The government watchdog group Judicial Watch on Tuesday announced it has asked the Supreme Court to review a lower-court decision that exempted Hillary Clinton from testifying under oath about her email scandal.
The organization explains that the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington made a mistake in “giving Clinton unwarranted special treatment that conflicts both with Supreme Court precedent and the precedents of other courts of appeal.”
It’s all about Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that led to the disclosure of Clinton’s use of a non-government email server to conduct government business while she was secretary of state for Barack Obama.
Judicial Watch has sought to question Clinton under oath about the scandal. A district court ordered the deposition of not only Clinton, but also of Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s former chief of staff, and other officials.
However, Clinton and Mills filed an emergency motion with the D.C. court to avoid testifying, and the judges granted it.
Judicial Watch now is arguing that the appeals court ruling “eliminates any discovery into the actions of agency officials or employees other than FOIA officers – walling off from any inquiry officials or employees who may be less than honest with FOIA officers or who might seek to conceal agency records from FOIA officers to prevent disclosure to the public, among other matters plainly relevant to an agency’s good faith in responding to FOIA requests.”
“No court should undermine the Freedom of Information Act and the rule of law by giving Hillary Clinton special protection from having to testify about her emails,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a statement. “The Supreme Court should cast politics aside and affirm that Hillary Clinton is not above the law.”
The emails on Clinton’s private email server have been sought by Judicial Watch for several years.
It has been fighting for access to the government records ever since it discovered Clinton’s special email system while investigating the Benghazi terror attack on her watch that killed four Americans.
From emails that have been revealed, Judicial Watch said it has discovered:
- John Hackett, former director of information programs and services (IPS) testified under oath that he had raised concerns that Clinton’s staff may have “culled out 30,000” of the secretary’s “personal” emails without following strict National Archives standards. He also believed there was interference with the formal FOIA review process related to the classification of Clinton’s Benghazi-related emails.
- Heather Samuelson, Clinton’s White House liaison at the State Department, and later Clinton’s personal lawyer, admitted under oath that she was granted immunity by the Department of Justice in June 2016.
- Justin Cooper, former aide to President Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation employee who registered the domain name of the unsecure clintonemail.com server that Clinton used while serving as secretary of state, testified he worked with Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, to create the non-government email system.
- In interrogatory responses, E.W. Priestap, assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, stated that the agency found Clinton email records in the Obama White House, specifically, the Executive Office of the President.
- Jacob Sullivan, Clinton’s senior advisor and deputy chief of staff when she was secretary of state, testified that both he and Clinton used her unsecure non-government email system to conduct official State Department business.
- Eric Boswell, former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, testified that Clinton was warned twice against using unsecure BlackBerrys and personal emails to transmit classified material.
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