The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, paid about $12 million to ensure a Clinton Foundation event featured Hillary Clinton, emails posted by WikiLeaks from the account of the Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, revealed Thursday.

© REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson WikiLeaks Dumps 13th Batch of Clinton Campaign Chair Podesta's Emails

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In 2015, US media began raising concerns about the foundation’s acceptance of foreign donations as Clinton, a former secretary of state, was preparing to launch her presidential campaign.

"The condition upon which the Moroccans agreed to host the meeting was her participation. … The King has personally committed approx $12 million both for the endowment and to support the meeting," Clinton aide Huma Abedin wrote in a January 18, 2015 message that was part of an email thread including Podesta.

Abedin explained that it would be difficult for Clinton to back out of the event, the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East and Africa meeting, on May 5-7 in Marrakech, Morocco.

"She created this mess and she knows it," the aide concluded.