jimnyc
02-10-2016, 07:51 AM
A federal judge said Tuesday he was disturbed by the State Department's failure to meet a deadline he ordered to finish the public release of 54,000 pages of email messages Hillary Clinton sent or received during her four years as secretary of state.
"The government has put me between a rock and a hard place....which is a position I don't like to be in," U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said during a half-hour-long hearing Tuesday.
Contreras signaled that he was not inclined to grant State's request that the deadline for a release of all remaining pages of Clinton's emails be extended until the end of this month. However, he did not immediately set a new deadline for State to complete its work on the Clinton messages.
"The department should expect to produce something on the 18th, if not sooner," the judge said.
The prolonged disclosure process is helping to keep the issue of Clinton's emails in the news as she tries to fend off a surprisingly strong challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Tuesday's hearing took place as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Vice News reporter Jason Leopold. His lawyers have argued that allowing State to drag out the release of the emails deprives voters in the Democratic primaries and caucuses of information they are entitled to have as they make up their minds.
Contreras said he agreed.
"To state the obvious, these documents have a lot of public interest and the timing is important for the reasons stated by the plaintiff," said the judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/judge-holds-hearing-on-clinton-email-delays-219004#ixzz3zlkEzQoj
"The government has put me between a rock and a hard place....which is a position I don't like to be in," U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said during a half-hour-long hearing Tuesday.
Contreras signaled that he was not inclined to grant State's request that the deadline for a release of all remaining pages of Clinton's emails be extended until the end of this month. However, he did not immediately set a new deadline for State to complete its work on the Clinton messages.
"The department should expect to produce something on the 18th, if not sooner," the judge said.
The prolonged disclosure process is helping to keep the issue of Clinton's emails in the news as she tries to fend off a surprisingly strong challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Tuesday's hearing took place as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Vice News reporter Jason Leopold. His lawyers have argued that allowing State to drag out the release of the emails deprives voters in the Democratic primaries and caucuses of information they are entitled to have as they make up their minds.
Contreras said he agreed.
"To state the obvious, these documents have a lot of public interest and the timing is important for the reasons stated by the plaintiff," said the judge, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/judge-holds-hearing-on-clinton-email-delays-219004#ixzz3zlkEzQoj