Posted on 01/25/2016 12:07:16 PM PST by billorites
A federal judge will weigh this week whether the State Department is allowed to delay the release of the final unpublished batch of Hillary Clinton's private emails until the end of February, after the first round of presidential primaries has occurred.
But a lawyer for Jason Leopold, the Vice News reporter who filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in question last year, argued Monday that State had no grounds on which to stall the release of the emails.
"Voters should be dismayed by State's attempt to withhold from the public over 7,000 pages of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's emails documenting her tenure as the nation's top diplomat," said Ryan James, Leopold's attorney, when filing an opposition brief in federal court Monday. "If the delay State seeks is granted, over 45 million Americans in early voting states may be asked to vote without the knowledge of what these emails contain."
The State Department argued in court papers filed Friday that it had discovered, on the week of Jan. 11, thousands of pages of Clinton's emails that had never been sent to outside agencies for review, as they should have been in past months.
Due to the oversight and the incoming winter storm, State Department attorneys formally asked a judge to push the deadline back from Jan. 29 to Feb. 29 so they could have an extra month to look over the emails.
"The fact that State hasn't been more forthright about how over 7,000 pages of highly contentious emails, some of which undoubtedly contain classified information, were lost for up to six months is further reason for alarm," James added.
He told the Washington Examiner he would be "shocked" if a judge fully granted the State Department's request, and said the most likely scenario involved a judge asking the agency to produce everything it can by the original Friday deadline and setting a new date for the publication of the remainder of the emails that takes into consideration only the days actually missed due to the snowstorm and other factors.
In the opposition brief filed Monday, Leopold's legal team emphasized the impact of the proposed delay on the Democratic presidential primary.
"The delay until Feb. 29, 2016, that State is requesting will deprive the voters of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina of the ability to participate in the democratic process as fully informed as they would otherwise be under the current Jan. 29, 2016, deadline for the production of the Clinton emails," they wrote.
he plaintiffs in the high-profile FOIA case argued the State Department had failed to come up with "sufficient evidence" to support their request for a month-long extension.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, blasted what he called a "blatant attempt to shield Hillary Clinton from accountability."
"It's clear that the State Department's delay is all about ensuring any further damaging developments in Hillary Clinton's email scandal are revealed only after the votes are counted in the early nominating states," Priebus said.
The State Department also missed the court-ordered deadline at the end of December, forcing officials to publish thousands of pages of Clinton's emails in early January to make up for the shortfall.
It’s amazing really. The hubris. Though I’d like to think that even if The Beast wins IA and NH - once these things are released, if they’re damning, the people will flock from her.
The question is, would they ever be released. This should be Page 1 news everywhere! What could possibly be the reason for withholding the emails if all was/is kosher.
When you’re a Democrat you’re always just one Liberal judge away from winning these things. Why not take a shot?
Wonder who appointed the Judge?
In the sick, sad world that we live in, the press will play it up as a victory for Hillary if she can delay the release until after Iowa and New Hampshire, as if that is all that really matters.
This Woman is SO CURRUPT, how in the hell can ANYONE with just half a brain possibly vote for her as POTUS, OMG this is EXACTLY why the people are so fed up, only the ELITE do not have to follow the law!!!! Or of course Republicans MUST ALWAYS follow the law!!!
You don't want to pi$$ off the Queen...or someone who thinks she's the queen.
Looking back Nixon was Mother Theresa compaired to this loathsome BITCH!!!
If Hillary did nothing wrong, WHY NOT SEE THE EMAILS NOW?!
The Xlinton motto:
Deley, Delay, Delay, until the crime goes away.
Always remember this, these are the emails Hillary allowed us to see. She deleted the rest.
Yes. However, if she did THAT job well, they wouldn’t be trying to stonewall at every turn. Even in her deletion, she’s incompetent!
Catherine Herridge says the FBI has 'undeleted' them.
We are being played. The Low Information Voter thinks that these are all the emails. The MSM and some conservatives breathlessly wait for the next release. It is just a game of deception and distraction.
Catherine Herridge of Fox has said that the FBI was able to recover all the emails. I hope that is true. Or it may be a ploy by the FBI to get people to talk.
for later
Another question is WHAT will be released. Some of these documents are almost completely blacked out with "redactions." Who decides what is redacted because it needs to be for security reasons, or that it should be blacked out because it might be embarrassing or indicate culpability? Is there any backup check on the redacted material that we the people can trust?
My best guess is "no."
If some second rate peon at NSA or CIA kept classified at home, all would be immediately confiscated, there would be a trial, the person would be in jail. Period.
Why does this witch get special treatment?
Oh, sorry, I forget. She’s part of the political elite, the establishment. She’s better than us. She’s above it all.
Just enough to make a person puke.
Hillary’s cough will transform into a major medical issue.
Bill will celebrate with a cigar and his energizer bunny.
Everyone will feel sorry for Hitlery, and she will skate
Catherine Herridge: ‘The FBI was able to recover [Clinton’s] deleted emails ... [wipe] was not what I would call a professional standard.’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3386908/posts
[It’s really hard to fully scrub a hard drive. And she failed to do so.]
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