On Monday, a federal judge agreed with conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and their request to have Hillary Clinton participate in a sworn deposition over use of her private email server to carry out government business.
Clinton claims she has already answered questions on this matter and should not have to revisit the issue.
Federal Judge Said Clinton’s Answers Weren’t Good Enough the First Time Around
D.C. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth disagrees. He essentially said in his ruling Monday that her past answers did not satisfy all the questions.
A federal judge has ordered Hillary Clinton to sit for a sworn deposition for the first time in connection with her use of a private email account during her State Department tenure https://t.co/ShQEIbarPZ
— POLITICO (@politico) March 2, 2020
“As extensive as the existing record is, it does not sufficiently explain Secretary Clinton’s state of mind when she decided it would be an acceptable practice to set up and use a private server to conduct State Department business,” Lamberth said.
The judge also said that while Clinton answered written questions in a separate case, “those responses were either incomplete, unhelpful, or cursory at best. Simply put her responses left many more questions than answers.”
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‘There is still more to learn’
Lamberth said that using written questions for another deposition “will only muddle any understanding of Secretary Clinton’s state of mind and fail to capture the full picture, this delaying the final disposition of this case even further.”
Judge orders Hillary Clinton to appear for deposition in @JudicialWatch lawsuit, says that her written explanations about reasons for using private email server "left many more questions than answers." https://t.co/W92d1ci1ly
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) March 2, 2020
This decision comes after Judicial Watch reported at a conference in December 2019 that the FBI released “approximately thirty previously undisclosed Clinton emails,” and that the State Department “failed to fully explain” their source.
For some time the State Department has been pushing to close the discovery phase of this case, but Lamberth said now is not the time to do so and that “there is still more to learn.”
DC Judge Royce Lamberth today says Hillary Clinton must sit for deposition 'on matters concerning her reasons for using a private server and her understanding of State's records management obligations.' Order:https://t.co/qhSBAnwJCv pic.twitter.com/xrvABBWog6
— Mike Scarcella (@MikeScarcella) March 2, 2020
Will Hillary Get the Same Kind of Scrutiny Trump Has? Don’t Bet On It
Clinton has never really been taken to aggressively task on the question of her misuse of email servers, and certainly not with the vigor with which the government and media went after President Trump and alleged collusion with Russia.
After a thorough months-long investigation by Robert Muller, Trump wasn’t charged with any crimes.
What could a new Hillary Clinton deposition turn up? And will the media clamor for it like they did with Trump and Russiagate?
We already know the answer.
https://twitter.com/StormIsUponUs/status/1234554608464334849