Judicial Watch on Tuesday submitted 25 questions for Hillary Clinton about her use of a private email system.
U.S. District Court judge Emmet Sullivan granted the watchdog group the right to pose the questions to Clinton as part of the discovery process for its lawsuit against the State Department. Sullivan had denied Judicial Watch’s request to depose the Democratic presidential candidate.
The 25 questions range from queries about why Clinton created her private email system to whether she was made aware about hacking attempts to her communications with Bryan Pagliano, the former State Department employee she paid off-the-books to manage the system.
“Describe the creation of the clintonemail.com system, including who decided to create the system, the date it was decided to create the system, why it was created, who set it up, and when it became operational,” reads Judicial Watch’s first entry.
In his order approving the discovery, Sullivan said that Clinton would have 30 days to respond to Judicial Watch’s questions after they were submitted. Clinton will have until Sept. 29 to respond, barring any appeals or requests for continuance.
Her responses will be filed under oath.
Sullivan limited discovery to topics related to Clinton’s decision to create the email system to how Clinton or the State Department responded to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for her records.
Judicial Watch also asks Clinton who set up her email system, when she decided to do so, and who she consulted while making the decision.
The organization also asks the former secretary of state to identify all communications she sent or received related to her decision to create and operate the system.
“Were you ever advised, cautioned, or warned, was it ever suggested, or did you ever participate in any communication, conversation, or meeting in which it was discussed that your use of a clintonemail.com email account to conduct official State Department business conflicted with or violated federal recordkeeping laws,” another Judicial Watch inquiry reads.
On the issue of FOIA, several requests filed for Clinton’s records during her tenure were improperly denied by the State Department.
“During your tenure as Secretary of State, did you understand that email you sent or received in the course of conducting official State Department business was subject to FOIA?” Judicial Watch asks.
The group also hopes to find out how Clinton decided to delete her emails and whether she was “advised, cautioned, or warned” about hacking attempts made on her server.
“After you left office, did you believe you could alter, destroy, disclose, or use email you sent or received concerning official State Department business as you saw fit? If not, why not?” the list of questions reads.
If Clinton did delete or destroy her emails, Judicial Watch wants to know “what tool or software was used to delete or destroy them, who deleted or destroyed them, and was the deletion or destruction done at your direction?”
Last week it was revealed that Clinton or her team of aides used software called BleachBit to scrub emails from her server.
“These are simple questions about her email system that we hope will finally result in straight-forward answers, under oath, from Hillary Clinton,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a statement.
Read the full list of questions here.