A federal judge ordered former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to answer five questions she has avoided for years about her use of a private email server to conduct official U.S. diplomatic business.Read more here.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan on Wednesday gave Clinton 30 days to respond under oath to five questions.
These questions were all put to her nearly four years ago in a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch.
The five questions are:
1.) Who decided to create the clintonemail.com system?
2.) When was it created?
3.) Why was it created?
4.) Who set it up?
5.) When did it become operational?
The Democratic nominee who lost the 2016 election to Republican President Donald Trump — and who has begun to tease a possible new run for the presidency — has steadfastly refused to answer those and many more questions about why she used a secret email server, instead of the legally required government system during her tenure as the chief U.S. diplomat.
Clinton could be subject to contempt of court charges if she refuses to comply with Sullivan’s order or felony charges if she answers the questions but then provides false information on those matters.
...The email system became the subject of a sensational investigation that culminated in July 2016. That’s when then-FBI Director James Comey told the nation that Clinton and her key aides acted “extremely carelessly” but did not intend to break the law.
As a result, Comey said he was not recommending that charges be filed against her.
Comey’s decision caused an uproar in Congress, as it flew in the face of evidence that dozens of highly sensitive national security documents were transmitted over Clinton’s secret email system.
He also acknowledged that foreign powers may have hacked her email. Federal law makes an individual’s intent irrelevant — only that the person acted carelessly.
...Sullivan also ordered Clinton to explain why, on Oct. 22, 2015, she told the House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi that virtually all of her emails “were in the State Department’s system” and “if they want to see them, they would certainly have been able to do so.”
The judge ordered Clinton to “identify the basis for this statement, including all facts on which you relied in support of the statement, how and when you became aware of these facts, and, if you were made aware of these facts by or through another person, identify the person who made you aware of these facts.”
Every individual Clinton names as having assisted her in creating her secret email system and in responding to the committee will then be subject to further FOIA discovery by Judicial Watch.
That, in turn, could lead to new revelations and prompt reopening of the FBI investigation but under a new attorney general.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whittaker reportedly advised Trump last year that a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Clinton’s role in the Uranium One scandal.
Judicial Watch does a wonderful job watch-dogging crooks in the government!
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