September 19, 2016 | No Comments
A federal judge lashed out at the State Department Monday over what he charged was foot-dragging over Freedom of Information Act requests relating to Hillary Clinton’s service as secretary of state.
“You have a client that to say the least, is not impressing the judges on this court, myself included…It is in your client’s interest to start being more obviously cooperative,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon warned Justice Department lawyers representing State during a brief hearing Monday.” The State Department is at risk of being perceived as obstreperous. [They] need to get with the program.”
The 10-minute hearing around noontime Monday took place on a suit for records on how — and if — Clinton and her aides were trained to handle classified information. State had proposed a deadline of October 17 to produce about 450 unclassified documents relating to the training issue sought by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
However, Leon ordered the diplomatic agency to complete processing and disclosure of those records by October 10. He also said State must produce the records in three installments “of comparable size” and can’t leave the bulk of the records to the last batch.
“We will do our best,” Justice Department attorney Jason Lee told Leon.
“Do better than your best… You do it,” Leon shot back.
The issue of classified-information training for Clinton and her aides has drawn attention in recent weeks, after FBI Director James Comey observed that three emails received by Clinton had paragraphs marked with a (C) for “confidential” classified information, although the entire messages were not properly marked as classified and appeared to have involved a cut-and-paste job. Comey also said that any senior official should have realized the topics being discussed in other emails were not suitable for an unclassified system.
According to an FBI report, Clinton said she could not recall receiving any training or briefing on how to handle classified information.
However, when the extent of her use of a private email account as secretary was revealed last year, Clinton said: “I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements.”
An initial search for records responsive to the Daily Caller request turned up no records at all about training for Clinton or Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin, while some were located for Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan.
However, a lawyer representing the Daily Caller, Brad Moss, asked State to do a more thorough search. That turned up over 1000 records last week, the bulk of them classified files about reading the aides in and out of highly-classified program.
Lee said many of those records are classified “Top Secret or higher than Top Secret.” That complicates the processing because people have to be granted the proper clearances, he said.
He offered no estimate when those records will be processed, although most of them are expected to be withheld as classified.
Leon also made clear that he believes the case should be prioritized because of the looming presidential election.
“It’s time sensitive because it involves a national election for president,” the judge said.
Moss had objected to State’s plan to finish production of the roughly 450 documents by October 17, because that is only two days before the final presidential debate.
The judge appeared to agree, saying the Daily Caller should have “time to go through them….for whatever newsworthy value they believe they have.”
State has been swamped with dozens of lawsuits seeking emails sent or received by Clinton during her four years as secretary, as well as emails of her top aides and records on various other topics related to Clinton’s tenure. As the election draws nigh, State has faced demands from many quarters to get particular records out prior to the election.
However, Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, didn’t seem interested in hearing much about that Monday. Instead, he noted that no lawyer from the State was present at Monday’s hearing.
“Impress upon them this way of doing business needs to stop,” the judge told Lee. “They’re not feeling the heat.”
The verbal fusillade prompted Lee to step forward with further explanation, but he only managed to utter the words, “Your honor…” before the judge stood and walked off the bench.
“We’ll issue an order,” Leon declared, passing up whatever Lee had planned to say and brusquely leaving the courtroom.
A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the hearing or the case Monday.