RNC: No Evidence Clinton Aides Took Required Ethics Training

The Republican National Committee said Thursday that the State Department could not find any evidence that several of Hillary Clinton's top aides participated in required ethics training sessions when she was secretary of state.

The committee sued the State Department in federal court in March to obtain the records, chairman Reince Priebus said, and he said that the lack of information involving six staffers proved that such accountability training "was never a priority for Hillary Clinton."

"The State Department's own regulations say the responsibility for carrying out the agency's ethics program rests with the secretary, and by all accounts, it was never a priority for Hillary Clinton," Priebus said. "The complete absence of records showing Clinton and her top aides completed annual ethics trainings required by federal law is par for the course for her tenure as secretary of state, where the rules didn’t seem to apply and pay-to-play was the name of the game."

No records of completing the training were available for these Clinton aides: Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Anne Marie Slaughter, Caitlin Klevorick, Jake Sullivan and Kris Bladerston.

Many of these aides now work on Clinton's Democratic presidential campaign. The RNC initially filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the records last December.

Federal law requires that the training be completed for each year a personal financial disclosure form is filed. The Office of Governmental Ethics considers the instruction "vital" to help prevent “conflict of interest violations," Priebus said in a statement.

In the case of Abedin, State Department officials reminded her of the need to undergo the training in early 2013, The Washington Times reports. This was just before Abedin left the agency along with Clinton.

Abedin said, according to the Times, that she thought that filing a financial disclosure form was sufficient.

When informed that the instruction was a separate matter and still needed to be completed, Abedin said she would finish it, the Times reports.

The RNC documents contain no record of Abedin completing the course.

"Too much is at stake in this country to have our next president compromised by conflicts of interest with foreign donors and besieged by one scandal after another," Priebus said.

The Clinton campaign has not responded to a request for comment from the Times, but Donald Trump's effort immediately slammed the former first lady.

"Hillary was planning a criminal enterprise trading government favors for cash," said Stephen Miller, Trump's national policy director. "As she focused on personal enrichment, the Middle East went up in flames and [the Islamic State] exploded onto the globe.

"Now, all the people who’ve been paying off Hillary for years are funding her campaign."

• State Dept: $400M Payment Was Contingent on Release of Prisoners
• Trump: I'll Take a 'Very Serious Look' at Term Limits for Congress