Federal judge denies watchdog’s request to disclose State Dept records on Clinton’s emails

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch cannot obtain records from the State Department about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server because the records don’t show evidence of “government misconduct.”

“The Court … concludes that Judicial Watch has not provided a sufficient basis to believe that the information withheld by the State Department would shed light on any government misconduct,” U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg wrote in the ruling, which was first reported by Politico.

Judicial Watch sought further records to reveal that “the records would purportedly illuminate the Department’s complicity in Clinton’s misuse of a private server or, alternatively, expose later discussions by State employees ‘to create misinformation to minimize the public’s perceptions that conduct,” according to the judge’s decision.

{mosads}The State Department withheld 30 documents as part of an exemption to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch.

Boasberg reviewed the 30 documents but found “no support for Plaintiff’s position.”

“A document sheds light on misconduct when it “reflects any governmental impropriety,” but not when it merely reflects a “part of the legitimate government process intended to be protected by Exemption 5,” the ruling states.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Politico the watchdog may consider an appeal.

“We remain curious about the documents,” Fitton said. “The PR effort remains troubling and something that we think is in the public’s interest to know.”