Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit for State Department Records on IT Specialist Implicated in Clinton Email Scandal

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today seeking records concerning the service and maintenance of former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s email server.  Specifically, Judicial Watch seeks records that will show whether Bryan Pagliano, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s director of IT during her 2008 run for the presidency, was hired by the State Department in 2009 to maintain the email server used by Clinton and her aides to conduct official State Department business and whether the State Department spent taxpayer money to manage the email server. (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:15-cv-01441)).

Judicial Watch filed its FOIA request on August 5, the day after The Washington Post reported Pagliano, while employed at the State Department, “continued to act as the lead specialist responsible for [Clinton’s email system]…with Pagliano summoned at various times to fix problems. Notably, the system crashed for days after New York was hit by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.”  Judicial Watch’s request seeks:

• Records concerning the hiring of Pagliano;
• Time sheets, calendars, or similar records of Pagliano;
• Travel records to/from Chappaqua, NY. Such records include, but are not limited to, expense reports, reimbursement forms, and travel logs;
• Pagliano’s records concerning, regarding, or relating to the maintenance of former Secretary Clinton’s email server. Such records include, but are not limited to, expense reports, reimbursement forms, and maintenance logs; and
• Records of communications between Pagliano and any official, officer, or employee of the Office of the Secretary concerning former Secretary Clinton’s email server.

Judicial Watch requested expedited processing, which the State Department agreed to on August 13:

[B]ecause a compelling need for the requested information exists. … Specifically, Judicial Watch has at least 15 cases pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia related to Secretary Clinton’s email practices while Secretary of State. The information at issue in this request will shed light on whether the State Department was involved in the operation of Secretary Clinton’s email server.

Though the State Department agreed with Judicial Watch to expedite this request, the agency has failed to provide any documents or otherwise comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

(Reports state Pagliano plans to refuse to provide testimony to Congress by asserting his Fifth Amendment rights.)

“Mrs. Clinton’s argument that her ‘server’ was private fails on many levels, especially if Mr. Pagliano, a State Department employee, was paid by taxpayers to take care of it.  We must wonder if Mr. Pagliano has emails from the Clinton server,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Obama State Department is in cover-up mode, refusing to comply with federal law and honor our request about whether its employee was responsible for the Clinton server maintenance. This is yet another example of the Obama administration’s complicity in the Clinton email scandal.”

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