Noose Tightens On Clinton As Second Federal Judge Grants Discovery In E-Mail Fiasco
By Tyler Durden
There have been some interesting developments in the Hillary Clinton e-mail saga over the past two weeks.
In response to an FOIA request, conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch
Now, in the latest developments from the never-ending Clinton e-mail saga, a second federal judge will allow Judicial Watch to seek sworn testimony from officials. “U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth entered an order Tuesday agreeing that Judicial Watch can pursue legal discovery — which often includes depositions of relevant individuals — as the group pursues legal claims that State did not respond completely to a FOIA request filed in May 2014 seeking records about talking points then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice used for TV appearances discussing the deadly attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi in September 2012,” Politico writes. “Lamberth is the second federal judge handling a Clinton email-related case to agree to discovery, which is unusual in FOIA litigation.”
As Reuters goes on to note, Judicial Watch has “filed several lawsuits, including one seeking records about the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.”
“Where there is evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith, as here, limited discovery is appropriate, even though it is exceedingly rare in FOIA cases,” Lamberth wrote in the order. “The government argues that this does not show a lack of good faith, but that is what remains to be seen, and the factual record must be developed appropriately for the Court to make that determination,” Lamberth wrote.
Although the ruling is, to quote Fitton again, “remarkable,” the “practical impact of could be limited” because, as Politico goes on to point out, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan – the first judge to give the go ahead for Judicial Watch to seek sworn testimony – has already received a discovery plan and will rule on it by the end of next month. In other words, Lamberth’s ruling is just icing on the proverbial cake.
“Discovery will allow us to get into the shifting explanations,” Fitton says.
Indeed. Or, as we put it on Monday:
“..the story keeps changing, and indeed that’s the whole problem. At this point it’s abundantly clear that Clinton would have been far better off telling the truth from the very beginning and the fact that incremental information continues to surface certainly seems to suggest that the former First Lady fully intends to admit only what someone else – in this case Judicial Watch – can prove.”
Well thanks to judges Sullivan and Lambreth, the group may be able to prove a bit more.
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Source: Noose Tightens On Clinton As Second Federal Judge Grants Discovery In E-Mail Fiasco
