The FBI has discovered even more hidden Hillary Clinton emails.
They still are being withheld, but Washington watchdog Judicial Watch says federal investigators have told a court that they found “additional Clinton emails that potentially had not been previously released.”
“It is astonishing news that the FBI mysteriously found more Clinton emails. Were they on Anthony Weiner’s laptop? At James Comey’s house? Or on Peter Strzok’s cell phone?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “This disturbing development further highlights how the fix was in on the Clinton email scandal and why a criminal investigation needs to be reopened by Attorney General Barr.”
The court-ordered joint status report was filed in response to Judicial Watch’s 2015 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking all emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton and other records about the unsecure private email system she used to transmit classified information while she was secretary of state.
Top intelligence officials have said it’s likely that foreign governments were able to access the information on Clinton’s server. She famously acknowledged she had her staff delete some 33,000 emails that were under subpoena, insisting their were about personal matters. Shortly before FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI would not refer charges, her husband Bill Clinton met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a private jet in Phoenix.
On Wednesday, Judicial Watch said the status report reveals the FBI found more Clinton emails, which are now under review by the State Department.
Officials are trying to figure out “whether that set of documents includes any responsive, non-duplicative agency records that have not already been processed.”
The watchdog said: “Production of all Clinton emails concluded more than a year ago. Throughout the two plus years of processing and production, more and more emails would appear in addition to the 55,000 pages Clinton turned over to the State Department in December 2014. The FBI uncovered 72,000 pages of documents Clinton attempted to delete or did not otherwise disclose.
“Previously requested, the FBI was only able to recover or find approximately 5,000, including classified material, of the 33,000 government emails Clinton removed and tried to destroy. Earlier this year, Judicial Watch announced that it received 756 pages of emails that were among the materials Clinton tried to delete or destroy, several of which were classified and were transmitted over her unsecure, non-‘state.gov’ email system. Now again, it appears the FBI has uncovered more Clinton email documents.”
Earlier this month, Judicial Watch revealed emails show the FBI’s top lawyer gave deferential treatment to the attorney representing Hillary Clinton’s top aides implicated in the mass deletion of Clinton’s emails.
In another case, Judicial Watch expects a ruling on whether Clinton and her top aide can be questioned under oath by Judicial Watch lawyers about the email and Benghazi controversies.
Recently, a letter sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed a federal investigation found 38 current and former State Department officials violated government email regulations by using Clinton’s private system.
The Associated Press reported at the time that some of the individuals may face disciplinary action for 91 times instances in which classified information ended up in Clinton’s personal email system.
Of the 33,000 emails Clinton turned over for review, the State Department found 588 instances in which classified information was transferred.
AP reported: “For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances.”
The internal State Department investigation was launched several years ago after it found 22 emails from Clinton’s private server were “top secret.”
“Then-FBI Director James Comey held a news conference that year in which he criticized Clinton as ‘extremely careless’ in her use of the private email server as secretary of state but said the FBI would not recommend charges,” AP reported.
Judicial Watch says it already has learned:
- John Hackett, former director of information programs and services (IPS) testified under oath that he had raised concerns that Clinton’s staff may have “culled out 30,000” of the secretary’s “personal” emails without following strict National Archives standards. He also believed there was interference with the formal FOIA review process related to the classification of Clinton’s Benghazi-related emails.
- Heather Samuelson, Clinton’s White House liaison at the State Department, and later Clinton’s personal lawyer, admitted under oath that she was granted immunity by the Department of Justice in June 2016.
- Justin Cooper, former aide to President Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation employee who registered the domain name of the unsecure clintonemail.com server that Clinton used while serving as secretary of state, testified he worked with Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, to create the non-government email system.
- In interrogatory responses, E.W. Priestap, assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, stated that the agency found Clinton email records in the Obama White House, specifically, the Executive Office of the President.
- Jacob Sullivan, Clinton’s senior advisor and deputy chief of staff when she was secretary of state, testified that both he and Clinton used her unsecure non-government email system to conduct official State Department business.
- Eric Boswell, former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, testified that Clinton was warned twice against using unsecure BlackBerrys and personal emails to transmit classified material.
