Judicial Watch's Weekly Update: JW Uncovers Classified Info on Clinton Email Server
Judicial Watch Uncovers More Classified Emails in Hillary Clinton’s Unsecure Email System
Hillary Clinton repeatedly stated that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails. She even declared under penalty of perjury in 2015 that she had “directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.”
It wasn’t, of course.
Two years later, in 2017, the FBI uncovered 72,000 pages of documents Clinton attempted to delete or did not otherwise disclose. Until the court intervened, the State Department had been slow-walking the release of those documents at a rate that would have required that we and the American people wait until at least 2020 to see it all.
We have now received 756 pages of newly uncovered emails that were among the materials Clinton tried to delete or destroy, several of which were classified and were transmitted over her unsecure, non-“state.gov” email system.
The production of documents in this case is now concluded with the FBI being only able to recover or find approximately 5,000 of the 33,000 government emails Hillary Clinton took and tried to destroy.
We obtained these emails in response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit we filed on May 6, 2015, after the State Department failed to respond to our March 4, 2015, FOIA request (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-00687)) seeking:
All emails sent and received by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her official capacity as Secretary of State, as well as all emails by other State Department employees to Secretary Clinton regarding her non-“ state.gov” email address.
This final batch of emails includes five new classified emails and communications with controversial figures Lanny Davis and Sidney Blumenthal.
Here is some of what was revealed in these documents.
On April 27, 2011, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent classified information discussing Palestinian issues to Clinton’s personal unsecure email account.
On May 19, 2011, Blair again sent classified information to Clinton’s personal unsecure email account discussing a “speech.”
A classified email exchange between Blair and Clinton took place from January 16, 2009, (while George W. Bush was still president) and January 24, 2009. The subject line is “Re: Gaza.” Blair on January 16, 2009, relayed information he learned from Middle East leaders and noted that he wanted to get something “resolved before Tuesday” (when Obama would be sworn in as president). Clinton responded to Blair on January 19, 2009, writing “Tony – We are finally moving and I am looking forward to talking w you as soon as I’m confirmed, tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. Your emails are very helpful so pls continue to use this address,” hr15@att.blackberry.net. Blair followed up by saying “It would be great if we could talk before any announcements are made.”
Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane sent Clinton classified information, apparently during early 2009. The subject line of the email is redacted, but the text appears to show a discussion on information about Iraq.
In a September 2, 2010, email exchange marked classified, longtime Clinton confidante Lanny Davis tells Secretary Clinton that he could serve as a private channel for her to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he had a “private and highly trusted communication line, unofficial and personal, to PM N[etanyahu].” Davis goes on to say “[N]o one on the planet (other than your wonderful husband) can get this done as well as you.…” Secretary Clinton responds with classified information, saying “I will reach out to you directly and hope you will continue to do the same w me. The most important issue now is [Redacted B1].”
In a September 18, 2010, email, Davis emails Clinton to tell her that “As soon as I wrote last email, I reverted to my old role as your crisis manager and worrier about you, read the word ‘optics’ I suddenly felt - oops. I am registered under FARA for one or more foreign governments or businesses. I don’t think it would look right. I want to avoid any even slight chance of misperception.” Clinton replies, “Thx for looking out for me, my friend. I’ll tell Cheryl to stand down.” Davis replied, “100% off-the-record.”
An email with the subject line “Clinton-Ivanishvili Meeting” shows a meeting with pro-Putin, Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who was reportedly involved in a Russia-rigged election for president of the Republic of Georgia. On May 29, 2012, longtime Clinton political operative Craig T. Smith emailed Cheryl Mills, asking if a meeting between Secretary Clinton and Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili was “happening,” saying: “Would be a good thing if it can work out.” Mills tells Smith she’ll revert and forwards the email to Jake Sullivan, Human Abedin and Lona Valmoro, asking them if they were setting up the meeting, noting that it involved “meeting with the opposition” and asking what she could tell Smith. Valmoro responds that the meeting with Ivanishvili was “on the schedule.”
An undated email from former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott to Clinton discusses that “VP” Joe Biden was “thinking seriously about a Biden-Putin Commission.”
The documents reveal that Clinton had been assigned an official government email address with which she could have conducted government business, clintonhr@state.gov. She also reportedly had additional government addresses at her disposal:SMSGS@state.gov and SSHRC@state.gov, neither of which were configured to send or receive emails.
The documents also include an email to Tamera Luzzatto, former chief of staff during Clinton’s tenure as U.S. Senator for New York. Clinton talks about getting “a secure computer set up soon.”
Tamera--this is my new address, but, pls know, I cannot check it during the day unless I leave my office. I hope to have a secure computer set up soon to be able to get email during the workday. Much love, H.
