Lawsuits looming over Hillary's emails

Even as Hillary Clinton took to a podium Tuesday at the United Nations to explain that she used a private server for her government emails while U.S. secretary of state because it was easier for her to carry just one personal device, the likelihood that the controversy will end up in court loomed large.

Clinton took questions from media but didn't address some of the most significant questions.

Those included whether she cleared the process with State Department security officials, whether an independent arbiter would look at her server and to what lengths would she go to show she didn't delete emails.

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch reported its submission of six Freedom of Information Act requests with the State Department over Hillary Clinton's emails and the emails of other agency workers who used "secret email accounts to conduct government business."

The watchdog organization said it was asking for communications between employees of "the U.S. Department of State and former Secretary Clinton and/or her representatives relating to emails sent or received by former Secretary Clinton on non-'state.gov' email addresses: from June 1, 2014, to the present."

It also seeks records regarding the use of non-government email addresses by Clinton, records identifying the number and names of officials, officers and others who used email addresses other than the government system, what processes were in place to ensure emails were searched for FOIA requests, communications regarding the use of those nongovernmental addresses and communications with Congress over the issue.

"The State Department lawfully must provide these documents, or a justification for withholding them, to Judicial Watch within 20 working days, or be subject to federal lawsuits under FOIA," the organization said.

The watchdog said there are 18 lawsuits, 10 in federal court, as well as about 160 Judicial Watch FOIA requests that "could be affected by Mrs. Clinton and her staff's use of secret email accounts to conduct official government business."

"Judicial Watch has launched a full-scale investigation into the truth about Hillary Clinton setting up a secret email system to conceal documents and avoid disclosure under the law," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Americans cannot wait for Congress to figure out what is going on. And the Obama administration is in cover-up mode. As with Benghazi and the IRS scandals, there is no doubt that Judicial Watch's litigation forced the disclosure Hillary Clinton's email cache, and we will continue to pursue the case."

WND reported last week that members of Congress already were preparing subpoenas regarding the email, and the founder of Freedom Watch, attorney Larry Klayman, said Clinton's actions are criminal.

"There is no crime beneath the Clintons, as history has shown. But this newest email scandal is not minor," said Klayman, who said he's preparing requests for contempt citations in his current lawsuits.

"It rises to the level of major criminality, as Hillary Clinton and her then State Department have again lied to courts and obstructed justice – as she did to independent counsels during her husband's administration," Klayman said.

He charged that in responding to the information requests, the Obama State Department at the direction of Hillary Clinton lied to several courts.

"Importantly, by Secretary Clinton's failing to produce the emails, but instead secretly hiding them by using private email accounts, she compromised national security by communicating on non-secured lines," Klayman said in a statement.

"Just yesterday, Gen. David Petraeus agreed to a criminal plea deal over his alleged misuse of national security classified information. It is likely that Hillary Clinton's misuse rises to an even greater level of criminality," he said at the time.

Klayman said the American people "also deserve to know the truthful facts about her felonious work at the State Department concerning Iran, and the courts must now allow Freedom Watch discovery into why the requested documents were hidden and never produced, so that they can be disclosed in the public interest."

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