Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Based on information learned during discovery the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary Judge Emmet Sullivan of U.S. District Court wrote in an order issued Wednesday noting that discovery is rare in lawsuits over the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) while saying the State Department has still not made a good faith effort to hand over all required documents from Clintons Secretary of State Office.
Sullivan said he was unpersuaded by the State Departments legal argument against discovery which would permit attorneys from Judicial Watch a conservative group that sued the agency over a stonewalled FOIA request to question Clinton aides about the nature of the server under a set of legal guidelines.
Sullivan also listed the aides who Judicial Watch could depose including:
- Cheryl Mills Clintons former Chief of Staff
- Huma Abedin (at right) Clintons former Deputy Chief of Staff and
- Bryan Pagliano the State Department aide who set up the server in Clintons private residence.
turned over to the State Department and that she did not use her clintonemail.com system until March 18 2009.
One of those emails refers to Clintons friends at Planned Parenthood a group supporting her presidential campaign.
Another mentions a confidential background brief that was sent to Clintons unsecured server that has since been redacted due to its classified nature.
Clinton has long argued the classified intelligence that ended up on her server was never marked as such and that she was unaware any should have been characterized as confidential.
Judicial Watch released the documents exactly one year after a federal judge ordered the State Department to provide them. Judicial Watch filed the original FOIA request in search of personnel records for Abedin Clintons deputy chief of staff. Abedin was granted a special government employee status in 2012 that allowed her to collect simultaneous paychecks from the State Department the Clinton Foundation and a consulting firm called Teneo Strategies.
These emails further undermine Hillary Clintons statement under penalty of perjury suggesting she turned over all of her government emails to the State Department said the groups president Tom Fitton.
How many more Hillary Clinton emails is the Obama State Department hiding?
The emails were made public one day after a federal judge paved the way for Judicial Watch to depose some of Clintons closest aides including Abedin.
Judicial Watch has also recently released Clinton State Department emails dating from February 2009 that also call into question her statements about her emails.
The documents were obtained by Judicial Watch in response a court order in a May 52015 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a March 18 FOIA request (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)).
Many of the documents predate March 18 2009 go back as far as January and were not turned over by Clinton to the State Department from her non-government server. The emails cover topics such as:
Other previously unreleased emails are dated March 18 2009 despite suggestions by Clinton that she had turned over emails with that date. These emails refer to among other things her friends at Planned Parenthood" and a call to Bill Clintons former National Security Adviser the late Sandy Berger who was convicted of illegally removing classified documents from the National Archives.
On October 16 2011 Clinton sent a confidential" backgrounder from former Ambassador to Malta Doug Kmiec (sent from his apparently unsecure server) to aides Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The email has since been redacted due to its classified nature.
Specifically Kmiec discusses sensitive persons and organizations working in the U.S. Embassy in Malta the U.S. Maritime training program with the AFM" (Armed Forces of Malta).
The Abedin emails also include an exchange with Clintons former Deputy Chief of Staff Jacob Sullivan in which Abedin suggests Clinton would often complain of being exhausted".
- her schedule and travel plans
- criticisms of Clinton by Richard Gere
- Afghanistan
- U.S. financial aid and security concerns for several Pacific Islands
- the recommendation for a health care system overhaul; and
- food security
Other previously unreleased emails are dated March 18 2009 despite suggestions by Clinton that she had turned over emails with that date. These emails refer to among other things her friends at Planned Parenthood" and a call to Bill Clintons former National Security Adviser the late Sandy Berger who was convicted of illegally removing classified documents from the National Archives.
On October 16 2011 Clinton sent a confidential" backgrounder from former Ambassador to Malta Doug Kmiec (sent from his apparently unsecure server) to aides Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The email has since been redacted due to its classified nature.
Specifically Kmiec discusses sensitive persons and organizations working in the U.S. Embassy in Malta the U.S. Maritime training program with the AFM" (Armed Forces of Malta).
The Abedin emails also include an exchange with Clintons former Deputy Chief of Staff Jacob Sullivan in which Abedin suggests Clinton would often complain of being exhausted".
On August 10 2015 Judicial Watch announced that the State Department submitted to the court a sworn declaration from Clinton regarding federal records on her controversial email system. The declaration states:
The document is signed by Hillary Rodham Clinton."
The State Department was ordered by US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on July 31 to request that Clinton and her top aides confirm under penalty of perjury that they have produced all government records in their possession and to return any other government records immediately.
I Hillary Rodham Clinton declare under penalty of perjury that the following is true and correct:
- While I do not know what information may be responsive" for purposes of this law suit I have directed that all my e-mails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or potentially were federal records to be provided to the Department of State and on information and belief this has been done.
- As a result of my directive approximately 55000 pages of these emails were produced to the Department on December 5 2014.
- Cheryl Mills did not have an account on clintonemail.com. Huma Abedin did have such an account which was used at times for government business.
The document is signed by Hillary Rodham Clinton."
The State Department was ordered by US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on July 31 to request that Clinton and her top aides confirm under penalty of perjury that they have produced all government records in their possession and to return any other government records immediately.
