Here are excerpts from Judge Lamberth’s Order, with citations mostly omitted:
In July 2014, six months after Clinton resigned as Secretary of State, Judicial Watch filed this FOIA suit seeking emails from Clinton and her aides concerning the talking points former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used to defend the Obama Administration’s response to the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. … And although it would take more than six months for the public to learn Clinton exclusively used a private email account as Secretary…, department officials already knew Clinton’s emails were missing from its records. …
State played this card close to its chest. In November 2014, State told Judicial Watch it performed a legally adequate search and concluded settlement was appropriate, despite knowing Clinton’s emails were missing and unstarched. … In December 2014–the same day Clinton quietly turned over 55,000 pages of her missing emails–State gave Judicial Watch a draft Vaughn index making no mention of the unsearched records.
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After another month of radio silence–by then, at least three months after State realized it never searched Clinton’s emails, and two months after Clinton gave the Department 30,490 of the 62,320 emails from her private server (she deleted the rest)–State filed another status report admitting “additional searches for documents potentially responsive to the FOIA must be conducted”…. A month later, Judicial Watch read the New York Times and realized what State was talking about… That story, along with reporting that Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and former Deputy Chiefs of Staffs Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan also used personal email to conduct government business…exposed State’s deceit in this case.
At best, State’s attempt to pass off its deficient search as legally adequate during settlement negotiations was negligence born out of incompetence. At worst, career employees in the State and Justice Departments colluded to scuttle public scrutiny of Clinton, skirt FOIA, and hoodwink this Court.
Federal Judge Rips DOJ and State, Orders Discovery on Clinton Emails
In July 2014, six months after Clinton resigned as Secretary of State, Judicial Watch filed this FOIA suit seeking emails from Clinton and her aides concerning the talking points former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used to defend the Obama Administration’s response to the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. … And although it would take more than six months for the public to learn Clinton exclusively used a private email account as Secretary…, department officials already knew Clinton’s emails were missing from its records. …
State played this card close to its chest. In November 2014, State told Judicial Watch it performed a legally adequate search and concluded settlement was appropriate, despite knowing Clinton’s emails were missing and unstarched. … In December 2014–the same day Clinton quietly turned over 55,000 pages of her missing emails–State gave Judicial Watch a draft Vaughn index making no mention of the unsearched records.
***
After another month of radio silence–by then, at least three months after State realized it never searched Clinton’s emails, and two months after Clinton gave the Department 30,490 of the 62,320 emails from her private server (she deleted the rest)–State filed another status report admitting “additional searches for documents potentially responsive to the FOIA must be conducted”…. A month later, Judicial Watch read the New York Times and realized what State was talking about… That story, along with reporting that Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and former Deputy Chiefs of Staffs Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan also used personal email to conduct government business…exposed State’s deceit in this case.
At best, State’s attempt to pass off its deficient search as legally adequate during settlement negotiations was negligence born out of incompetence. At worst, career employees in the State and Justice Departments colluded to scuttle public scrutiny of Clinton, skirt FOIA, and hoodwink this Court.
Federal Judge Rips DOJ and State, Orders Discovery on Clinton Emails