Clinton: 'no blackberry permitted in my office'

Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5172
 
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch today released 296 pages of new State Department documents, including a February 27, 2009, email in which the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized to health care activist/physician Mark Hyman for failing to respond to a message because, "no blackberry contact permitted in my office."

The new documents also contain a February 22, 2009, email exchange between Clinton and her then-Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, trying to communicate over a secure line after Clinton returned from a trip (evidently to Asia). Unable to set up a secure communication, Clinton told Mills, "I called ops and they gave me your 'secure' cells… but only got a high-pitched whining sound." When Mills suggested that Clinton try the secure line again, the former secretary wrote back, "I give up. Call me on my home #."

The previously unreleased Clinton emails date back as far as January 2009 and further contradict statements by Hillary Clinton that, "as far as she knew," all of her government emails were turned over to the State Department and that she did not use her clintonemail.com system until March 18, 2009. The new Clinton emails cover topics such as: the administration's Iran policy; Obama's stimulus program; the sharing of "management issues" with "Maggie" Williams, former campaign manager for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign; confusion over voice mail versus text messages; image coaching from 2008 campaign advisor Doug Hattaway; and a thank you note from Mark Hyman for "opening the door" for a Senate hearing on functional medicine; as well email detailing incoming calls from China and Russia. The new Clinton documents also include a censored email that shows Clinton and Cheryl Mills were contacted by Maria Haley, a longtime Clinton aide (since deceased) who was implicated in the Chinagate scandal.

The documents were obtained in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015, lawsuit filed against the State Department (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00684)) after it failed to respond to a March 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking:

• All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-"state.gov" email address.

An email from former Democratic National Committee Treasurer Andrew Tobias asks top Clinton aide Huma Abedin to pass along to the secretary his idea for restoring U.S. prestige abroad. Tobias recommended serving a billion dollars a year of "complementary hot chocolate, iced tea, and lemonade" to international tourists standing in line at U.S. airports. According to Tobias, the refreshments would generate "substantial international goodwill." The State Department records indicate Abedin printed out and forwarded the emails.

MORE: www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-clinton-emails-reveal-clinton-knew-about-security-risk-of-private-blackberry-avoided-use-of-secure-phone