Soon after the correspondence about a meeting, Clinton's State Department significantly increased arms export authorizations to the country's autocratic government, even as that nation moved to crush pro-democracy protests.

In a statement quoted by the Wall Street Journal, a Clinton spokesperson, Josh Schwerin, said of the newly released correspondence: "The fact remains that Hillary Clinton never took action as secretary of state because of donations to the Clinton Foundation."

The emails, which were obtained through a lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, detail how foundation operations and State Department business intersected, even though they were supposed to be walled off from one another. Last week, Clinton's campaign said the foundation would stop accepting foreign government donations if she is elected president — but did not explain why it accepted that money while Clinton was America's top diplomat.