Kevin Rudd 'hoped for a sympathetic call' from Hillary Clinton, emails reveal
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Version 0 of 1. Related: Next batch of Hillary Clinton's emails released Kevin Rudd’s aide told the US embassy that the former Australian prime minister had “hoped for a sympathetic call” from Hillary Clinton after he lost the Labor leadership in 2010, newly released emails show. The Clinton-related emails – which are among 7,000 pages in the latest batch released by the US State Department – show the then secretary of state told one of her advisers she “was sorry” about what had happened to him. Rudd was deposed by Julia Gillard on 24 June 2010 and Clinton mentioned the political upheaval in a brief remark to her confidant Sid Blumenthal three days later. “Speaking of Australia, I was sorry about Kevin Rudd,” she wrote on 27 June. The US ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, wrote to senior US officials on 30 June and mentioned that he had spoken at length with Rudd a couple of days earlier. An adviser to Rudd had also contacted Edgard Kagan, who was counsellor for political and economic affairs at the embassy. “Although he did not raise the issue, his aide called Edgard afterward and noted that Rudd had not heard from S [secretary Clinton], and would have hoped for a sympathetic call,” Bleich wrote. Related: Kevin Rudd as CNN host: no stuff-ups, but cricket joke probably went wide “I have no strong point of view on this one. He has received such a call from POTUS [Barack Obama] already.” Bleich said he thought Rudd and Clinton “had a good relationship and he may want to talk to her about his future career goals”. Documents previously released by WikiLeaks revealed details of talks between Rudd and Clinton in 2009 about the rise of China. Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state has attracted controversy amid her bid to become the Democratic nominee for president in 2016. The emails are being released in batches. |