Justice Dept. Tries to Prevent Deposition of Clinton in Email-Related Suit

The Justice Department has filed a court motion to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from being ordered to testify in a deposition in a case connected to her use of a private email server, The Hill reports.

The Obama administration's move is in response to a deposition request from Judicial Watch, claiming the conservative legal watchdog is trying to expand the scope of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit related to the preparation of talking points for officials to discuss the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Last week, Judicial Watch asked the court to interview Clinton and five other current and former State Department officials about the server, after federal judges ruled in this suit and another one brought by Judicial Watch that some fact-finding is legitimate.

Now that the judges have ruled contrary to the Obama administration's wishes, the debate is now over who should be deposed and in what order, with the government claiming that Judicial Watch should finish the deposition in the first case before demanding that Clinton and the others testify in the later lawsuit.

Judicial Watch has released a transcript of the initial deposition in the first Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, in which a top aid describes Clinton's pattern of email use.

This comes as the State Department's Office of the Inspector General issued a report that Clinton did not comply with the department's policies and used a personal server without permission while secretary of state.

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