Hillary Clinton had right to delete personal emails, says US justice
department-
U.S Federal Government
lawyers made the assertion in a filing with the US district court in Washington
as part of a lawsuit filed by a conservative watchdog group. Hillary Clinton had the right to
delete personal emails from her private server, the US justice department has told
a federal court. Lawyers for the government made the assertion in a
filing this week with the US district court in Washington, part of a public
records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that
seeks access to Clinton’s emails.
Clinton, the
front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has been followed
by questions about her use of a private email account for government business.
She has said
she sent and received about 60,000 emails during her four years in the Obama
administration, about half of which were personal and deleted. The others were
turned over to the State Department.
The FBI has
been investigating the security of Clinton’s email setup, which she said she
used as a matter of convenience. She has since acknowledged her use of a private email
server to conduct government business was a mistake and apologized this week.
Clinton asserts she had the right under government
rules to decide which emails were private and to delete them. This week’s
filing puts the justice department’s approval on Clinton’s claim.
“There is no
question that former
Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails without agency
supervision — she appropriately could have done so even if she were
working on a government server,” attorneys from the Justice Department’s civil
division wrote.
Judicial
Watch had requested a court order from the judge to preserve Clinton’s emails. But the justice department said there was no need
for such an order given Clinton had the right to delete personal emails and
those messages are not subject to the public records law.
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