Judge Orders State Department to Report on Hillary Server Search

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Thursday ordered the State Department to file by noon Friday what it is doing to search former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recently surrendered email server, a watchdog organization says.

"The court also reiterated its directive that the State Department disclose additional information about where government records may reside," according to a press release from Judicial Watch, which filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking records about the employment status of Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff.

The judge's order noted that the State Department had indicated on August 7 that it would provide additional information about "all servers, accounts, hard drives, or other devices in the Department's possession or control that may contain information responsive to Plaintiff's Freedom of Information Act request in this case."

Sullivan said the report also must include information on how the department is working with other government agencies, such as the FBI and Justice Department, to search Clinton's private email server.

Clinton's server was turned over on Wednesday, though she says any emails have been wiped. Clinton says she instructed aides to remove more than 30,000 work-related emails and turn them over to the State Department before deleting all of them from the server. She said the rest were personal in nature.

But reports emerged this week that at lease five of the emails were classified and two were "Top Secret," the highest classification.

Clinton has said in the past she didn't send or receive any classified information on the server, and that the emails in question were not marked classified at the time.

Abedin and Cheryl Mills agreed late Wednesday night not to delete any work-related documents they have on their own devices.

"This latest order shows the courts are expecting quick action on Mrs. Clinton's email system and that the Justice Department won’t be able to bury her emails," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

But, Fitton added, a letter from Clinton lawyer David Kendall "shows Mrs. Clinton continues to withhold material information from the court. It also looks as if Mrs. Clinton is still withholding emails from the FBI and Justice Department."

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