Posted on 03/20/2015 12:57:39 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Justice Department is defending former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from a motion to subpoena her private emails under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Such action is unnecessary and inappropriate under FOIA, DOJ officials wrote in a legal briefing filed Thursday. Officials were responding to a case launched by Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative watchdog group Freedom Watch.
Klayman is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to subpoena Clintons computer server where she housed the private email address she used while serving in the State Department.
Clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of emails that she believed could be considered official government communications, but she deleted 30,000 emails that she considered to be personal.
The Justice Department describes Klaymans call for a subpoena as speculation in its brief.
Plaintiff provides no basis, beyond sheer speculation, to believe that former Secretary Clinton withheld any work-related emails from those provided to the Department of State, the agency says.
The filing, first reported by Politico, is the first time that the Justice Department has addressed the governments role in accounting for Clintons private emails.
The agency says that the Freedom of Information Act creates no obligation for an agency to search for and produce records that it does not possess and control.
Justice also criticized Klaymans motion to hold Clinton and her former State Department aide Cheryl Mills in contempt.
Klayman initially filed the suit challenging the State Department, which he claims did not adequately respond to his FOIA request for documents relating to Iran sanctions.
A district court ruled against Klayman in January, but he filed an updated appeal Clinton's use of the private email account and server surfaced. Klayman claims that by keeping her emails off of public servers, Clinton and the State Department obstructed justice.
The Justice Department said that the State Department plans to review the records Clinton turned over and will give Klayman any emails related to his request.
NIXONLIKE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NEEDED ...ASAP
plus national security issues and criminal issues
we deamnd a thorough investigation
obama was complicit and holder is his foil and both shoudl be IMEPACHED....
repubs are useless, with a few exceptions.... timid little girls... puke
Isn’t it nice that the DOJ comes out BEFORE ANY CHARGES ARE FILED OR FORMAL ACCUSATIONS made and says you are innocent of any wrongdoing.
Thanks DOJ for having Cankles back
Fact: there are months of emails that are missing from those she turned over. So let’s end the speculation and turn over the server. It should already be in the possession of the State Dept. since it was used for official business. There is absolutely no basis for trusting Hillary on anything, and if she isn’t hiding anything, she should hae no problem turning it over.
A presidential pardon is a certainty, but it will take that to clean up her rap sheet.
What is not so certain is that it is enough to restore her reputation or works magic a political future. If she runs, if she should eek out a win, perhaps we could impeach her patoot. Of course that is why she would be smart enough to pick a nimrod for her VP. HA! :)
I understand, but I was thinking that FOIA is only where this begins. Oh, what a year ahead. I just don’t think she runs.
Lets boil this alllllllll the way down. it’s just speculation when a LEO wants to search your car or check out your home/property.. Just speculation folks. What do you have to fear if your not hiding anything?
She runs. Her plan is to delay, delay, delay and put her party in a position where they have to defend her because it is too late for another candidate.
The Department of State provides no basis, beyond sheer speculation, that the deleted emails were personal.
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