Ken Berwitz
The Obamaadministration told a federal court Wednesday that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was within her legal rights to use of her own emailaccount, to take the messages with her when she left office and to be the one decidingwhich of those messages are government records that should be returned.
In the most completelegal defense of Ms. Clinton,Justice Department lawyers insisted they not only have no obligation, but nopower, to go back and demand the former top diplomat turn over any documentsshe hasn\’t already given – and neither, they said, can the court order that.
Judicial Watch, whichhad at least 16 active open-records lawsuits against the State Departmentseeking emails from Mrs. Clinton orher top aides, said the administration is ignoring its own guidelines in tryingto clear Mrs. Clinton.
“Indeed, the StateDepartment\’s own rules specify that personal records of a departingpresidential appointee may not be removed from the government until the StateDepartment \’records officer in cooperation with the S/ES or appropriateadministrative office\’ approves of the removal, a process which \’generallyrequires a hands-on examination of the materials,\'” Judicial Watch said in areply brief.
