Her campaign has been dogged by her use of an unauthorised private email system containing classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State.
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Emmet Sullivan declined to order Clinton to testify in person in a case brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch.
Sullivan’s order says Judicial Watch must submit its queries to Clinton by October 14, and she must respond within 30 days. The FBI closed its investigation last month without finding evidence to support criminal charges against the Democratic presidential nominee.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was ordered by a federal judge to answer written questions about her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
Powell previously said that while he didn’t remember the dinner conversation, he did send Clinton a memo on his own email use when he secretary of state, from 2001 to 2005. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation notes and Conason’s book contained Clinton’s account of Powell allegedly advising her to use private email.
Powell made the comments at an event Saturday in East Hampton, New York, on Saturday night, according to People magazine and the New York Post.
“But Clinton will not be forced to sit for questions under oath from the conservative group Judicial Watch, avoiding a media firestorm”.
Although Sullivan ruled that it was unnecessary for Judicial Watch to interrogate Clinton in person, he added this caveat: “Given the extensive public record related to the clintonemail.com system, a record which Judicial Watch has acknowledged, Judicial Watch will be able to anticipate many follow-up questions”.
Video: Hillary Clinton: Would You Vote For Her? She will, though, have to answer their questions in writing.
The Clinton campaign, as could be expected, was not particularly thrilled with the entirety of the judge’s decision.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said he was “pleased” with the judge’s ruling Friday.
The judge also allowed Judicial Watch to get sworn testimony from a former State Department official named John Bentel.
Voters have said in opinion polls that the email server issue contributes to impressions that Mrs Clinton is untrustworthy.
Judicial Watch made a name for itself by dogging former president Bill Clinton, and has now filed a number of lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) seeking records from the state department about Hillary Clinton’s time spent as the nation’s top diplomat.
NBC News and The New York Times reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation does have a record of the email exchange in its catalog of Clinton’s emails, although the precise nature of Powell’s advice was unclear.
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An official non-classified email system was installed in 2009, the same year Clinton arrived.
