If Team Clinton and
Team Obama had their druthers, the American people would know nothing about her
non-government email system. But thanks to numerous federal lawsuits and
multiple federal court orders obtained by your Judicial Watch, the Obama State
Department must disgorge document after document about this increasingly serious
scandal. Sure enough, we have another major breakthrough to
report.
Your JW
forced the release of State Department emails that show then-Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and her top staff pushed for the use of personal digital
assistant (PDA) devices for secret and top secret information. The records also
show that the State Department official rejected this "push" for the special
PDAs. A
court order forced this document release in a Judicial Watch Freedom
of Information (FOIA) lawsuit. In a related
court filing, we made it a point to highlight the agency's failure to comply
with the court's orders regarding the production of the documents.
Let's
discuss the new emails, first. A State Department email
chain shows a February 2, 2009, discussion by State Department security
staff, in which agency top security official (former Assistant Secretary of
State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell) writes:
On the off chance that [Clinton's] staff continues to push for [secret] or [top secret]-capable PDAs [redacted]. I'll need a briefing on what we know [redaction] Pls schedule.
The email was sent to another
top security official - Donald
R. Reid, the State Department's security coordinator for security
infrastructure and Patrick Donovan, then-deputy assistant secretary of State and
then director, Diplomatic Security Service.
(In a testament to
government non-accountability, Mr. Boswell was placed on administrative leave
because of the security failures tied to the Benghazi terrorist attack but reportedly
was reinstated and reassigned to a new position by Secretary of State John
Kerry.)
Getting back to the email, recall that State Department Executive
Secretary Joseph E. McManus declared under penalty of perjury in another Judicial
Watch lawsuit that the agency "does not believe that any personal computing
device was issued by the Department to former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, and has not located any such device at the Department" (and possibly
destroyed the BlackBerrys of her aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills).
You
can also see how this week's big 7,000-page
email dump that produced emails showing Hillary Clinton snagged
an iPad with the help of State Department employees is seemingly at odds
with this State Department statement.
The State Department's release of
the few emails highlighting Hillary Clinton push for a classified PDA falls way
short of the disclosure the federal judge overseeing our case demanded. We informed
the court of the State Department's failure to produce documents or information
on its search for responsive records as
ordered by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on
July 7, 2015. Since its last report to the court on July 2, State has
produced only these two pages of responsive email records - and they were a week
late - delivered on August 27.
The State Department said that it had 250
potentially responsive documents, and didn't tell us or the judge much
else:
[The State Department] did not indicate when it located these records, where it located these records and why it did not include these records in its review of the initial production. [The State Department] also stated that its search was ongoing, but did not give any indication when it will complete its search of all potentially responsive records. It also did not indicate the scope of the search or the volume of all potentially responsive records. [Judicial Watch] requested that [the State Department] supplement its response and provide this information before today's Joint Status Report. [The State Department] did not do so.
The July court order requires the
State Department to "make its first production of responsive records by no later
than August 20, 2015," and detail both the volume and scope of responsive
documents. So it is a contemptuous fail all around as the State Department
flouts court order after court order over the Clinton email issue. This
corruption wastes our resources (and the court's), as it requires our legal team
to spend precious time seeking relief again from the court. Our attorneys had to
ask the court to reorder the State Department to provide details about its
search and stop hiding the ball about these documents.
One can see the
motive for the stonewalling as these two documents further confirm that Hillary
Clinton and her staff tried and failed to convince the State Department to issue
them smart devices that could handle classified data. This push for a "Top
Secret"-safe smart phone or tablet also blows up Hillary Clinton's obvious lie
that she set up a separate email system because she didn't want to use two
devices.
And, as we note, there are more documents to come!
Judicial Watch Lawsuits Take Center Stage
in Clinton Email Scandal
Judicial Watch litigation most
assuredly led to the disclosure of former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's separate email system. Judicial Watch's nearly 20 lawsuits touching on
the Clinton email scandal continue to be the best vehicle for the American
people to learn the truth, hold Mrs. Clinton accountable to law, and actually
pry out documents that Hillary Clinton or the Obama administration have tried to
keep secret contrary to law.
