Hillary Clinton told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had advised her to use a personal email account when she served in that position, The New York Times reported Friday.
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The Times also cited an upcoming book that described a dinner conversation where Powell told Clinton to use her own email except for classified information.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said he was “pleased” with the judge’s ruling Friday.
Republicans have repeatedly hammered Clinton over the issue, helping to drive opinion poll results showing that many USA voters doubt her trustworthiness.
In 2014, she gave the State Department roughly 30,000 emails from her private server, which she said were work-related.
For months, Hillary Clinton had been stonewalling Judicial Watch, who wanted to depose her in their FOIA lawsuit seeking information on her emails and private server.
“At the time there was no equivalent system within the department”. The Justice Department ended the probe July 7 without charges after FBI Director James B. Comey Jr. said its handling of classified material “extremely careless” but not criminal. Mr. Bentel, according to an internal investigation, told employees that Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement had been approved by the department’s legal staff – a claim the investigators were unable to sustain – and told employees not to discuss the situation again.
Hillary Clinton will have to give testimony about her secret email server and account, but it will be in writing rather than in person, a federal judge ruled Friday, delivering a partial victory to the Democratic presidential candidate.
An email exchange emerged from 2009 between Clinton and Powell during the questioning that revealed that she had asked the former secretary of state about his email practices under George W. Bush, a source told The Times.
Sullivan also allowed Judicial Watch to get sworn testimony from a former State Department official named John Bentel.
“The judge, Emmet Sullivan, did, however, grant Judicial Watch permission to submit written questions to Clinton, which she will have to answer under oath within 30 days”.
Michael Bekesha, the lawyer for Judicial Watch, insisted there were outstanding questions that only Clinton could answer about why she set up the server, and argued there would be value in having her testify to those motivations under oath.
Sullivan’s order says Judicial Watch must submit its queries to Clinton by October 14, and she must respond within 30 days.
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Clinton’s camp issued a terse response to the ruling Friday, blasting the plaintiff as an anti-Clinton group. “Judicial Watch is a right-wing organization that has been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s”.
