ELECTION 2016

STATE DEPT. ADMITS KEY BENGHAZI EMAIL WITHHELD

Would have exposed Hillary's server before she wiped hard drive

Hillary Clinton’s controversial email server – the focus of an FBI investigation – would have been revealed nearly two years ago, before she authorized the deletion of tens of thousands of emails, if the State Department would have turned over a key email in the Benghazi probe as required, according to the Washington watchdog Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch said the State Department admitted last week that it withheld the email, which was requested in a July 2014 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records related to the drafting and use of the administration’s infamous Benghazi talking points.

“Now we know the Obama administration consciously refused to give up key information about Hillary Clinton’s email in 2014, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

“It covered up this email both from the court and Judicial Watch,” he said.

The Sept. 29, 2012, email to Clinton from then-Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan – which was sent to the secretary’s private email address rather than a secure state.gov address – concerns talking points for Clinton calls with senators about the 2012 Benghazi attack.

The State Department’s April 18, 2016, letter to Judicial Watch admits it found the email in 2014 but held it back, contradicting an earlier statement to the court.

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In the lawsuit seeking the records, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth granted “limited discovery” to Judicial Watch into Clinton’s and her aides’ email practices.

Lamberth ruled that “where there is evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith, as here, limited discovery is appropriate, even though it is exceedingly rare in FOIA cases.”

Judicial Watch also obtained material from a cache of thousands of new Clinton State Department records supposedly only discovered in December 2015. The new material shows the State Department compiled extensive Libya- and Benghazi-related dossiers on Republican and Democrat senators.

“Judge Lamberth was right when he suggested that Obama’s State Department acted in bad faith,” Fitton said.

Fitton said the “cover-up provided Hillary Clinton enough time to hide potentially thousands of government records.”

“One aim of our court-order discovery will be to get to the bottom of this cover-up,” he said.

Two investigations

As WND reported former U.S. Attorney Joseph DiGenova explained there are two FBI investigations going on simultaneously, with the first addressing Clinton’s private server and possible violations of the national security laws regarding the handling of classified information.

The second probe is what Justice Department prosecutors call an “official acts” investigation regarding a possible correlation between “official acts” performed by Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, her office and the State Department, and large donations made to the Clinton Foundation by countries, corporations and individuals.

“The second investigation is more complex, more document-oriented, more subpoena-oriented investigation, but it is clearly underway,” diGenova said.

“The inspector general at the State Department has started a similar, parallel investigation to determine whether or not official acts were committed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her staff in exchange for contributions to various Clinton Foundation initiatives,” he added.

“The nexus between the ‘official acts’ and contributions to Clinton Foundation initiatives is becoming so clear and the evidence has convinced me that if the Justice Department has not already convened a grand jury, there is no doubt there’s corruption within the Justice Department,” he said.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/state-dept-admits-key-benghazi-email-withheld/#qS2OkbJVH2JM6aUr.99