A federal judge ordered the State Department to release over 50,000 pages of emails composed by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton on a monthly basis.
Politico reported Wednesday that batches of the 30,000 emails totaling more than 55,000 pages will be released every 30 days, according to an order written by U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras. This is a compromise between attorneys for the State Department, who wanted to release emails every 60 days, and Vice News reporter Jason Leopold, who proposed a bi-weekly roll-out.
Leopold filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which stated in part:
Defendant shall provide a status report informing the court of the number of pages of emails produced. If, in any given month, the defendant fails to meet the above-referenced production goal, it shall explain in detail in its status report how it intends to catch up with the schedule by adding resources or otherwise.
ABC News pointed out last week that the State Department initially wanted to wait until January 15, 2016, to release the emails. They filed a declaration with the U.S. District Court to that end, asserting that reviewing the emails is a lengthy process. But Judge Contreras rejected that request.
By June 30, the State Department must release 2,100 messages. In July, they must release 2,400; 3,000 more in August; 3,600 in September; 4,200 in October; 4,500 in November; 4,800 in December; and the final 5,400 in January. Contreras gave the State Department an extra two weeks – until January 29 – to complete the release of the emails. The department said it would need until the middle of the month.
The State Department last week released 850 pages of emails pertaining to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. One email documents Clinton sleeping through a presidential daily brief four days after the attack.
The former first lady is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.
h/t: The Washington Times
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