And we're not slowing
down.
We just filed a
new lawsuit seeking access to two of former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's emails in their original, native format. The "native" format contains
metadata, which provides details such as server information and hidden email
recipients.
In May 2015, the State Department posted on its website
several emails allegedly returned by Clinton to the State Department late last
year. In July, Judicial Watch submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request asking for email "as it was sent" for two of the emails - one by Clinton
aide Huma
Abedin on Sunday, August 21, 2011, from her AbedinH@state.gov address, and
the other email "as it was received" by Jacob
Sullivan on Saturday, July 7, 2012, at his sullivanjj@state.gov.
Being reasonable folks, we offered the State Department an option. If
they could not produce the emails in their native format, the agency should then
produce records that would identify the information contained in the email
headers.
True to form, the State Department did not respond as required
by federal law to Judicial Watch's FOIA request, even though it acknowledged
receiving it on July 9. So, we are pressing ahead. Again quite reasonably, JW's
lawsuit also requests that the court order the State Department to produce the
two emails promptly.
Here it is important to recall that a
separate Judicial Watch lawsuit forced the State Department to demand that
Clinton's then-top State Department aides, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin, return
all copies, both electronic and paper, of government records in their
possession. Notably, the State Department had not demanded the same of Mrs.
Clinton, even though federal law also prohibits her from keeping government
records.
There remains a question of whether Mrs. Clinton used a
"hrod17@clintonemail.com" email address to conduct official State Department
business. Although Mrs. Clinton claims that email address was not created until
2013, the paper copy of the email sent to Jacob Sullivan on July 7, 2012, that
was returned by Mrs. Clinton to the State Department shows the "from" email
address as "hrod17@clintonemail.com". Interesting how an email address
supposedly not created until 2013 is used in 2012! The requested native format
copy or metadata of the email will definitely tell us whether Mrs. Clinton is
also lying about this other email account.
In refusing to respond to our
simple request about two emails that can answer many questions about Hillary
Clinton's email scandal, the State Department is not only violating FOIA but
helping provide protection for Hillary Clinton. The fact that Mrs. Clinton only
provided paper copies of her emails was not accidental. Both she and the State
Department have something to hide.
It was back
in March that the news initially broke that Hillary Clinton used a
non-government email during her four years as secretary of state. And it was a
JW FOIA lawsuit that forced Mrs. Clinton to do what no other congressional
committee, FBI, or Justice Department investigation has been able to do - submit
information, under penalty of perjury, about her email system.
This new
Judicial Watch lawsuit, if the past is prologue, will enable the public to see
documentary, first-hand evidence about Hillary Clinton's email
scandal.
Judicial Watch Asks Federal Court to Stop Racist
Separatist Election in Hawaii
Washington, DC, is not the only
place where our government is off the rails and out of control. Hawaii, the
American paradise that is about as far as one can get from DC, is hurtling down
a path that could tear this nation apart thanks to corrupt, racist moves by its
government.
Given the stakes, we are proud to represent concerned
citizens who hold dear long-standing American principles in the face of a
dangerous attack on the rule of law in Hawaii.
Your Judicial Watch just
filed on behalf of these fine Americans an important legal
brief, specifically a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, to halt a native
Hawaiian election in which voter registration was restricted both by race and by
a strict adherence to specified political viewpoints. The motion was filed on
behalf of five Hawaiian residents and one Texas resident of Hawaiian descent who
oppose the discriminatory voter registration requirements instituted under Act
195. The motion was filed on August 28, 2015, as part of a
federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the State of
Hawaii.
JW filed the underlying lawsuit a few weeks ago against the state
of Hawaii, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), the Native Hawaiian Roll
Commission (NHRC), and other State officials alleging that the Hawaiian
"self-governance" vote violates the U.S. Constitution and federal voting rights
laws.
Hawaii State officials, through Act 195, which became law in 2011,
have tried to create a list of "Native Hawaiians" who would be eligible to
recommend amendments to the state constitution at a planned constitutional
convention and to vote on issues concerning the sovereignty of the "Native
Hawaiian people." The act defines a "Native Hawaiian" as any person whom the
government determines to be a direct descendant of the State's aboriginal
peoples.
