Clinton Claims She ‘Does Not Recall’ 20 Times in Under Oath Responses to 25 Email Questions

(Washington, DC) – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday responded that she “does not recall” 20 times in her under oath responses  to 25 Judicial Watch questions concerning her Clinton.com non-state.gov email system.

The new Clinton responses were received yesterday in the Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit before Judge Sullivan, which was first filed in September 2013 seeking records about the controversial employment status of Huma Abedin, former deputy chief of staff to Clinton.  The lawsuit was reopened because of revelations about the clintonemail.com system (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:13-cv-01363)).

Below are the 20 email issues about which Hillary Clinton claimed under oath she “does not recall”:

• Response 3: Clinton said she does not recall any specific consultations regarding the decision to use the clintonemail.com account for official State Department business.

• Response 4: Clinton said she does not recall participating in any communications before or during her tenure as Secretary of State concerning to her decision to use a clintonemail.com account to conduct official State Department business.

• Response 6: Clinton said she does not recall being advised, cautioned, or warned, she does not recall that it was ever suggested to her, and she does not recall participating in any communication, conversation, or meeting in which it was discussed that her use of a clintonemail.com e-mail account to conduct official State Department business conflicted with or violated federal recordkeeping laws.

• Response 7: Clinton said she does not recall considering factors other than convenience in deciding to use a personal e-mail account to conduct official State Department business.

• Response 8: Clinton said she does not recall whether she had a specific expectation that the State Department would receive FOIA requests for or concerning her e-mail.

• Response 11: Clinton said she does not recall specifically informing the State Department’s records management personnel about her use of her clintonemail.com e-mail account to conduct official State Department business… And she does not recall interacting with Clarence Finney or employees of the Executive Secretariat’s Office of Correspondence and records.

•  Response 12: Clinton said she does not recall State Department personnel asking her for access to her clintonemail.com e-mail account to search for e-mail responsive to a FOIA request during her tenure as Secretary of State.

• Response 15: Clinton said she does not recall what precisely she meant by the words “address” or “device.”

• Response 16: Clinton said she does not recall requesting a State Department-issued Blackberry or a State Department e-mail account in or around August 2011.

• Response 17: Clinton said she does not recall reviewing Assistant Secretary Bowell’s Information Memo attached as Exhibit D to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories during her tenure as Secretary of State.

• Response 18: Clinton said she does not recall seeing the June 28, 2011 cable attached as Exhibit E to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories during her tenure as Secretary of State.

• Response 19: Clinton said she does not recall being advised, cautioned, or warned during her tenure as Secretary of State about hacking or attempted hacking of her clintonemail.com e-mail account or the server that hosted her clintonemail.com account.

• Response 20: Clinton said she does not recall considering whether to allow the State Department access to her clintonemail.com e-mail account when she was preparing to leave office… She does not recall anyone from the State Department asking her for access to her clintonemail.com e-mail account or asking her to print her work-related e-mails when she was preparing to leave office.

• Response 21: Clinton said she does not recall considering after she left office whether she could alter, destroy, disclose, or use emails concerning official State Department business. 

• Response 22: Clinton said she does not recall altering, destroying, disclosing, or using any e-mails related to official State Department business from her tenure as Secretary of State in her clintonemail.com account or instructing anyone else to do so after she left office and before her attorneys reviewed the e-mails in her clintonemail.com email account in response to the State Department’s request.

• Response 25: Clinton said she does not recall having communications with Bryan Pagliano concerning or relating to the management, preservation, deletion, or destruction of any e-mails in her clintonemail.com email account.

“Hillary Clinton’s alleged failures of memory are incredible and show she fears full disclosure about her emails,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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