to be able to develop 2 to 3 hotels with Marriott as manager,” wrote Friedman. “I am talking with Commerce and Export/Import Bank today.”

Friedman said he recently had a discussion with Hillary Clinton at the White House and asked Mills to forward her a note for him. It is unclear what he and Clinton discussed, and portions of his email have been redacted by the State Department due to “personal private interests.” The note he asked Mills to send to Clinton is also redacted.

“I will keep you informed about our progress in Haiti—we are going to need all the help we can get,” Friedman wrote Mills.

Mills forwarded Friedman’s full email to Clinton and her scheduler, Lona Valmoro, on June 7 with the note “See highlight—resending.” The copy released by the State Department does not indicate which portion of the email Mills highlighted.

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