Powell, who was secretary of state when George W. Bush was president, said he told Clinton that his use of a personal account “vastly improved” communications within the department, which back then did not have an equivalent internal system. The issue was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which decided against filing a charge sheet against her.
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Powell’s office provided a statement Thursday in which he admitted a 2009 electronic exchange with Clinton highlighting some of the benefits of using a private email account that he had experienced while occupying the office she had just assumed.
But Powell told The Post that he sent that email well after Clinton had already started using her off-the-books setup.
The judge said the group failed to demonstrate that an hours-long deposition was necessary to clarify why Clinton set up the private server, as opposed to seeking the information “through other, less burdensome or intrusive means such as interrogatories”.
The group is seeking the details of Huma Abedin’s relationship with the State Department that permitted her to do outside work while she was a top aide to Secretary Clinton. Clinton reportedly claims that her forebear encouraged her on two separate occasions to use her personal e-mail account.
“The decision is a reminder that Clinton is not above the law”, he said.
The judge said Judicial Watch must submit its questions to Mrs Clinton by October 14 and gave her 30 days to respond. In fact, as has been previously reported, Powell used the AOL account to conduct State Department business, and the department’s inspector general issued a report earlier this year that some of the information in those emails was later deemed classified.
Hillary Clinton’s email scandal continues.
Voters have said in opinion polls that the email server issue contributes to impressions that Clinton is untrustworthy. “For those follow-up questions that Judicial Watch is unable to anticipate, it can move this Court for permissions to serve additional interrogatories”, Sullivan wrote.
But the judge agreed with Mrs Clinton’s lawyers that former high-ranking government officials can be ordered to give sworn testimony only in “exceptional circumstances”. Fellow former secretaries Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger also were in attendance.
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However, the State Department overhauled its email protocols when Clinton assumed the office and forbade private servers like the one Clinton used, according to the Times.
