FBI found almost 15,000 more undisclosed emails from Clinton
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton failed to disclose the existence of 14,900 emails to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during its investigation, according to the Financial Times.
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch said the emails were meant to be released in the coming months, following the multiple lawsuits filed by the group against the State Department regarding Clinton’s use of a private email server, the FT reported.
FBI director James Comey was the first to disclose the existence, in July 2016, of thousands of work-related emails whose existence had not come to light during the investigation.
Following an order from Judge James E. Boasberg of Federal District Court yesterday, the State Department agreed it would appraise the emails by 23 September 2016, after which a schedule would be set for their public release. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said that at least some of the emails would be released before the November elections.
The department had already gone through around 30,000 emails from during Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State and released most of them, which amounted to around 55,000 pages. More than 2,000 emails were found to contain classified information, according to another report from Reuters. Comey said in July that he did not believe the emails were “intentionally deleted” but characterized her handling of classified information as “extremely careless.”
This revelation raised questions about Clinton’s trustworthiness in the lead up to the elections. According to a poll by CNN-ORC, close to two-thirds of registered voters find her to be neither honest nor trustworthy. Given these doubts, Clinton’s stable single-digit lead over Republican candidate Donald Trump could be in jeopardy.
A RealClearPolitics average of polls showed Clinton was expected to win 47% of the popular vote compared to Trump’s 41.5%.
Clinton defended herself saying she used a private server for convenience and did not compromise classified information. She then later apologized, saying she took responsibility for her actions.
Judicial Watch also said the emails revealed how donors to the Clinton family's charitable foundation seeked access to her even while she was Secretary of State. The charity receives millions of dollars from foreign donors, including countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Her husband Bill Clinton announced on 18 August that he would step down from the foundation if she won the election, following these questions of access.
Judicial Watch released emails on Monday showing her top aide Huma Abedin setting up meetings with more than a dozen donors who had given over $10,000 to the foundation.
Nevertheless, there was no evidence in the emails that the meetings were set up in order to receive the money.