A former State Department IT specialist and aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 125 times during a private depostion with conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- Former U.S. State Department IT specialist Bryan Pagliano on Wednesday invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 125 times during private deposition with conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, Fox News reported.

Pagliano spoke mostly from an index card, reading the same crafted statement each time, a source told Fox News. His deposition was originally scheduled for two weeks ago, but postponed when his lawyers notified the court that Pagliano would be pleading the Fifth.


The move was made partly due to the federal government granting the former State Department employee limited immunity in its ongoing probe into whether classified information was mishandled.

"It was a sad day for government transparency," a Judicial Watch official said.

Judicial Watch has repeatedly filed lawsuits over Clinton's use of a private email while she was secretary of state. Two depositions have been granted so far, with the possibility of a third to be determined after the outcomes of interviews of Clinton's longtime deputy Huma Abedin and former undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy.