State Department Says Hillary Clinton’s Email Disclosure Was Incomplete by Byron Tau
http://www.wsj.com/articles/state-department-says-hillary-clintons-email-disclosure-is-incomplete-1435280138
Emails in question uncovered as part of subpoena from congressional committee to Sidney Blumenthal
The State Department said Thursday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn’t turn over at least 15 emails that appear to be work-related from her personal server, contradicting her claims that all relevant emails were in the hands of the federal government.
The emails in question were uncovered as part of a subpoena from a congressional committee to Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton confidant and former White House aide in Bill Clinton’s administration.
At least 15 emails given by Mr. Blumenthal to the committee—which is investigating the 2012 Benghazi, Libya, attack—don’t match any in the archive of more than 30,000 emails turned over by Mrs. Clinton to the State Department late last year, the department said.
Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the assault on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Libya.
A State Department official said there were “a limited number of instances”—15—“in which we could not locate all or part of the content of a document from his production within the tens of thousands of emails she gave us.”
“Those instances are described in a letter the department sent today to the Committee,” the official said.
The missing emails contradict Mrs. Clinton’s claims that all work-related emails from her personal server are in the hands of the government, as required by federal record-keeping laws.
Mrs. Clinton chose to use her personal email account for government business during her four years as secretary of state, an arrangement that was legal, though discouraged, during her tenure.
Read More
- Blumenthal Emails: Selected Quotes from His Notes to Hillary Clinton (June 23)
- New Emails Offer Window Into Blumenthal Role in Hillary Clinton’s Life (June 22)
- U.S. Strike in Iraq Kills Militant Suspected of Involvement in Benghazi (June 22)
- Clinton Aide Didn’t Write Libya Memos (June 16)
- Judge Sets Monthly Releases for Clinton Emails (May 27)
- Emails Show Clinton Was Warned Over Security in Benghazi Ahead of Attack (May 22)
At a March news conference, Mrs. Clinton said her team had conducted a thorough search of her email server, turning over all work-related correspondence after the department requested it.
“I responded right away and provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related,” she said, adding that she deleted remaining personal emails from the server.
On Thursday, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton said: “She has turned over 55,000 pages of materials to the State Department, including all emails in her possession from Mr. Blumenthal.”
Referring to the emails Mr. Blumenthal provided to the committee, the spokesman said: “We do not recognize many of those materials and cannot speak to their origin.”
The State Department has made public more than 800 emails related to the 2012 Benghazi attack and plans to make others public in the coming months, as ordered by a federal judge.
Republicans on the Select Committee on Benghazi, which has been probing both the 2012 attacks, as well as Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement, said the missing emails raised questions about the thoroughness of her disclosures. Democrats have painted the committee’s work as tainted by partisanship, contending the panel has strayed far from its investigation into the attack.
“This has implications far beyond Libya, Benghazi and our committee’s work. This conclusively shows her email arrangement with herself, which was then vetted by her own lawyers, has resulted in an incomplete public record,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the GOP-led panel.
“This Benghazi select committee has become the committee to investigate Hillary Clinton. Period,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the panel, said last week.
Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com
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