The Associated Press is suing the State Department for failing to turn over emails and documents it requested from Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state.
Multiple requests for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act have not been fulfilled, so the AP filed suit Wednesday, reported the AP. One of the requests is 5 years old, and others have been pending since 2013.
The AP wants documents related to Clinton’s role in Osama bin Laden’s death and National Security Agency surveillance, copies of her full schedules and calendars when she was secretary of state and documents related to a longtime aide and to advisers likely to play key roles in her campaign, among others.
The state department declined to comment on the lawsuit, but last year spokesman Alec Gerlach said the department gets 19,000 requests annually, but “does its best to meet its FOIA responsibilities.” Usually the department fulfills the requests on a first in, first out basis, he said, but that depends on “the complexity of the request.”
Clinton is under scrutiny for using a private email account on her own server while secretary of state, and a press conference Tuesday did little to help her case. (RELATED: Hillary Clinton Defends Email Practices)
“After careful deliberation and exhausting our other options, The Associated Press is taking the necessary legal steps to gain access to these important documents, which will shed light on actions by the State Department and former Secretary Clinton, a presumptive 2016 presidential candidate, during some of the most significant issues of our time,” the AP’s general counsel Karen Kaiser said.
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