Story highlights A judge has granted the taking of depositions for current and former State officials

The issue at-hand is Hillary Clinton's email server while secretary of state

(CNN) A federal judge Wednesday approved a plan for the taking of depositions by several current and former State Department officials about Hillary Clinton's email server.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, approved a joint proposal presented by Judicial Watch and the State Department to take the depositions of officials including Cheryl D. Mills, Clinton's former chief of staff, Huma Abedin, a senior adviser to Clinton, and Bryan Pagliano, a State Department employee who serviced and maintained the server.

Sullivan said the officials could be asked details about processing and responding to record requests as well as issues such as which State Department officials and employees had used an account on the clintonemail.com system to conduct official government business. Sullivan established an eight-week time frame.

"The circumstances surrounding approval of Mrs. Clinton's use of clintonemail.com for official government business, as well as the manner in which it was operated, are issues that need to be explored in discovery to enable the Court to resolve, as a matter of law, the adequacy of the State Department's search of relevant records in response to Judicial Watch's FOIA request," Sullivan wrote in the order. He left open the possibility that Clinton could be deposed at a later time if necessary.

"Based on information learned during discovery, the deposition of Mrs. Clinton, may be unnecessary," Sullivan wrote.

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