Over the weekend, Judicial Watch released the deposition transcript of former State Department IT political appointee Bryan Pagliano.
There wasn’t a lot of new information to glean from the transcript, other than his attorneys were adamant that he say absolutely nothing—well, almost—to further the governmental watchdog’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server. He did say 26 words to Judicial Watch’s attorneys:
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.
Pagliano uttered those words 312 times over the course of 80 minutes. Much of the time was spent with his attorneys squabbling with Judicial Watch attorneys over whether or not questions fell within the “scope of discovery” authorized by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.
The deposition transcript is available by clicking here.
Pagliano asserted his Fifth Amendment right to many key questions about the clintonemail.com system, including:
- whether the system was set up to thwart the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA);
- any email-related discussions with Clinton and her top aides;
- how the system was set up;
- whether Clinton deleted government records; and
- recent discussions he may have had with Clinton’s lawyers about the email issue.
Pagliano, at the direction of his lawyer, simply did not answer other questions, such as who was paying for his legal representation. His is among several depositions of former Clinton top aides and State Department officials that Judicial Watch has scheduled over the next two weeks.
This week, Judicial Watch will depose Huma Abedin, Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff and a senior adviser throughout Clinton’s four years as Secretary of State, who also had an email account on the clintonemail.com system, as well as Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy. Abedin is scheduled to testify Tuesday and Kennedy on Wednesday.
The depositions are currently focused on Clinton’s private email server, but are part of a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch against the State Department over a Freedom of Information Act request for documents pertaining to Abedin’s controversial employment status. Click here to review the full case history of Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State.
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