A federal judge accused State Department officials of lying and signing “clearly false” affidavits in an attempt to prevent watchdog groups from attaining information on Hillary Clinton’s private email server and her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.
A court transcript from Friday’s hearing – involving a lawsuit brought by the watchdog group Judicial Watch – reveals U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth noting certain elements of the department’s attempts to derail the case had left him “shocked” and “dumbfounded.”
The State Department sought to get the lawsuit thrown out during a previous hearing, but Lamberth denied the request. On Friday, he reminded them in a scathing statement that he had made the correct decision.
In particular, the judge blasted officials for claiming they had searched all relevant documents pertaining to the Clinton server.
“It was a lie,” Lamberth said.
False Statements
“It was clear to me that at the time that I ruled initially, that false statements were made to me by career State Department officials,” the judge railed.
“And it became more clear through discovery that the information that I was provided was clearly false regarding the adequacy of the search and this – what we now know turned out to be the Secretary’s email system.”
Federal judge says the State Department provided false statements to derail lawsuits over Hillary Clinton’s private email server pic.twitter.com/X7Tw5czGhM
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) October 18, 2018
Justice Department lawyers countered that the judge could make an argument that the search was not adequate, but their declaration that it was did not amount to a lie because hey, they tried.
Angered By Immunity For Clinton’s Chief of Staff
Another aspect of Judge Lamberth’s dismay involved the immunity granted to Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills. Mills herself was a “subject” in the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s server and was found to have classified information on her laptop.
“I was actually dumbfounded when I found out … that Cheryl Mills had been given immunity,” Lamberth stated.
“I had myself found that Cheryl Mills had committed perjury,” he said, “and lied under oath in a published opinion I had issued in a Judicial Watch case where I found her unworthy of belief.”
Lamberth noted the Inspector General report from Michael Horowitz which revealed Mills had also been allowed to sit through the FBI’s interview of Clinton, a shocking breach of protocol.
Judicial Watch Response
In the wake of Friday’s hearing, Judicial Watch responded with fire and fury over the State Department’s seeming cover-up in both their email server and Benghazi document lawsuits.
“President Trump should ask why his State Department is still refusing to answer basic questions about the Clinton email scandal,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Hillary Clinton’s and the State Department’s email cover-up abused the FOIA, the courts, and the American people’s right to know.”
As part of their lawsuit, Fitton’s group is trying to compel Clinton and other top aides to testify as a means to gather more information.
Hillary – Lawsuits, Investigations Upended Her 2016 Campaign
Mrs. Clinton, among many, many, many other things, blamed Republicans and watchdog groups like Judicial Watch for her loss in the 2016 presidential election.
“Boy, it was turned into a political football,” she moaned. “And it was aimed at undermining my credibility, my record, my accomplishments.”
How does one undermine things you clearly don’t possess?
The Benghazi scandal and subsequent investigations weren’t a political football – they were a necessary means to finding out the truth behind a terrorist attack that killed four Americans on Clinton’s watch as Secretary of State. It was a means to find out why they covered up what happened, and why they lied to the American people as a means to protect Barack Obama.
Those lies and the cover-up continues to this day. Thank God groups like Judicial Watch continue to fight, and that at least one federal judge is exposing the corruption in the State and Justice Departments even now.
