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In a brief order Thursday afternoon, Sullivan acted on his own initiative to broaden Mills' request, putting off limits the videos of all depositions in the case. | Getty Judge: Video of Clinton aides' depositions to be kept secret

Videos of Hillary Clinton's former aides and others giving depositions in a lawsuit related to her private email set-up will be kept secret, at least for now, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan granted a request from former Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills that the deposition recordings be kept from the public because of the potential they could be used for partisan purposes or perhaps used in attack ads against Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In a brief order Thursday afternoon, Sullivan acted on his own initiative to broaden Mills' request, putting off limits the videos of all depositions in the case.

"The depositions permitted by the Court are limited in scope, but relate to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email practices during her tenure at the State Department," the judge wrote. "The public has a right to know details related to the creation, purpose and use of the clintonemail.com system. Thus, the transcripts of all depositions taken in this case will be publicly available. It is therefore unnecessary to also make the audiovisual recording of Ms. Mills' deposition public."

Sullivan did not signal what his concern was about improper use of the videos, nor did he explain whether he agreed with Mills' attorneys that the videos were more susceptible to misuse or distortion than the written transcripts that will be released.

An attorney for Mills did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the judge's ruling.

The conservative group that brought the suit, Judicial Watch, had opposed limits on release of the videos. However, after the ruling, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said he was happy that Sullivan committed to making the deposition transcripts public.

"We're please that he ordered that the transcripts will be public. He put off for another day the audiovisual copies and if they will be released," Fitton said. "Certainly,. the judge reaffirming the public's right to know is nothing we're going to be complaining about.

The judge, who is an appointee of President Bill Clinton, did order that the videos be filed with the court. That raises the possibility that the recordings could eventually be released.

Mills, the first close aide to Clinton to be deposed in the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, is scheduled to provide testimony Friday.

Judicial Watch is seeking Clinton's testimony in another FOIA suit being overseen by a different federal judge, but he has not yet ruled on the request.

