The FBI has uncovered almost 15,000 previously undisclosed emails linked to Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state, media reports said today.
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This is in addition to the thousands of email that Clinton handed over to the State Department and the more than 30,000 emails deleted by her.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Dr. Larry Kawa of Boca Raton, Florida, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division (Larry Kawa v. U.S. Department of State (No. 9:15-cv-81560)).
U.S. District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas of the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach said the emails – some of which contain references to the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya – must be made public by September 13.
Though the Clinton campaign did not respond to the ruling Thursday night, The Hill quoted “a Clinton surrogate” bemoaning the timing of the order.
The State Department is looking through the additional emails to determine which ones, if any, are work-related.
Clinton has faced criticism for using a private email server in the basement of her home while she served as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.
It is unclear how numerous new emails are work related, or if the agency will be able to release all relevant emails before the presidential elections on November 8.
“Typical”, the campaign-related source said. The FBI confiscated her server in 2015 after discovering that she had sent and received classified information through the system, which is prohibited.
It remained unclear if there were any newly discovered emails that related to the September 2012 attack on a US facility in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including US Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
The new documents are believed to consist chiefly of emails to or from Clinton, said a United States official who spoke on condition of anonymity, and may include a mix of personal and work emails.
The FBI called Clinton “extremely reckless” in her handling of the emails but did not bring criminal charges against her. “We’re trying to work with the State Department here, but let’s be clear: They have slow-walked and stonewalled the release of these records”.
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But he said there were not enough grounds for a prosecution, a decision criticized by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and other Republicans.
