Colombia

Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's chief strategist has resigned from the Clinton campaign amid allegations of conflict of interest and ethical improprieties.

Penn had worked full time for the Clinton campaign even though he had not taken a sabbatical from his position as CEO of the international communications and lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller. What that meant was clear : Penn was taking meetings with political, corporate and consular clients while managing the campaign of a potential future president of the United States.

One of those clients was the government of Colombia, which had hired the firm in order to market in Capitol Hill a bilateral free-trade agreement with the United States as well as their anti-drug trafficking initiatives.

Penn vigorously defended the meeting saying he was there as CEO of Burson-Marsteller, not as campaign manager of the Senator. Yet he later retracted after it was revealed that Clinton was opposed to the trade agreement as well as her supporters with the labor movement.