By Kathryn Blackhurst, LifeZette
Judicial Watch released 281 pages of emails on Wednesday that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent and received on her private email server containing “classified information and [detailing] collusion between the Clinton State Department and the Clinton Foundation.”
Of the new batch of emails from 2010 to 2013 that the Department of State turned over to Judicial Watch, 10 contain classified information that had been redacted “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,” the nonprofit government watchdog found.
Judicial Watch also noted that the emails “appear to be among those that Clinton had attempted to delete or had otherwise failed to disclose” during the investigation into her use of a private email server to conduct official and classified business while serving as the nation’s chief diplomat.
“It is shameful that Hillary Clinton attempted to delete or hide classified information and that Obama appointees [former FBI Director] James Comey and [former Attorney General] Loretta Lynch refused to prosecute her,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said Wednesday.
Several of the redacted emails sent and received on the private email server that contained classified information concerned negotiations over the Israel-Arab conflict, including correspondence with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Other emails showed the commingling of Clinton’s State Department with the Clinton Foundation, which she and former President Bill Clinton founded. Some communications revealed that the former president appeared “to conduct State Department and Clinton Foundation business simultaneously.”
An email from Haynes Boone lawyer Rafael Anchia included the subject line, “How do I get through to Bill Clinton,” and sought to secure him for a paid speech in Spain. A Clinton campaign official forwarded the email to former State Department deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan, who then passed it over to former deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin.
The email request ultimately made it to Terry Krinvic, Bill Clinton’s scheduler.
“It is clear that the Clintons were using the State Department to run an extensive influence-peddling scheme,” Fitton said. “Americans should be concerned that, while untold resources are devoted to the abusive [Robert] Mueller special counsel investigation of President Trump, this Justice Department seems uninterested in prosecuting the Clintons.”
Judicial Watch received the new batch of emails from the State Department after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in May 2015.
The FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server cast a shadow over her 2016 campaign as the Democratic presidential nominee against President Donald Trump. Clinton was spared from prosecution because Comey said in July 2016 that “although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
The statute governing how classified information is to be dealt with by federal officials specifies “gross negligence” the standard for determining if an illegal act has been committed. The statute does not explicitly make an individual’s intent a factor in the determination, but past court decisions have said intent must be demonstrated in some cases.
Shortly before Election Day, Comey reopened the investigation after new emails were discovered — before closing it again on November 6.
This article was used with permission from LifeZette.
Read related content:
Judicial Watch Sues for Comey-Mueller Communications
Rep. Jim Jordan Insists ‘No One on Capitol Hill’ Believes Comey Leaked Only Once