On October 29, 2009, a Clinton Foundation employee and close Clinton adviser, Sid Blumenthal, forwarded a proposal for a commercial contract related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from retired CIA officer-turned-contractor Gary Berntsen, to Clinton (copying Cheryl Mills), saying that Berntsen had been “unable to break through the bureaucracy with it.” Mills then forwarded the email to Jake Sullivan. Blumenthal noted that “Cody [Shearer] and I are following up.” Blumenthal and Shearer were both implicated in the creation of the Obama administration’s anti-Trump Russia “collusion” counterintelligence operation by providing “reports” relating to Trump-Russia collusion to the U.S. Government.
On January 29, 2009, Blumenthal emailed Secretary Clinton a memo he titled “Good Cop, Bad Cop,” in which Blumenthal informs Clinton that his sources tell him that an “attack” on the appointment by Obama of former Sen. George Mitchell as Special Envoy to the Middle East was “coordinated by Jewish institutional leaders and carefully scripted.” Also cited is Mitchell’s “Arab descent” as making him “politically vulnerable.”
Blumenthal told Clinton that any conversations she had with Netanyahu “flows directly and instantly back to top (U.S.) Jewish leadership.” Further on in his memo, Blumenthal says that Netanyahu and “Jewish leadership” should “be expected to use political means, including outsourcing personal attacks” to counter Obama administration moves and said Netanyahu was “deeply connected to political networks in the U.S. - media, Jewish groups, Republican leaders, and right-wing Christian” organizations. To provide a “heat shield” from Netanyahu’s attacks, Blumenthal advises Clinton that Obama should hire a “bad cop” who is “organically tied to the President” and a “political appointee, Jewish, considered a true friend of Israel…” Clinton responded by saying, “Thanks for these. And I will call you in the next few days.”
An October 20, 2012, email exchange between top State Department and Clinton Foundation officials discussed arrangements for Bill and Hillary’s trip to Haiti. That trip focused on the opening of the Caracol Industrial Park, funded by a $300 million+ grant from USAID. The Caracol Park came to be seen as a hugely wasteful disaster that was supposed to create 65,000 jobs for Haitians but as of January 2015 only produced 4,500.
On January 25, 2009, Chelsea Clinton’s high school friend Nicole Davison (now Nicole Davison Fox), made a hiring recommendation to Secretary Clinton for the State Department. Clinton forwarded Davison’s recommendation on to Cheryl Mills, telling Mills to “follow up” on the “wonderful recommendation.” Mills replied, “K.”
Maggie Williams, campaign manager of Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential bid, forwarded to Clinton a note sent to her by then-managing partner of the Gallup Organization, which said that “Gallup Polls suggest Obama’s plan to expedite withdrawal from Iraq could help improve some residents’ opinion [referring to Iraqis’ opinion of US leadership.]” Williams proposed to Secretary Clinton sending a group of high-level State Department officials to Gallup “for a presentation”, including Jack Lew, Jim Steinberg, Cheryl Mills and Lissa Muscatine. Williams would later suggest adding Jake Sullivan and Anne-Marie Slaughter to the Gallup presentation.
On February 18, 2009, the chairman of telecom company Centurylink, Bill Owens, emailed Clinton (copying Abedin) asking if he could get a meeting with the secretary during her upcoming trip to China. Abedin responded, saying that she was talking to Owens’ assistant to “arrange for the two of you to visit for a few minutes” during Clinton’s trip. Owens had been appointed Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. After retiring from the Navy in 1996, he became chairman of defense contractor SAIC.
In a January 3, 2011-March 1, 2011, email thread, Susanne Helmsley, a staffer at the World Economic Forum (ie, Davos) emailed leftist Christian writer-activist Jim Wallis to inform him that former British PM Gordon Brown would not be invited to the upcoming Davos meeting, because “our policy (and this makes Davos distinctive) is to only invite people who are still in power.” She also noted that the “theme” of the upcoming Davos meeting would be “Shared Norms for the New Reality”, noting that “the discussions of values will be a major element in Davos, since norms are only sustainable if built on values.” Wallis mentions his prior partnership with Bangladeshi banker Mohammad Yunus, who would be charged the next year with tax fraud and embezzling from the bank he’d founded, Grameen Bank.
On five occasions Clinton’s secretary, Lauren Jiloty, sent Clinton’s sensitive daily itinerary to her on her unsecure email account.
On January 29, 2009, State Department official Ashley Yehl received a Judicial Watch press release from Associated Press reporter Matt Lee about a lawsuit we filed on behalf of State Department official David Rodearmel challenging Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State. Yehl forwarded the email on to several other State people, who in turn forwarded it on to State’s Legal Office and official James Thessin. Thessin sent it along to Cheryl Mills who sent it on to Secretary Clinton, assuring Clinton that the Department of Justice would defend her against our lawsuit.
