The State Department inspector general said the agency she led in 2012 was “inaccurate” in answering a records request. The department has published about three quarters of those emails so far, in some cases with redactions, and will be releasing approximately 2,900 more later Thursday.
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Instead, State officials search email records only if a request specifically asks for them, as opposed to more general terms such as “correspondence”.
Conservative group Judicial Watch, which is suing the State Department over failure to provide records related to the employment of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, said in a statement Thursday that the email controversy is “worsening”.
The latest information out from the IG is the strongest evidence to date that Clinton orchestrated a massive cover-up to hide the fact that she put American lives at risk by transferring sensitive government information via her private email.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stands on stage at the Battle Born Battleground First in the West Caucus Dinner, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Las Vegas. When Sullivan replied that he worked for the State Department, Clinton wrote, “I was surprised that he used personal email account if he is at State”.
“Dozens of senior officials throughout the Department, including members of Secretary Clinton’s immediate staff, exchanged emails with the Secretary using the personal accounts she used to conduct official business”, the investigation concluded.
Linick found that records involving Clinton’s private email account, requested in 2012 by the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, had turned up no records. The report faulted ongoing staff shortages amid requests that have taken more than 16 months to process, stretching back to requests during former President George W. Bush’s administration.
Both Clinton and the State Department have repeatedly insisted that she didn’t violate policies by using a private email server.
“OIG’s past and current work demonstrates that department leadership has not played a meaningful role in overseeing or reviewing the quality of FOIA responses”, the report states, adding that searches “do not consistently meet statutory and regulatory requirements for completeness and rarely meet requirements for timeliness”. Four months later, the agency disclosed in court filings it finally conducted a search and located at least 4,440 records.
“The Department is committed to transparency, and the issues addressed in this report have the full attention of Secretary Kerry and the Department’s senior staff”, said spokesman John Kirby, referring to Clinton’s successor, John F. Kerry. The State Department has claimed that the emails that are now ranked classified were not labeled at that time when they were sent. “That said, we know we must continue to improve our FOIA responsiveness and are taking additional steps to do so”.
In testimony to the House oversight committee Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Julia Frifield admitted they “have struggled to keep pace with the increasing demands of congressional document requests”. Now, the total number of classified emails found on Clinton’s personal server has increased to 1,340.
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The inspector general said the agency should address vulnerabilities in its FOIA process.
