- During the tenure of Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State, NBC News ran a report which stated that a "sexual misconduct" involving "minor children" had been shut down by highest level officials, prompting complaints from the US Inspector General. (Report below)
- In 2010, in response to a reporter's questions about a case in which 10
Americans were being held on child abduction charges in Haiti, a State Department spokesman said that the department would not get involved,
CNN reported
State Department rebuffs call for Clinton intervention in Haiti case":
"Washington (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not get directly involved in the case of the 10 Americans detained in Haiti on child abduction charges, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday.
"It would be highly unusual for the secretary of state to intervene in a case involving the judicial process of another country," spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an off-camera question-and-answer session."
In the case, an Idaho church worker, Laura Silsby, said she was in Haiti to rescue orphans found outside of collapsed orphanages, but it turned out most of the children had parents.
CBS reported:
"Most of the children came from the ravaged village of Callebas, where people told the AP they handed over their children because they were unable to feed or clothe them after the quake. They said the missionaries promised to educate the children and let relatives visit. Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives."
Silsby claimed she planned to build an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, which relatives could visit, but a State Department diplomatic cable revealed that authorities in the country said she never submitted an application.
Contrary to her claims to parents that children would be living just across the Dominican border and that they could visit,
the mission statement for Silsby's organization stated that international adoptions were a goal.
Haiti has very strict laws and a long process for the removal of any child from the country without its parents. Once out of Haitian jurisdiction, children would be at the mercy of whomever exerted physical control over them.
Secretary Clinton intervened anyway, as reported in the
Sunday Times, and sent Bill Clinton to negotiate the release of Silsby, whom Haitian prosecutors wanted to sentence to prison for the attempted kidnap of 33 children. Instead Silsby was convicted of a lesser charge and released for "time served." Hillary Clinton's interest in the case was further documented in a
Wikileaks release of her emails.
Where Will it Go?
Why would a US Secretary of State get involved in a criminal matter in which a country's sovereignty and jurisdiction are sacrosanct, for a woman who had clearly lied repeatedly about her intentions?