We continue to uncover classified information mishandled by Hillary Clinton in emails that she tried to hide or destroy. This additional evidence adds to the urgency for the DOJ to finally undertake a complete and legitimate criminal investigation. Attorney General Barr should immediately order a new investigation of the Hillary Clinton email scandal.
Police: Attack on Tucker Carlson’s Home Was ‘Suspected Hate Crime’
Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, is an articulate and effective voice against the excesses of the Left, and so he has been under attack. On the evening of November 7, 2018, a mob descended on his home in the Washington, DC, area. He wasn’t there, and his wife was so frightened that she called 9-1-1 and barricaded herself in a pantry.
Carlson said the mob rang his doorbell and broke his oak door, and one protester was reportedly caught on security video mentioning a pipe bomb.
We wanted to know more and sought the police incident report about the Antifa-linked group Smash Racism DC, which mobbed Carlson’s home. We obtained the report in response in response to a DC Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by our investigative team.
According to the report:
On the listed date, [Susie Carlson] heard loud banging and pounding on her front door. [Susie Carlson] went to investigate and saw a large group in front of her home. They had a bull horn and were chanting loudly. She retreated to a room in the rear of her home and summoned police. MPD arrived on scene and found a group of approximately 20 people. It was discovered that unknown persons spray painted an anarchy symbol on the driveway. There were also signs left on the vehicles parked in the driveway as well as a sign left on the front door of the home. The signs made reference to [Tucker Carlson’s] political affiliation.”
The report classifies the incident as a “suspected hate crime” with the “hate bias/motivation” being “anti-political.” Also, the report says that six “hand-written posters” were seized as evidence. A handwritten note included with the report says that the “suspected group is Smash Racism DC.”
Tucker Carlson told The Washington Post that the mob had blocked off both ends of his street and carried signs that listed his home address:
“Tucker Carlson, we are outside your home,” one person could be heard saying in the since-deleted video. The person, using a bullhorn, accused Carlson of “promoting hate” and “an ideology that has led to thousands of people dying.”
“We want you to know, we know where you sleep at night,” the person concluded, before leading the group to chant, “Tucker Carlson, we will fight! We know where you sleep at night!”
***
The group called Carlson a “racist scumbag” and demanded that he “leave town,” according to posts on Twitter. A woman was also overheard in one of the deleted videos saying she wanted to “bring a pipe bomb” to his house, he said.
Tucker Carlson wasn’t merely “targeted by protesters,” as some media reported. Thanks to Judicial Watch, we know the disturbing truth: Tucker Carlson’s family was terrorized by a mob of 20 people who vandalized his property.
Obama Judge Frees Illegal Alien Who Got License with Fake Doc
The rule of law on immigration is suffering blow after blow thanks to coordinated legal assaults by the open borders crowd and political decision by activist judges.
Consider this story in our Corruption Chronicles blog.
It is not a crime for an illegal immigrant to use fake federal documents to obtain a legitimate state license, according to a remarkable ruling issued this week by an Obama-appointed judge in south Florida. The defendant, 38-year-old Rubman Ardon Chinchilla, was among 20 people arrested several months ago in a scheme that used bogus immigration documents in driver’s license applications. The man who masterminded the operation, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Cuba, has been charged with fraud. Chinchilla, a Honduran national, has lived illegally in the U.S. for decades, according to a local newspaper report, and has three American-born children. He works as a roofer and lives in the Broward County city of Ft. Lauderdale. After getting busted using a phony version of a federal document known as an Order of Supervision to get a Florida license, he got indicated with two counts of violating federal law. The illegal immigrant’s attorneys challenged the charges, asserting that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles doesn’t even allow driver’s license applicants to use an Order of Supervision as proof of legal status in the U.S. In their argument they cited a case in which a California appeals court threw out the conviction of a Chinese man who got two driver’s licenses while living in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom, appointed to the bench in 2014, agreed and threw out the criminal charges against Chinchilla. Siding with the illegal alien’s attorneys, Bloom proclaimed that there is no actual law allowing the federal Order of Supervision form to be used to prove “authorized stay in the United States.” The bizarre reasoning will allow others involved in the recent south Florida fake document sting to use the same argument to avoid justice. The local newspaper article cited earlier in this piece writes this: “It’s a highly technical legal argument, but it’s opening the door for the others arrested in the sting to beat their cases, and maybe even stay in the United States.” Another illegal immigrant arrested along with Chinchilla, Jeovanny Gutierrez Nuñez, is already using Judge Bloom’s decision to get his charges dropped. Federal prosecutors plan to appeal Chinchilla’s case and his lawyers claim that if Bloom’s ruling stands, it will allow the illegal alien to get legal papers because his record will remain clean and he has three U.S.-born kids. This marks the second controversial ruling for Bloom in her short time on the federal bench. In December the judge determined that Broward County public schools and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office had no legal duty to protect students during the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Seventeen people were killed and 17 others were injured at the Parkland, Florida, school when a former student opened fire on the campus. A lawsuit filed by 15 students named the district and sheriff’s office among six defendants, along with school deputy Scot Peterson and a campus monitor. In the complaint, the students claimed their civil and due process rights were violated by the defendants’ failure to protect them from school shooters. Bloom ruled the school district and county law enforcement agency had no constitutional duty to protect students who were not in custody. “The claim arises from the actions of [shooter Nikolas] Cruz, a third party, and not a state actor,” she wrote in the decision. “Thus, the critical question the Court analyzes is whether defendants had a constitutional duty to protect plaintiffs from the actions of Cruz.”
