Hillary Clinton certifies all work-related emails have been turned over
Lawyers for Hillary Clinton have told a federal judge that all emails related to her work as secretary of state have now been turned over. Clinton has made this certification under penalty of perjury.
Emails from two of her top aides – Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills – are expected to be turned over today.
The attorney for Cheryl Mills, the former chief of staff for the State Department, told the court "the review process is nearing completion" and that she expected to produce additional documents on Monday. Attorney Beth Wilkinson said her client turned over provided some records in June to the department for review and that additional ones were later provided.
After pointing out that the department's March request for documents to Huma Abedin, the former State Department deputy chief of staff and close aide to Clinton, failed to get delivered three times, her attorney Karen Dunn said in her letter to the judge some documents were turned over in July and told CNN another set was delivered Friday.
"We have been working expeditiously to gather the remaining materials in Ms. Abedin's possession that are responsive or potentially responsive," Dunn and fellow attorney Miguel Rodriguez wrote.
But neither Abedin nor Mills have yet to submit the formal certification.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for Mills did tell the court she did not believe she had any paper copies of "potential federal records in her possession" and that following Monday's handover "we have instructed her to delete any and all electronic copies in her possession." Wilkinson said her firm will maintain an electronic version of the document production until it receives further instructions from the State Department.
After Judicial Watch informed the court of this development, Sullivan issued a ruling directing the government "to request that Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Ms. Huma Abedin, and Ms. Cheryl Mills i) not delete any federal documents, electronic or otherwise, in their possession or control, and ii) provide appropriate assurances to the Government that the above-named individuals will not delete any such documents." The court also asked for a status report by this coming Wednesday as well as assurances from all three that they will not delete any federal documents they have.
"We are abiding by the Court's order," Wilkinson, Mills' attorney, told CNN on Sunday.
Separately, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he is going to put a hold on more than 29 State Department nominees until he gets answers from officials there about Abedin's work status while she was at State.
This is a separate track from the investigation of Clinton's emails. Abedin's work status is being questioned because at the same time she was working for Hillary, she was also employed by a corporation with ties to the Clinton Foundation. Grassley wants to know if there was a conflict of interest in the arrangement, but so far, both Clinton and Abedin have been stonewalling.
I doubt that Hillary would risk a perjury charge by hanging on to emails, so we have to assume she has indeed turned everything over to state, or destroyed any incriminating emails. She's had 6 months to sanitize her record – plenty of time to remove all hints of wrongdoing.