State Dept. Employee Under Investigation for Lying to FBI
Keely Sharp

March 29, 2017
A U.S. State Department employee with access to sensitive diplomatic information was accused of failing to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with gifts in exchange for economic information, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
A State Department spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation filed against employee Candace Claiborne in federal court in Washington.
Claiborne was paid almost $2,500 by a Chinese agent in 2011 in exchange for information about U.S. economic policy in relation to China, according to court documents.

The charges against Claiborne were announced just ahead of an April 6-7 meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a time of heightened tensions between the world’s two largest economies over…