State Department: Despite Many Emails Showing Special Treatment Of “FOBs” And “WSJVIPs,” We Investigated Ourselves And Found No Wrongdoing, And/But, We “Can’t Speak To The Staff Email At The Time.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’S MATT LEE: “There’s a report that just came out a little while ago, an ABC report, based on some emails and I haven’t had a chance to read it closely enough yet to know if it actually makes the allegation or just suggests there might have been some impropriety so lets me just ask the question that I think it hints at. In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, did the Department give preference to people or companies that donated to the Clinton Foundation in terms of contracts to help Haiti recover?” STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JOHN KIRBY: “We found no evidence that preferential treatment was given to any particular entity or organization with respect to contracts.” LEE: “So in other words, you are saying although these emails showed that people were flagged as being friends with the former president or their companies, your review found that didn’t actually translate into any favoritism?” KIRBY: “Right, in preparing our response for that story, we looked into that, and did not find any evidence that preferential treatment for contracts was given. But I don’t think it should- with President Clinton being the- designated by the United Nations as the special envoy for Haiti, I don’t think it would come as a shock to anybody that the people associated with, or friends of him or the Clinton Foundation would also, in a time of great need, want to contribute. But I see no evidence of any preferential or special treatment.” LEE: “But that’s not the question. I mean these people were identified as friends.” KIRBY: “Yeah, yeah.” LEE: “Friends of the former president, or not. And so you’re saying here the people that were identified as friends, were identified as friends …” KIRBY: “Well I can’t speak to the staff email at the time …” LEE: “Or people who weren’t identified as friends being sent to other places.” KIRBY: “What, no again. What I’d say is, seeing no evidence that preferential treatment was given to anybody based on their association with the Clinton Foundation or the former president.” (State Department Press Briefing, 10/11/16)