Posted on 01/19/2019 9:37:42 AM PST by jazusamo
Court Orders Discovery to Begin on Clinton Email / Benghazi Scandals
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Last week, I reported to you that we had submitted a court-ordered discovery plan for the depositions of several top former government officials involved in the Clinton email scandal, including Obama administration senior officials Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap.
This week I am pleased to tell you that U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has ruled that discovery can begin. We will now depose Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides under oath.
Senior officials including Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap will now have to answer our written questions. The court rejected the DOJ and State Departments objections to our discovery plan . (The court, in ordering a discovery plan last month, ruled that the Clinton email system was one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.)
We will seek answers to:
The court will hold a post-discovery hearing to determine if we may also depose additional witnesses, including Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills.
Rice and Rhodes will answer interrogatories under oath regarding the Benghazi scandal. Rejecting the State and Justice Departments objections to discovery on the infamous Benghazi talking points , Judge Lamberth reiterated:
Yet Rices talking points and States understanding of the attack play an unavoidably central role in this case: information about the points development and content, as well as their discussion and dissemination before and after Rices appearances could reveal unsearched, relevant records; States role in the points content and development could shed light on Clintons motives for shielding her emails from FOIA requesters or on States reluctance to search her emails.
We may also serve interrogatories on Monica Hanley, a former staff member in the State Departments Office of the Secretary, and on Lauren Jiloty, Clintons former special assistant.
According to Lamberths order, regarding whether Clintons private email use while Secretary of State was an intentional attempt to evade FOIA, we may depose:
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Judicial Watch seeks to go beyond cursory, second-hand testimony and directly ask Finney what he knew about Clintons email use. This includes asking about emails suggesting he knew about her private email use in 2014, and emails he received concerning a December 2012 FOIA request from Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington (CREW) regarding senior officials personal email use-topics States 30(b)(6) deposition in Judge Sullivans case never addressed. Judicial Watch may depose Finney.
Regarding whether the State Departments settlement attempts that began in late 2014 amounted to bad faith, we were granted depositions from the State Department under Rule 30(b)(6); Finney; John Hackett, the former deputy director of States Office of Information Programs & Services; Gene Smilansky, an attorney-advisor within States Office of the Legal Advisor; Samuelson; and others.
We were also granted interrogatories on whether the State Department adequately searched for responsive records, as well as several document requests .
This is a major victory for accountability, and you no doubt recognize the significance of Judge Lamberths authorizing us to take discovery on whether the Clinton email system evaded FOIA and whether the Benghazi scandal was one reason for keeping Mrs. Clintons email secret.
The court-ordered discovery is the latest development in our July 2014 FOIA lawsuit filed after the U.S. Department of State failed to respond to a May 13, 2014 FOIA request ( Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)). Judicial Watch seeks:
Our discovery plan was in response to a December 6, 2018, ruling by Judge Lamberth.
Incredibly, Justice Department attorneys admit in a filing opposing our limited discovery that, Counsel for State contacted the counsel of some third parties that Plaintiff originally included in its draft discovery proposal to obtain their clients position on being deposed. This collusion occurred despite criticism from the Court that the DOJ engaged in chicanery to cover up misconduct and that career employees in the State and Justice Departments may have colluded to scuttle public scrutiny of Clinton, skirt FOIA, and hoodwink this Court.
We countered that [t]he governments proposal, which is really nothing more than an opposition to [Judicial Watchs] plan, demonstrates that it continues to reject any impropriety on its part and that it seeks to block any meaningful inquiry into its outrageous misconduct.
Keep in mind that our FOIA lawsuit led directly to the disclosure of the Clinton email system in 2015. Had we not been pursuing the truth, who knows if it would have ever come to light.
I talked about this major development with told Harris Faulkner at Fox News earlier this week. In the meantime, Ill be sure to keep you updated as appropriate as discovery proceeds.
“Wish I werent so jaded”
You are not jaded, just realistic.
Whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system;
whether the State Departments efforts to settle this case beginning in late 2014 amounted to bad faith; and
whether the State Department adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watchs FOIA request.
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I have definitely noticed they have ALL been quiet....including that CRIMINAL John Brennan!
Tom Fitton has been AWESOME!
ALL hairstyle, no substance.
And a soon-to-be Attorney General who thinks nothing should be done about it.
I commend Judicial Watch.
No justice will result.
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