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Judge OKs deposition plan in Hillary Clinton email case - POLITICO

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-email-deposition-plan-222801

Judge OKs deposition plan in Hillary Clinton email case
[image: 160405_hillary_clinton_1160_gty.jpg]

The judge's order explicitly left open the question of whether Hillary
Clinton should be subject to a deposition about the private email
arrangement. | Getty
Judge OKs deposition plan in Hillary Clinton email case

A federal judge has approved a plan to take sworn testimony from former
aides to Hillary Clinton about her use of a private email server during her
tenure as secretary of state.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order Wednesday
approving the discovery plan, which was agreed to by the State Department
and Judicial Watch, a conservative group that demanded Clinton's emails
under the Freedom of Information Act.

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"The circumstances surrounding approval of Mrs. Clinton’s use of
clintonemail.com for official government business, as well as the manner in
which it was operated, 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," Sullivan wrote in his 15-page order
<http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000154-7ce6-d502-a957-fde660ba0000>.

Sullivan's order explicitly left open the question of whether Clinton
should be subject to a deposition about the private email arrangement. The
order calls for depositions over the next eight weeks of former Clinton
chief of staff Cheryl Mills, former deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and
former information technology specialist Bryan Pagliano. Also slated to be
deposed under the plan are Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick
Kennedy, former executive secretary Stephen Mull and former Executive
Secretariat executive director Lewis Lukens.

The eight-week period to complete the depositions will conclude in late
June. That timing has the potential to tee up a debate about a possible
deposition of Clinton just a few weeks before she is expected to receive
the Democratic nomination for president at the party's national convention
in Philadelphia.

The State Department objected to any depositions in the Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit, but Sullivan ruled earlier this year that they
were appropriate given questions about why Clinton's private email server
was set up.

State eventually agreed to the discovery plan
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/04/feds-judicial-watch-strike-deal-on-clinton-email-depositions-222046>
Sullivan approved Wednesday. However, it is unclear whether the former
Clinton aides who aren't State employees any longer will agree to the
depositions. Attorneys for the ex-officials have not responded to inquiries
about whether they will seek to quash any subpoenas in the case.

The FBI has also been investigating issues related to Clinton's private
server since last summer. Pagliano reportedly asserted the Fifth Amendment
in that inquiry and later struck an immunity deal with prosecutors. He has
declined to cooperate with a Senate inquiry into the matter.

The FBI is expected to ask Clinton to be interviewed in that probe, but she
told MSNBC in an interview Tuesday that the law enforcement agency has not
yet reached out to her.

Asked Wednesday if Clinton or her aides plan to go along with the
deposition plan, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon stressed Clinton's
willingness to cooperate with the FBI in its inquiry.

"While we continue to monitor developments in the many, politically
motivated lawsuits filed by the same, right-wing groups that have been
attacking the Clintons since the 1990s, our focus remains on the
independent review being conducted by the Justice Department," Fallon said.
"Hillary Clinton has long expressed her willingness to cooperate in that
review in order to help them complete their work. We remain confident that
review will affirm that nothing inappropriate took place."

An attorney for Pagliano declined to comment Wednesday. A lawyer for Mills
and Abedin did not respond to requests for comment.

Sullivan indicated in his order Wednesday that he believes there are
legitimate questions about whether the server arrangement was set up to
evade FOIA requests.

"Judicial Watch raises significant questions in its Motion for Discovery
about whether the State Department processed documents in good faith in
response to Judicial Watch's FOIA request. Judicial Watch is therefore
entitled to limited discovery," the judge wrote.

"Critical facts related to the clintonemail.com server preclude a legal
analysis, at this time, of whether the State Department conducted an
adequate search under FOIA," Sullivan wrote at another point in his order.

The judge noted that Clinton and Abedin turned over to the State Department
messages from the accounts each maintained on Clinton's server. However, he
pointed out that the former officials decided what to make available.

"Notably, the process by which the State Department took possession of Mrs.
Clinton and Ms. Abedin’s federal records from the clintonemail.com server
was through self-selection by Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Abedin, Ms. Mills and their
private counsel," wrote Sullivan, who was appointed by President Bill
Clinton.
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Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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