Clinton aide: Not aware of any email deletions by boss

Hillary Clinton and her top aides grew frustrated with the private email system she set up as secretary of state, concerned that at times it slowed communications and interfered with her diplomatic work, according to a deposition released Wednesday.

Asked repeatedly who serviced Clinton’s private server in the basement of her NY home, Abedin identified Justin Cooper, a technology staffer at that time for former President Bill Clinton, and Bryan Pagliano, a State Department technology official who is cooperating with an FBI investigation of Clinton’s private server under an immunity deal with prosecutors.

Abedin, Chelsea Clinton and a few other aides were given email accounts on the private server.

‘I don’t recall any response, other than once the system was back up and running, that it was – we just proceeded with business the way it was before, ‘ Abedin said.

In addition, the Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo also failed to cover Abedin’s questioning by Judicial Watch.

Judicial Watch was scheduled to spend seven hours on Tuesday taking sworn testimony from Abedin, a Clinton confidante and former State Department deputy chief of staff.

“Just like you wouldn’t – I would imagine anybody who has personal e-mail doesn’t want that personal e-mail to be read by anybody else”.

“She seems frustrated because she’s not able to do her job”, Abedin testified, according to The Hill.

Abedin testified that “the personal” referred to non-government messages Clinton was also exchanging via the e-mail address rather than any improper treatment of government records.

But the Washington Post on Wednesday published a report challenging that claim, finding that at least 160 of Clinton’s work-related emails were not turned over to the State Department in accordance with federal records laws. In all, more than 160 emails sent or received by Clinton have so far come to light that had not been included in her submissions.

“I have provided all of my work-related emails, and I’ve asked that they be made public, and I think that demonstrates that I wanted to make sure that this information was part of the official records”, she told ABC News last month.

In a November 13, 2010, exchange, Abedin wrote Clinton after the secretary complained that some of her BlackBerry messages to staffers were getting blocked by the department’s spam filter.

The Clinton campaign Wednesday criticized Judicial Watch for its role in filing several lawsuits against the State Department, among more than 30 filed by conservative legal groups and media outlets, including The Associated Press, to obtain Clinton documents.

Nick Merrill, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said that Judicial Watch “represents everything that is wrong with our political system”.

On Monday, Judicial Watch released a cache of emails between Abedin and Clinton, which the group’s president, Tom Fitton, said showed that Clinton “did not turn over all” records in her possession and raised questions about what other records should have been produced.

Abedin said she was not aware of any provisions for the preservation of Clinton’s records at the end of her tenure in early 2013 and also testified that Clinton’s team neglected to tell the director of records management about the private server at the time.

But a review of all requests to the State Department during that period found several asking specifically for copies of Abedin’s emails on a variety of subjects, including her husband, one-time disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner.

“Did you ever search, were you ever asked to search your state.gov email account in response to a FOIA request of FOIA litigation?” lawyer Ramona Cocta asked.

“I believe I said ‘no, ‘” Abedin answered.

A steady stream of internal State Department documents released in response to public records requests promises new revelations until Election Day about Clinton’s leadership of the department. Abedin said Clinton did not have an official Senate email account or even an official Clinton-campaign address in 2008. Some federal agencies permit full-time FOIA staffers to search the inboxes of senior government officials, but many agencies expect officials to search their own accounts and no USA employee presumably would have had access to Abedin’s personal account on Clinton’s private server.

Stay on topic – This helps keep the thread focused on the discussion at hand. And if you want proof, just look at this latest round of leaks that are contradicted by their own transcripts.

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