But what remains unclear is whether the data will be released before the presidential election – an uncertainty that’s been slammed by Judicial Watch as an attempt by the State Department to slow-walk the process in deference to the Democratic presidential nominee.
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Hillary Clinton’s campaign is set to be hit by a bombshell only months out from the election as the Federal Bureau of Investigation uncovers more than 14,900 emails and documents that had not been previously disclosed by her lawyers.
The FBI transferred the emails to State Department personnel and has not provided a timeframe to release them.
The judge also scheduled a September 23 hearing on when to release the emails, a deadline that raises the possibility some will become public before the November 8 presidential election between Democrat Clinton and her Republican rival, Donald Trump.
Clinton has come under fire for using a private email account and server at her home in NY for official emails when during her tenure as secretary of state.
The Washington Post said the number of documents to be released is almost 50 percent more than the 30,000 previous emails that Clinton’s lawyers had said were not personal and returned to State Department in 2014.
The scandal also brought accusations from Republican lawmakers about Clinton’s handling of the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which then-Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other US government officials died.
USA Today looks at Judicial Watch’s new allegations and reaches this conclusion: “According to experts, the emails confirm donors were gaining access to Clinton, yet there is no evidence she granted them special favors, an important distinction that may determine how damaging the controversy is to Clinton’s campaign”.
Last week, the FBI provided a summary of its findings and its interview with Clinton to Congress after Republican leaders challenged the conclusions of federal investigators.
Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., subpoenaed three companies that provided software and services that played a role in maintaining Clinton’s private email server. The conversation occurred “in the early months” of Clinton’s tenure at the State Department, the Times said, citing a forthcoming book by journalist Joe Conason that first reported the dinner exchange.
Smith is demanding documents from the companies as two congressional committees from the House and Senate investigate the Democratic presidential nominee’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
On Monday, Datto, SECNAP Network Security and Platte River Networks received subpoenas from U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican. He added that he did not use his AOL email to transmit classified information, as Mrs. Clinton in fact did, nor did he use a private home brew server. The department has publicly released most of those emails, although some have been withheld because they contain information considered sensitive to national security. The FBI recommended against criminal charges.
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“Clintons pattern of serial dishonesty is completely unacceptable for a candidate seeking the nations highest office, and her refusal to tell the truth and own up to her poor judgment is a preview of how she would conduct herself if elected president, ” Priebus said.
