WASHINGTON — A federal judge Wednesday said he may order Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton to testify under oath about whether she used a private e-mail server as secretary of state to evade public-records disclosures.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan signed an order granting a request from the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch to question six current and former State Department staffers about the creation and purpose of the private e-mail system. Those on the list were some of Clinton’s closest aides during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat, including former chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills, deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin and undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy.
Also set to testify is Bryan Pagliano, the agency employee who was tasked with setting up the server located in the basement of the New York home Clinton shares with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Pagliano has previously refused to testify before Congress, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Based on what might be gleaned in those interviews, which are to be conducted over the next eight weeks, Sullivan says in his order a sworn deposition from Hillary Clinton “may be necessary.”
That raises the possibility that Clinton could be ordered to testify in the midst of the presidential campaign.
At issue is whether the State Department conducted an adequate search of public records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch in 2013 seeking records related to Abedin’s outside work as a paid consultant for the Clintons’ charitable foundation and a financial advisory firm with ties to the former first couple.
The department’s initial search did not include the thousands of e-mails Clinton exchanged with her aides, including Abedin, using private e-mail addresses. The department said it didn’t have access to those e-mails at the time.
Questions asked during the depositions are to be limited to the circumstances surrounding the 2009 creation of Clinton’s private e-mail system.
The FBI is investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton’s e-mail server was mishandled. The inspectors general at the State Department and for U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken.
