State may withhold release of Clinton emails until 2016

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/242469-state-proposes-january-release-for-clinton-emails

May 19, 2015, 07:38 am
State may withhold release of Clinton emails until 2016

By Jesse Byrnes

The State Department has proposed releasing thousands of pages of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, now a Democratic presidential candidate, early next year.

The release of the emails Jan. 15 would come just weeks before voters go to the polls in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

That date to release portions of the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton turned over to the State Department was disclosed in a federal court filing Monday night in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by Vice News.

Those documents, which were submitted to the State Department in paper form, will be viewable in redacted form on the department's website, according to John F. Hackett, who handles State's FOIA requests.

Then-State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in March that reviewing the emails would take "several months." A smaller set of 300 emails, totaling 900 pages, relating to the Benghazi investigation would be released earlier, she said.

Clinton's acknowledgement that she used private email for official business during her four-year tenure as secretary of State, from 2009-2013, has hung over her 2016 White House bid from the start.

Republicans have seized the admission to raise questions about her transparency at State, while she has so far brushed off the controversy, addressing it once shortly after it was revealed by The New York Times.

[mystery-ak]

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/242496-judge-hillary-clinton-emails-cant-wait-for-2016

May 19, 2015, 11:52 am
Federal judge: Hillary Clinton emails can’t wait for 2016

By Jesse Byrnes

A federal judge has rejected the State Department's proposal to not release thousands of pages of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton until next year, instead calling for them to be released on a rolling basis.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras called for the release of 55,000 pages of emails during a brief hearing on Tuesday morning, but did not specify a release date, according to Politico, which first reported the news.

Jeffrey Light, the lawyer for Vice News, which filed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for the emails, said the judge had given the Obama administration one week to provide a schedule for the public release of all the emails, including those pertaining to Benghazi, Reuters reported.

That came hours after the State Department disclosed in court documents that it proposed releasing the emails it is reviewing from Clinton sometime ahead of Jan. 15, weeks before early voting in such states as Iowa.

Those emails, which were submitted to the State Department in paper form, will be viewable in redacted form on the department's website, according to John F. Hackett, who handles State's FOIA requests.

In March, then-State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the email review would take “several months.” A smaller batch of emails totaling 900 pages relating to the investigation into the Benghazi attacks would be released sooner, she said.

Clinton acknowledged earlier this year using private email for official business during her four years as secretary of State, ending in 2013.

Republicans have seized the issue in an attempt to cast the former U.S. official as lacking transparency.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Monday ripped the State Department's proposal to not release the emails until next year, calling the administration's delay in publicly releasing the emails "unacceptable."

“Secretary Clinton skirted the law and disregarded the basic principle of open government by hiding her email from the American people, and it is past time to find out why,” Cornyn said in a statement.

[flowers]

A Barack Obama appointed judge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Contreras

Interesting isn't it?