U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan prompted State Department officials to the possibility of having Hillary Clinton answer questions on June 29, regarding Judicial Watch’s lawsuit asking for records about her private email server that was used as she held the position of secretary of state.
The order stems from the questioning on why Hillary Clinton approved the use and method of application the domain clintonemail.com for government matters.
Mrs. Clinton’s testimony
The court order states that “the deposition of Mrs. Clinton may be necessary.” Judge Sullivan had issued orders to interview several members of the State Department; although the testimony of Hillary Clinton may not be necessary, it is a distinct possibility and it may be required to develop further investigations prompted by conservative firm Judicial Watch. The FBI is also investigating what type of information was handled through the private server.
If it were to occur, the testimony will take place during the presidential race, with Clinton being the leading democratic candidate. Campaign manager Brian Fallon established that Mrs. Clinton will cooperate on the matters regarding the email server; Fallon stated that the case comprehends “politically motivated lawsuits” and that “nothing inappropriate took place.”
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 but the case found itself in the spotlight in June of 2015 as the case was reopened and The New York Times revealed the existence of the email server.
Judicial Watch has already issued the order to testify for several people among Clinton’s staff. There’s Huma Abedin, one of her senior advisers, Cheryl D. Mills, her former chief of staff and lastly, Brian Pagliano, the State Department employee who worked with the email server.
The server is located in the basement of the home of Hillary and Bill Clinton in New York. Pagliano had already refused to testify and he backed his stance through the Fifth Amendment, which portrays the right to not incriminate oneself.
The questions that may be stated towards the solicited personnel may ask for the name of the persons that had used an email account on the clintonemail.com server for official matters. The interrogation will be limited to the events that have to do with the creation of Clinton’s private email server back on 2009 and the reasons why a government email system was not used in the first place.
According to Judge Sullivan, these “are issues that need to be explored in discovery to enable the Court to resolve, as a matter of law, the adequacy of the State Department’s search of relevant records in response to Judicial Watch’s FOIA request.”
Source: Judicial Watch v Dept of State