According to newly released emails obtained by Judicial Watch, the Obama White House was tracking a December 2012 Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) records request concerning Hillary Clinton’s unsecured, private email server. These new emails prove that the Obama White House knew about the scandal earlier than previously admitted, and attempted to cover it up.

Months after the Obama White House got involved, “the State Department responded to the FOIA requestor, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), falsely stating that no such records existed.”

Our discovery is centered upon whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system and whether the State Department acted in bad faith in processing our FOIA request for communications from Clinton’s office. U.S District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides, as well as E.W. Priestap, to be deposed or answer written questions under oath. The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.” The State Department’s Office of Inspector General issued a report in January 2016 saying: “At the time the request was received, dozens of senior officials throughout the Department, including members of Secretary Clinton’s immediate staff, exchanged emails with the Secretary using the personal accounts she used to conduct official business.” Also, the IG “found evidence that [Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills] was informed of the request at the time it was received …”

“These documents suggest the Obama White House knew about the Clinton email lies being told to the public at least as early as December 2012,” said Judicial Watch in a statement. “A federal court granted us discovery into the Clinton emails because the court wanted answers about a government cover-up of the Clinton emails. And now we have answers because it looks like the Obama White House orchestrated the Clinton email cover-up.”

Hillary Clinton was Obama’s heir apparent to the White House, and in addition to protecting her from the inquiry into her unsecured email, Obama’s Justice Department spied on Donald Trump’s campaign. The origin of this spying is currently under investigation.

_____

Matt Margolis is the author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published in July 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis