[PJ Media] A Washington, D.C., federal judge, perhaps tired of getting the runaround from the Obama State Department, has moved up a hearing with the State Department, originally scheduled for September, to this Thursday, August 20th. This is the latest development in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit that seeks records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, the former deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Last week, Washington, D.C., federal judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the State Department to explain in writing what it was doing to work with the FBI and the Department of Justice to obtain the emails from Hillary Clinton's server, and explain where any missing emails might be found. In its status report, filed Friday, the State Department told the judge that it was doing pretty much nothing to obtain any emails other than those Mrs. Clinton already provided.
The NY Observer's Sidney Powell marveled at the State Department's brazenness:
Apparently, the State Department hasn't read our prior reports on Judge Emmet G. Sullivan or taken note of how similar claims have not been well-received when made by the IRS.
With astonishing disregard for the truth, the Judge's questions, or its responsibilities to Congress or the citizens of the United States, the State Department advised that it "is not currently working with DOJ, the FBI or other agencies" for two reasons. "First, the FOIA does not require an agency to search for and produce records that are not in its possession and control." And, it claims that it is neither in possession nor control of the Clinton's server.
Obviously, that is precisely the cause of the entire outrage in the first place. The initial legal violations exist because the State Department did not require, and Mrs. Clinton did not use, the secure State.gov for her official emails. Mrs. Clinton should never have had any official State Department information in her personal account or on her server--most especially any sensitive, classified information or any nformation "respecting the national defense" such as drone signal intelligence.