Federal Judge Opens Discovery Into Clinton Email Usage: Court Criticizes Current Justice Department for “Chicanery”, by Judicial Watch.

In a ruling excoriating both the U.S. Departments of State and Justice, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth has ordered both agencies to join Judicial Watch in submitting a proposed schedule for discovery into whether Hillary Clinton sought to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a private email system and whether the State Department acted in “bad faith” by failing to disclose knowledge of the email system. …

Judge rips Hillary

Terming Clinton’s use of her private email system, “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency,” Lamberth wrote in his MEMORANDUM OPINION:

… his [President Barack Obama’s] State and Justice Departments fell far short. So far short that the court questions, even now, whether they are acting in good faith. Did Hillary Clinton use her private email as Secretary of State to thwart this lofty goal [Obama announced standard for transparency]? Was the State Department’s attempt to settle this FOIA case in 2014 an effort to avoid searching — and disclosing the existence of — Clinton’s missing emails? And has State ever adequately searched for records in this case? …

At best, State’s attempt to pass-off its deficient search as legally adequate during settlement negotiations was negligence born out of incompetence. At worst, career employees in the State and Justice Departments colluded to scuttle public scrutiny of Clinton, skirt FOIA, and hoodwink this Court.

Citing an email (uncovered as a result of Judicial Watch’s lawsuit) that Hillary Clinton acknowledged that Benghazi was a terrorist attack immediately after it happened, Judge Lamberth asked:

Did State know Clinton deemed the Benghazi attack terrorism hours after it happened, contradicting the Obama Administration’s subsequent claim of a protest-gone-awry? …

Did the Department merely fear what might be found? Or was State’s bungling just the unfortunate result of bureaucratic redtape and a failure to communicate? To preserve the Department’s integrity, and to reassure the American people their government remains committed to transparency and the rule of law, this suspicion cannot be allowed to fester.

Wow, finally. While US Secretary of State, Hillary set up her own private server (in a cupboard in a bathroom!) to conduct email business. She used that for official business rather than the government-supplied official email account, presumably because those emails could not be demanded in an FOI request. This is of course highly illegal, and a major security risk — others have gone to jail for far less.

Another obvious incentive for using a private server could be to enrich herself, using the influence of the US. Corrupt and highly illegal.

So why didn’t the FBI and DOJ go after Hillary? Now we know — this judge described the departments as acting in “bad faith”, colluding “to scuttle public scrutiny,” and “chicanery”.