The Left’s radical vision for our country is the end that it uses any means to achieve.
Justice Department Misconduct, the Chicago Way
U.S. prosecutors are powerful, and they must be watched closely. If you’re thinking of Robert Mueller and his hatchet man, Andrew Weissmann, you’re correct. You would also be correct if you’re thinking of Chicago’s Tim Bass, known as “Badass Tim Bass.”
This veteran prosecutor went after a Republican congressman a few years ago, and it looked like an airtight case, until certain discrepancies came to light, including Bass’ personal ambitions. Our chief investigative reporter, Micah Morrison, has the details.
Aaron Schock always has been an awesome character. At 23, he won a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member in state history. At 27, he won a race for the Illinois 18 th Congressional district, becoming the youngest member of Congress. He was a Republican star, a prodigious fundraiser, raising more than $11 million for his congressional campaigns. An exercise aficionado, he once appeared on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. He got in trouble with the Washington Post for decorating his DC office in the luxurious style of the British period drama, “Downton Abbey.” That’s when it all came crashing down. Washington had a good laugh over Schock’s cover shoot and interior decorating, but questions about improper spending mounted and in March 2015, he resigned from Congress. And there was nothing funny about the federal indictment that came twenty months later, a few days after the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois charged Schock with 24 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, theft, false statements and filing false documents. The indictment, reported the Post, “alleged that the former congressman from Peoria, Ill., reimbursed himself for 150,000 miles he never drove, bought a new 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe for his exclusive use with campaign committee funds, and reimbursed himself with congressional funds for camera equipment purchased for himself and his personal photographer. It alleges that Schock used government and campaign money to take a private plane with a group to Chicago for a Bears football game, and remodeled his Illinois apartment and Capitol Hill office — paying those who did the thousands of dollars’ worth of work at least in part from government and campaign funds.” The total tab for the misdeeds: $100,000. Schock was, well, shocked. “I simply cannot believe it has come to this,” he said in a statement after the indictment. He said his campaign team “might have made errors among a few of the thousands and thousands of financial transactions we conducted, but they were honest mistakes—no one intended to break any laws.” Schock hired a powerhouse lawyer, former deputy attorney general George Terwilliger, who hit back at the government. The Schock indictment, Terwilliger said, was “just made-up allegations of criminal activity arising from unintentional administrative errors.” But something more sinister was at work as well, Terwilliger suggested. This was a case of prosecutorial misconduct and government overreach. “Criminalizing a handful of administrative mistakes, a few of the thousands of transactions from Aaron’s 6 years in office, to charge Mr. Schock two days after a national election has all the appearances of a politically calculated ambush,” Terwilliger said. The case soon went south. Erroneous expense reimbursements were not crimes, Terwilliger argued, and Schock had admitted his errors immediately on learning of them. Rumors circulated that prosecutors were probing whether Schock was gay. Investigators may have illegally seized documents from Schock’s congressional office. The trial judge in the case was removed after improper communications with a member of the U.S. attorney’s office. The lead prosecutor in the case, Tim Bass, stepped aside in July. It turns out that Bass harbored political ambitions of his own. Bass had once said it would be an “honor and privilege to be considered to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the future,” according to the Chicago Tribune, and his ambitions for the post were an open secret in Illinois. Bass’s role in the case appears to have been the last straw. The Justice Department was forced to take action. The case was removed from the Central District of Illinois and moved to Chicago. Soon, the charges were dropped.Schock told reporters that there was “no doubt” he had been targeted by Bass’s office. “It became very obvious to all of us that he saw me as his ticket to stardom.” Read George Terwilliger’s analysis of the case here.
Aaron Schock’s ordeal is over. But he would be within his rights to ask the question first posed by another Republican driven from public service by false charges and later cleared at trial. “Which office do I go to,” said former Labor Secretary Ray Donovan, “to get my reputation back?”
Always beware of, in Schock’s attorney’s words, “flashy allegations in an indictment of what at bottom is a weak case.” That has the ring of familiarity in the anti-Trump hysteria here in DC.
Until next week …  Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton |
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