State Department Withheld Clinton Email for Two Years

A watchdog group said on Tuesday that the State Department withheld a document that would have revealed Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address two years ago, before finally agreeing to release it earlier this month.

The Sept. 29, 2012, document, an email to Clinton from her Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan, included Clinton’s private email address. The email discussed talking points related to the Benghazi attack.

Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group that has been suing the State Department for Clinton’s records, said the State Department first agreed to partially release the document in an April 18 court filing. Attorneys for the State Department said the email was initially withheld from Judicial Watch, as noted in the department’s Nov. 12, 2014 letter to the watchdog group.

But Judicial Watch said the November 2014 letter did not mention that any emails had been withheld. The group said the existence of the email was noted in a search declaration from the State Department, which indicated it was first discovered in September 2014.

Judicial Watch criticized the delayed release on Tuesday, saying “Clinton’s email server and her hidden emails would have been disclosed nearly two years ago, before Clinton authorized the alleged deletion of tens of thousands emails” if the State Department had turned over the document earlier.

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