(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released a court filing that reveals the FBI found more Clinton emails it recently turned over to the State Department for review. In the November 15, 2019 filing, the State Department informs the court that the FBI located additional Clinton emails that potentially had not been previously released:
[T]he Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) recently sent [the State Department] additional documents as part of the ongoing inter-agency consultation process in connection with other FOIA litigation. [The State Department] is working to determine whether that set of documents includes any responsive, non-duplicative agency records that have not already been processed. [The State Department] will promptly update [Judicial Watch] and the Court once that initial review is complete.
The court ordered joint status report was filed in response to Judicial Watch’s May 6, 2015, FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)). Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit seeks all emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton and other records about her non-governmental email account.
Production of all Clinton emails concluded more than a year ago. Throughout the two plus years of processing and production, more and more emails would appear in addition to the 55,000 pages Clinton turned over to the State Department in December 2014. The FBI uncovered 72,000 pages of documents Clinton attempted to delete or did not otherwise disclose. Previously requested, the FBI was only able to recover or find approximately 5,000, including classified material, of the 33,000 government emails Clinton removed and tried to destroy. Earlier this year, Judicial Watch announced that it received 756 pages of emails that were among the materials Clinton tried to delete or destroy, several of which were classified and were transmitted over her unsecure, non-“state.gov” email system. Now again, it appears the FBI has uncovered more Clinton email documents.
Judicial Watch last week released FBI emails showing that the FBI’s top lawyer gave deferential treatment to the attorney representing Hillary Clinton’s top aides implicated in the mass deletion of Clinton’s emails.
“It is astonishing news that the FBI mysteriously found more Clinton emails. Were they on Anthony Weiner’s laptop? At James Comey’s house? Or on Peter Strzok’s cell phone?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “This disturbing development further highlights how the fix was in on the Clinton email scandal and why a criminal investigation needs to be reopened by Attorney General Barr.”
In separate Judicial Watch FOIA litigation, a federal court will soon rule on whether Hillary Clinton and her top aide can be questioned under oath by Judicial Watch lawyers about the email and Benghazi controversies. The court has already granted additional discovery to Judicial Watch.
The court ordered discovery into three specific areas: whether Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server was intended to stymie FOIA; whether the State Department’s intent to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department has adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s request.
The court specifically ordered Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers and Clinton aides to be deposed or answer written questions under oath. The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.” (This Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015.)
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