A CO Fermanagh 'peace centre' opened by former US President Bill Clinton on the site of the 1987 Enniskillen bombing has been caught up in allegations of political inpropriety against Hillary Clinton during her time as US secretary of state.
The American conservative advocacy group Citizens United claim that official emails show how 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton mixed her government role with private fundraising activities while head of the US State Department between 2009 and 2013.
Citizens United claim that in 2012, Amitabh Desai, foreign policy adviser for Clinton family charity The Clinton Foundation, consulted Mrs Clinton's chief of staff and other Clinton aides about establishing a not-for-profit organisation called Friends of The Clinton Centre to fund the Enniskillen-based William J Clinton International Peace Centre, opened by Bill Clinton in 2002.
In his email, Mr Desai wrote that Stella O'Leary, president of the pro-Clinton Irish American Democrats political action group, told him she had been "firmly instructed' by Mrs Clinton to "urgently" set up the Friends of The Clinton Centre fund.
Citizens United's suggestion that this was an Irish 'slush fund' for the Clintons was flatly denied by Mrs O'Leary, who told The Irish Times it was "the funniest thing I have ever heard."
"I don't think the Clintons need a slush fund in Enniskillen," she said.
The group are also critical of long-serving Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, highlighting Ms Abedin's role in organising a Dublin dinner for Irish supporters of Mrs Clinton in 2012 while working for her at the State Department, a matter also documented on email.
Citizens United obtained the electronic correspondence from the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act to support several lawsuits against Mrs Clinton in relation to alleged conflicts of interest between her State Department role and the Clinton Foundation's fundraising activities.
A statement on the Clinton Foundation's website claims "Secretary Clinton was not involved in the work of the Foundation when she was serving as secretary of state.
"After leaving office, she served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation."
On its website, Citizens United describes itself as "an organization dedicated to restoring our government to citizens' control.
"Through a combination of education, advocacy, and grass roots organization, Citizens United seeks to reassert the traditional American values of limited government, freedom of enterprise, strong families and national sovereignty and security.
"Citizens United's goal is to restore the founding fathers' vision of a free nation, guided by the honesty, common sense and good will of its citizens."
Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server for government business has already spawned an FBI investigation into a potential breach of national security.
