Nearly four years after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking all emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton and her staff via her unsecured private email server when she served as Secretary of State, Judicial Watch has finally received what appears to be the “final batch” of emails Clinton “tried to delete or destroy” that the FBI managed to recover. Among this newly uncovered batch of emails, which amount to over 700 pages of documents, Judicial Watch uncovered what appear to be five more email exchanges containing classified information.
“Hillary Clinton repeatedly stated that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails,” Judicial Watch explained in its announcement of the release of the final batch of emails. “In response to a court order in another Judicial Watch case, she declared under penalty of perjury in 2015 that she had ‘directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.’ In 2017, the FBI uncovered 72,000 pages of documents Clinton attempted to delete or did not otherwise disclose.”
Judicial Watch notes that this should be “the final batch” of emails because the production of documents in this case has now “concluded.” In total, the FBI was only able to recover or find less than a fifth, about 5,000 of the 33,000 government emails Clinton “took and tried to destroy.”
The newly uncovered documents include what Judicial Watch determined to be five new classified exchanges. Below is Judicial Watch’s summaries of and links to the “classified” communications:
- On April 27, 2011, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent classified information discussing Palestinian issues to Clinton’s personal unsecure email account.
- On May 19, 2011, Blair again sent classified information to Clinton’s personal unsecure email account discussing a “speech.”
- A classified email exchange between Blair and Clinton took place from January 16, 2009 (while George W. Bush was still president) and January 24, 2009. The subject line is “Re: Gaza.” Blair on January 16, 2009, relayed information he learned from Middle East leaders and noted that he wanted to get something “resolved before Tuesday” (when Obama would be sworn in as president). Clinton responded to Blair on January 19, 2009, writing “Tony – We are finally moving and I am looking forward to talking w you as soon as I’m confirmed, tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. Your emails are very helpful so pls continue to use this address,” [email protected]. Blair followed up by saying “It would be great if we could talk before any announcements are made.”
- Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane sent Clinton classified information, apparently during early 2009. The subject line of the email is redacted, but the text appears to show a discussion on information about Iraq.
- In September 2, 2010, email exchange marked classified, longtime Clinton confidante Lanny Davis tells Secretary Clinton that he could serve as a private channel for her to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he had a “private and highly trusted communication line, unofficial and personal, to PM N[etanyahu].” Davis goes on to say “[N]o one on the planet (other than your wonderful husband) can get this done as well as you.…” Secretary Clinton responds with classified information, saying “I will reach out to you directly and hope you will continue to do the same w me. The most important issue now is [Redacted B1].”
Other emails worthy of note include an email confirming a meeting with a pro-Putin billionaire from Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishivil, “who was reportedly involved in a Russia-rigged election for president of the Republic of Georgia,” Judicial Watch notes. And another email from the deputy secretary of state says Biden was “thinking seriously about a Biden-Putin Commission.”
There’s also this eyebrow-raising detail:
On October 29, 2009, a Clinton Foundation employee and close Clinton adviser Sid Blumenthal forwarded a proposal for a commercial contract related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from retired CIA officer-turned-contractor Gary Berntsen, to Clinton (copying Cheryl Mills), saying that Berntsen had been “unable to break through the bureaucracy with it.” Mills then forwarded the email to Jake Sullivan. Blumenthal noted that “Cody [Shearer] and I are following up.” Blumenthal and Shearer were both implicated in the creation of the Obama administration’s anti-Trump Russia “collusion” counterintelligence operation by providing “reports” relating to Trump-Russia collusion to the U.S. Government.
Judicial Watch notes that the documents also reveal that Clinton had been assigned an official government email address she could have used but instead chose to use her unapproved, unsecured private server. One email contains a comment from her former chief of staff as a senator discussing getting “a secure computer set up soon.”
The emails also contain an exchange between Blumenthal and Clinton in which he lays out a plan to thwart an alleged plot by the “Jewish institutional leadership” to undermine an Obama appointee. (Read more here.)