Last week, Judicial Watch released Hillary Clinton’s answers to 25 interrogatory questions in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. State Department related to her use of a private email server.
Among them, the former secretary of state was asked:
Identify all communications between you and Brian Pagliano concerning or relating to the management, preservation, deletion or destruction of any emails in your clintonemail.com email account, including any instruction or direction to Mr. Pagliano about the management, preservation, deletion or destruction of emails in your account when transferring the clintonemail.com email system to any alternate or replacement server. For each communication, identify the time, date, place, manner (e.g., in person, in writing, by telephone, or by electronic or other means), persons present or participating and content of the communication.
And her response was:
Secretary Clinton objects to Interrogatory No. 25 on the ground that it requests information that is outside the scope of permitted discovery for the reasons set forth in General Objection No. 5. Secretary Clinton further objects to Interrogatory No. 25 on the ground that the word “management” is vague. Secretary Clinton further objects to Interrogatory No. 25 insofar as it requests information related to alternate or replacement servers used after Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Secretary Clinton states that she does not recall having communications with Bryan Pagliano concerning or relating to the management, preservation, deletion or destruction of any emails in her clintonemail.com email account.
It was one of 20 times Clinton stated she couldn’t recall key facts surrounding her use of a private email server. And based on new State Department documents, which were released Wednesday afternoon, it was not true.
The emails, recovered by the FBI in its investigation of Clinton and her clintonemail.com system, reveal direct communications between her and her top IT specialist, Bryan Pagliano. They mainly relate to clintonemail.com management problems.
Several “Test” messages were sent between Pagliano, Clinton and her then-Deputy Chief of Staff Jon Davidson on Sept. 2, 2011. And on March 2012 Clinton writes to Pagliano, “Once again, I’m having [BlackBerry] trouble”:
From: H
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 8:45 AM
To: Justin Cooper, Bryan Pagliano [Cooper was a senior adviser to Bill Clinton]
Cc: Oscar Floras [manager of Clinton’s New York home]
Subject: Help!
Once again, I’m having BB trouble. I am not receiving emails although people are getting ones I send but I get their replies on my IP. I’ve taken out the battery and done what I know to do but with no luck yet any ideas?
***
From: H
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 8:54 AM
To: Justin Cooper
Cc: Bryan M. Pagliano, Oscar Flores
Subject: Re: Help!
Thanks, Justin. How does that happen. do I need to do anything?
***
From: Bryan Pagliano
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 10:32 AM
To: H
Cc: Justin Cooper, Oscar Flores
Subject: Re: Help!
Let me take a look at the server to see if it offers any insight. iPhone is not much different from iPad, however in both cases the security landscape is different from the blackberry.
-Bryan
***
From: H [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2012 11:44 AM
To: Justin Cooper
Cc: Bryan M. Pagliano, Oscar Flores
Subject: Re:
Thanks again. I’m back in business.
Judicial Watch deposed Bryan Pagliano in June, as which time he invoked his Fifth Amendment-protected right against self-incrimination. He did so more than 125 times, including:
Q. During your tenure at the State Department, did you communicate with Secretary Clinton by email?
A. On the advice of counsel, I will decline to answer your question in reliance on my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said these new emails “leave little doubt” Clinton was “less than forthright.” He said she misled the public with her statement under oath that she couldn’t recall communicating with Bryan Pagliano about her email system.
“No wonder Clinton and her agents deleted these emails time and time again,” he said. “And these smoking gun emails would never have seen the light of day but for Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuits.”
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