(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today
that it recently received records from the Department of State disclosing plans
by senior State Department officials to set up a “stand-alone PC” so that
Clinton could check her emails in an
office “across the hall” through a separate, non-State Department computer
network system.
Referencing the special Clinton computer system, Under
Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, writes Clinton Chief of Staff
Cheryl Mills, “The stand-alone separate network PC is a great idea.” The emails are from January 23-24, 2009, a
few days after Clinton was sworn in as Secretary of State.
The new emails were obtained by Judicial Watch in
response a court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for State
Department records about Hillary Clinton’s separate email system (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of
State (No. 1:15-cv-00689)).
In the email chain, Lewis Lukens, former deputy
assistant secretary of state and executive director of the secretariat,
responds to a request from Mills by informing her, top Clinton aide Huma
Abedin, and Kennedy that the new personal computer “in the secretary’s office”
would be “connected to the internet (but not through our system).” Abedin
responds, “We are hoping for that if possible.”
The email exchange discussing plans to provide
Clinton a separate computer to skirt the internal State Department computer
network begins with a message from Mills to Lukens in which she requests
Clinton being able to access her emails through “a non-DOS computer.” The email
discusses how the stand-alone computer can be set up and why it is “a great
idea’ and “the best solution:”
From: Cheryl Mills
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:45 AM
To: Lukens, Lewis A
Subject: Re: Series of questions
Lew – who can I talk to about:
Can our email be accessed remotely through the web
using a non-DOS computer like my laptop?
I am traveling to the M-E – will my DOS bb work
there and is there a cell phone attached?
Spoke to Dan [Daniel B. Smith, former DOS executive
secretary] re: bb for HRC (and reports that POTUS is able to use a super
encrypted one which)
Spoke to Dan re: setting up Counselor office for
HRC so she can go across hall regularly to check her email
***
From: Lukens, Lewis A
To: cmills [REDACTED]
Cc: Habedin [REDACTED]; Kennedy, Patrick F; Smith,
Daniel B
Sent: Saturday, Jan. 24, 19:10:33 2009
Subject: Re: series of questions
We have already started checking into the NSA bb.
Will set up the office across the hall as requested. Also, I think we should go
ahead (but will await your green light) and set up a stand-alone PC in the
Secretary’s office, connect to the internet (but not through our system) to
enable her to check her emails from her desk. Lew.
From: Kennedy, Patrick F KennedyPF@state.gov
To: Lukens, Lewis A <LukensLA@state.gov>;
Cheryl Mills
Cc: Huma Abedin; Smith, Daniel B
<SmithD2@state.gov>
Sent: Sat, Jan 24 19:48:25 2009
Subject: Re: Series of questions
Cheryl
The stand-alone separate network PC is [a] great
idea
Regards
Pat
From: Huma Abedin
To: Kennedy, Patrick F; Lukens, Lewis A; Cheryl
Mills
Cc: Huma Abedin; Smith, Daniel B
Sent: Sat Jan 24 19:48:27 2009
Subject: Re: Series of questions
Yes we were hoping for that if possible so she can
check her email in her office.
***
From: Lukens, Lewis A
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 8:26 PM
To: Kennedy, Patrick F
Subject: Re: Series of questions
I talked to Cheryl about this. She says a problem
is hrc does not know how to use a computer to do email – only bb [Blackberry].
But, I said would not take much training to get her up to speed.
In separate litigation, the State Department told
Judicial Watch and federal courts that Hillary Clinton was never issued secure
State Department computing devices.
“These emails are shocking. They show the Obama State Department’s plan
to set up non-government computers and a computer network for Hillary Clinton to
bypass the State Department network,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“That these records were withheld from the American people until now is
scandalous and shows the criminal probe of Hillary Clinton’s email system
should include current and former officials of the Obama administration.”
Judicial Watch filed these new emails with U.S.
District Court Judge Emmett Sullivan, who is now considering whether to grant
discovery in a lawsuit seeking information on the “special government employee”
status of Abedin. In its filing, Judicial Watch states:
[Judicial Watch] just recently received additional
evidence that demonstrates that senior management at the State Department was
well aware that Mrs. Clinton was using a “non-state.gov” system to conduct
official government business. This evidence also shows that the senior
management at the State Department knowingly aided Mrs. Clinton in establishing
and using a “non-state.gov” system.
***
[T]his newly discovered email demonstrates that
there is at least a “reasonable suspicion” that the State Department and Mrs.
Clinton deliberately thwarted FOIA by creating, using, and concealing the
“clintonemail.com” record system for six years.
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