Flashback: August 2016 Emails show Clinton denied, then met with Ukrainian donor

WaEx: Emails made public Tuesday show a Ukrainian businessman and major Clinton Foundation donor was invited to Hillary Clinton’s home during the final year of her diplomatic tenure, despite her spokesman’s insistence in 2014 that the donor never crossed paths with Clinton while she served as secretary of state.

Victor Pinchuk, who has given up to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation, appeared on the guest list that was sent between Dennis Cheng, an executive at the foundation, and Huma Abedin, then Clinton’s deputy chief of staff at the State Department, ahead of a June 2012 dinner. Abedin noted in a subsequent email that the gathering would be hosted in Clinton’s home.

Amid scrutiny of Clinton’s ties to Pinchuk in 2014, the Democratic nominee’s spokesman, Nick Merrill, said Pinchuk had never met with Clinton during that time. He told the New York Times that, “from Jan. 21, 2009, to Feb. 1, 2013,” the Ukrainian businessman “was never on her schedule.”

Merrill did not return a request for comment.

The dinner invitation was exposed in a batch of emails obtained by Citizens United through the Freedom of Information Act that was made public Tuesday. The conservative group is seeking communications between a handful of Clinton’s closest aides and individuals associated with the Clinton Foundation.

Other emails released through the State Department from the collection provided by Clinton shed light on the friendly relationship Pinchuk enjoyed with Clinton’s State Department.

For example, in one exchange from January 2012, Clinton discussed with an agency official her daughter’s recent trip to Ukraine. The official noted that Chelsea Clinton and her husband had been invited to visit Kiev by Pinchuk. MORE