On July 20, 2012, using taxpayer funds from the State's Office
of Hawaiian Affairs, the NHRC
launched the Kana'iolowalu campaign, opening a registration process strictly
confined to native Hawaiians who desire to vote for a new race-based sovereign
government. The process, besides being racially discriminatory, excludes
registrants who refuse to affirm all three of the following
declarations:
Declaration One. I affirm the unrelinquished sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people, and my intent to participate in the process of self-governance.Declaration Two. I have a significant cultural, social or civic connection to the Native Hawaiian community.Declaration Three. I am a Native Hawaiian: a lineal descendant of the people who lived and exercised sovereignty in the Hawaiian islands prior to 1778, or a person who is eligible for the programs of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, or a direct lineal descendant of that person.
JW attorneys
represent citizens harmed by this outrageously discriminatory Hawaii election
process. Keli'i Akina and Kealii Makekau are descendants of the Hawaiian
aboriginal people, who cannot register to vote because they will not affirm that
they favor Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-governance. Joseph Kent and
Yoshimasa Sean Mitsui are citizens and residents of the State of Hawaii, who are
prevented from registering to vote in elections because of the race-based
ancestry requirements of Act 195. Melissa Leina'ala Moniz and Pedro Kana'e
Gapero are descendants of the aboriginal people of Hawaii and were registered to
vote without their knowledge or consent.
In asking the court to halt the
election process, Judicial Watch argues that the racially exclusive campaign
obviously violates the Fifteenth Amendment's protection against voting
restrictions based upon race. The U.S. Supreme Court previously
ruled against another Hawaii attempt to restrict voting based on race,
noting that Hawaii's "position rests . . . on the demeaning premise that
citizens of a particular race are somehow more qualified than others to vote on
certain matters. That reasoning attacks the central meaning of the Fifteenth
Amendment."
Judicial Watch argues that an injunction is warranted in
light of the harm caused by the numerous violations of the Constitution and
federal law:
If Defendants are allowed to proceed with the challenged activities under Act 195, a great and substantial harm will be done to the constitutional and statutory rights of Plaintiffs and of hundreds of thousands of other citizens of the State of Hawaii. The deprivations involved, moreover, concern such fundamental constitutional guarantees as the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom from compelled speech, the Fourteenth Amendment rights to the equal protection of the laws and to due process, the Fifteenth Amendment right to vote free from denial or abridgment on account of race, and the basic antidiscrimination provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
There is no doubt that Hawaii is abusing tax dollars
on a separatist campaign that discriminates on the basis of race and viewpoint.
Right now, U.S. citizens are being denied access to the right to vote explicitly
because of their race and their points of view. This dangerous, divisive scheme
can't be halted soon enough by the courts.
The Grassroot Institute of
Hawaii, a Hawaii-based think tank, has been helping Judicial Watch investigate
Hawaii's plan for a race-based election. Keli'i Akina, Ph.D., President of the
Grassroot Institute (and a plaintiff in this case) said, "It is imperative to
stop draining public funds on a racially discriminatory process that the
majority of native Hawaiians have chosen not to endorse, especially while the
needs of native Hawaiians for housing, jobs, education, and health go
underfunded."
Robert Popper, director of Judicial Watch's Election
Integrity Project, is Judicial Watch's lead attorney on the lawsuit. Mr. Popper
was formerly deputy chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of
the Justice Department.
Michael Lilly of the Honolulu law firm Ning,
Lilly & Jones is serving as Judicial Watch's local counsel for the
plaintiffs.
We are by no means late to this dance. As usual, your JW is
out in front. Already, in separate litigation, Judicial
Watch forced the release of the actual enrollment list, which includes the
names of Hawaiian residents placed there without their permission.
Of
course, the Obama administration is a major proponent of what fundamentally is a
race-based secessionist movement.
The Obama administration took controversial
executive action towards "the reestablishment
of a government-to-government relationship with the Native Hawaiian community.
The plan seems to be to set up federal support just
in time for the potential rump state that emerges from this separatist
election.
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