Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit seeking information about Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin’s outside employment while also working for the State Department is becoming a major headache to Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued an order regarding Clinton’s former IT specialist Bryan Pagliano and his plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during a planned deposition that was supposed to have been held last week. The order covered a number of issues, but it provided more bad news for the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting, who has tried to downplay her use of private email while serving as secretary of state.
Pagliano will still sit down for a deposition with Judicial Watch attorneys, but it will be video recorded in spite of his request to prevent the conservative watchdog group from doing so. Sullivan, who was appointed to the federal bench by Clinton’s husband, President Bill Clinton, ordered Pagliano’s deposition be sealed “until further order of the Court.”
Pagliano’s request to keep his immunity deal with the Department of Justice—as part of the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s private email server—will also be sealed by the court. Sullivan said the need for public access to the agreement is minimal.
But his explanation is going to cause more problems for Clinton than probably any video of Pagliano invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.
“Mr. Pagliano’s immunity agreement has not previously been disclosed,” Sullivan wrote in his order. “Mr. Pagliano and the government object to disclosure of the immunity agreement. Indeed, the privacy interests at stake are high because the government’s criminal investigation through which Mr. Pagliano received limited immunity is ongoing and confidential.
“Mr. Pagliano’s immunity agreement with the government was filed with the Court by Mr. Pagliano solely to enable the Court to assess the legitimacy of his intent to assert his Fifth Amendment rights in this civil proceeding.”
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