Judicial Watch: State Dept. Demands Clinton Aides Return Copies of Federal Records

The State Department has turned over to Judicial Watch the letters asking for the government records in possession of Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills per a court order issued on July 31 and included the responses of the representatives to the request, according to Judicial Watch.

The letters show that, on July 31, the State Department, for the first time, demanded that Mills and Abedin “return all copies of potential federal records in your possession.”  The State Department did not provide correspondence demanding Mrs. Clinton return all copies of potential federal records.  Despite the court’s July 31 order for immediate disclosure, the State Department and its Justice Department attorneys took six days to disclose the 13 letters, which total 19 pages.

The court order originated from the Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that asked for records pertaining to for Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Huma Abedin’s employment status.

The recently released letters also show that the State Department did not ask any questions of Clinton, Mills and Abedin about Hillary Clinton’s homegrown private email server.

“The Obama State Department stonewalled a federal court order by waiting six days to produce these letters.  One can see why the Obama administration would risk contempt of court.  This new information shows that Hillary Clinton is getting special treatment from the State Department and that the agency took no action to find out details about Hillary Clinton’s notorious email system,” stated Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president.  “The Obama State Department is allowing Hillary Clinton and her aides to stall and play games with federal records in violation of law.”

Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management at State, sent a letter dated July 31 to Abedin and Mills’ attorney asking “that you and your client now take steps to return all copies of potential federal records in your possession to the Department as soon as possible.”

The letters resulted from a July 31 hearing where U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered that correspondence related to State Department record retrieval be disclosed “forthwith.”