FEDERAL COURT GRANTS JUDICIAL WATCH DISCOVERY ON CLINTON EMAIL ISSUE
LINK

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton will appear on "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on the Fox News Business Channel in the 7 pm ET hour tonight, Tuesday, February 23, 2016, regarding District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan decision to grant Judicial Watch's motion for discovery into whether the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deliberately thwarted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for six years. The developments come in a Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Clinton. The lawsuit was reopened because of revelations about Clinton's separate email records (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)).

"Judge Sullivan's ruling granting Judicial Watch's request for discovery is a major victory for the public's right to know the truth about Hillary Clinton's email system. The court-ordered discovery will help determine why the State Department and Mrs. Clinton, even despite receiving numerous FOIA requests, kept the record system secret for years. Our proposed discovery, which will require court approval, will include testimony of current and former officials of the State Department. While Mrs. Clinton's testimony may not be required initially, it may happen that her testimony is necessary for the Court to resolve the legal issues about her unprecedented email practices." - Tom Fitton

Sincerely,

The Judicial Watch Team

FEDERAL COURT GRANTS JUDICIAL WATCH DISCOVERY ON CLINTON EMAIL ISSUE

Judicial Watch Will Seek Testimony from Current and Former Obama Administration Officials (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan today granted Judicial Watch’s motion for discovery into whether the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deliberately thwarted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for six years.

State Department To Review Emails From Clinton Aide Huma Abedin
JANUARY 12, 2016, CBS TV
LINK

WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — The State Department has agreed to review 29,000 pages of emails from Huma Abedin, a close aide to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, from their days at the department, for possible public release under a new legal agreement with a conservative legal group.

But even as Clinton presses her campaign, many of the emails would not be publicly released until six months after the election.

Under a schedule adopted Monday by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, lawyers for the State Department and the conservative group Judicial Watch agreed that the agency will start in March a lengthy review and release of thousands of emails that Abedin sent or received on Clinton’s private computer server between 2009 and 2013.

Abedin was deputy chief of staff for Clinton during Clinton’s four-year stint as secretary of state and is now vice chair of Clinton’s 2016 campaign organization, traveling constantly with Clinton to Democratic Party caucus and primary states. Abedin is also the wife of Anthony Weiner, a former U.S. congressman who ran for New York City mayor in the 2013 Democratic primary.

Abedin’s emails are at issue because Clinton’s own emails, released publicly by the State Department in recent months, showed that Abedin served as an influential sounding board for Clinton. She acted as a key gatekeeper and was often emailed by others inside and outside by the department when they wanted to reach Clinton. The Clinton emails also showed that Abedin frequently communicated with her from her own account on the Clinton server.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said his group sought the Abedin documents “given the intersection of Mrs. Clinton’s private and public interests and the constant fundraising of the Clinton Foundation.” Following her resignation from the State Department in 2013, Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, ran the foundation until she stepped down from that role when she announced her run for the presidency.

The court agreement calls for the State Department to review for release 400 Abedin emails each month starting March 1, but the public production of documents will not be completed until April 30, 2017, six months after the November presidential election. Justice Department lawyers had initially tried to extend the process for three years, Fitton said.

Fitton acknowledged frustration that as many as half of the Abedin emails might not be released until after the election, but he said he was “pleased we were able to get this group of records within a year. These records are not being produced voluntarily.”

In the Judicial Watch case and other legal actions filed in recent months against the State Department for Clinton-released records, government lawyers have pushed back repeatedly against media and political groups trying to gain broad access to Abedin’s emails. The Associated Press has also sought a broad review of Abedin’s emails, but lawyers for the State Department have sought to restrict the news organization’s access to a limited period of time and to a sampling of the aide’s communications.

Fitton said his group would also push in coming months for similar email releases from other former key Clinton aides in the State Department.

State Department officials declined to comment on the agreement, deferring to the court filing.