Clinton loyalists had ear

Emails, calendar show former secretary of state granted access

WASHINGTON — As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton opened her office to dozens of influential Democratic Party fundraisers, former Clinton administration and campaign loyalists, and corporate donors to her family’s global charity, according to State Department calendars obtained by The Associated Press.

Also on Monday, roughly 7,800 pages of emails were released as part of a courtordered disclosure of correspondence sent from the private server Clinton used while she was secretary of state.

Clinton, now the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has faced questions about whether her unusual email setup was sufficient to ensure the security of government information and retention of records. Included in the most recent batch was an email that Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III and State Department Inspector General Steve Linick deemed classified in July.

Her calendar shows that she met or spoke by phone with nearly 100 corporate executives and longtime Clinton political and charity donors during her four years at the State Department between 2009 and 2013. Those meetings involved heads of companies and organizations that pursued business or private interests with the Obama administration, including with the State Department while Clinton was in charge.

The AP found no evidence of legal or ethical conflicts in Clinton’s meetings in its examination of 1,294 pages from the calendars.

But the difference with Clinton’s meetings was that she was a 2008 presidential contender who was expected to run again in 2016. Her availability to luminaries shows the extent to which her office became a sounding board for their interests.