Judge Skeptical of 5-Year Timeline for Clinton Emails’ Release

A federal judge this week said he’s not convinced the State Department’s five-year plan of releasing up to 31,000 emails recovered from Hillary Clinton’s private, home-based server is appropriate and timely.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, an appointee of President Obama, made the remark while hearing a Freedom of Information Act request from Judicial Watch that contests the State Department’s release of 500 pages per month of Clinton-tied messages.

As Boasberg said, that timeline means State could take up to five years to release all the emails

“I’m not satisfied with saying, ‘Fine, go ahead and take five years to do this,’” Boasberg said at the hearing, Politico reported.

As Chris Farrell with Judicial Watch noted: The pace is particularly troubling when it’s considered how quickly the FBI’s James Comey just cleared up to 650,000 emails on disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop that were believed to have contained sensitive messages between Clinton and her top aide, Huma Abedin.

Farrell tweeted: “8 Days for 650K records when it’s politically expedient & self-serving – 5 YEARS for 31K pages when the Govt goes into full cover-up mode.”

The story continues, from Politico:

“With as many as 31,000 emails contained on disks the FBI turned over but State has not yet processed for release, the current pace in the case Boasberg addressed Monday could stretch out for several years. …

“At the moment, State is processing about 2,350 pages a month from the first of a series of disks the FBI gave to State after the law enforcement agency recovered additional Clinton emails from her server and other equipment, as well as individuals with whom she corresponded. …

“Justice Department attorney Lisa Ann Olson indicated that State seemed to be about halfway through processing and releasing the first disk of extra Clinton emails and expects to finish that process early next year. However, it’s hard to assess that prediction because State still can’t say how many pages of messages there are on that first disk—more than three months after the agency got it from the FBI.”

And after the hearing, a State Department spokesman doubled down on the fact the judge had not set a timetable to process and release the last of the Clinton emails.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, expressed dismay at State’s seeming slow pace.

“State admits today it has 31,000 pages of Clinton material from FBI,” Fitton tweeted. “Wanted as long as 5 years to turn it all over. Court skeptical.”

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