Kerry Picks Clinton Donor to be State Dept. “Email Czar”

The new “email czar” appointed by Secretary of State John Kerry to oversee the burgeoning Hillary Clinton email scandal is a Clinton campaign donor who recently made a generous contribution, according to federal records obtained by Judicial Watch.

Her name is Janice Jacobs, a former career diplomat assigned by Kerry this week to be the State Department’s “Transparency Coordinator,” according to a mainstream news report. Jacobs will be in charge of responding to public-record requests involving the secret email account that Clinton used exclusively to conduct official government business. She will also handle congressional requests “faster and more efficiently,” and will improve the State Department system for keeping records.

Kerry reportedly assigned an “email czar” in an effort to ensure that the State Department promptly responds to an onslaught of record requests without directly undercutting Clinton and the Democratic Party’s presidential front-runner. Ego also played a role in the appointment because aides cited in the story said Kerry has been annoyed at the distraction the Clinton email controversy has caused for his agency, which has at times “overshadowed his diplomatic efforts.”

Kerry could not have picked a better team player. Jacobs is a big Clinton fan who contributed $2,700 to the Hillary for America presidential campaign fund, Federal Election Commission records obtained by JW show. Can we really expect her to be fair and objective as the new gatekeeper of Clinton’s records? Besides being an admirer and campaign donor of the former Secretary of State, Jacobs has a long history as a State Department insider serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services and Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs until retiring last year.

No cabinet secretary has ever established their own external communication system in an effort to circumvent both the unclassified and classified government systems. Judicial Watch has been a leader in exposing the Clinton email scandal and has a number of lawsuits pending in federal court. JW was also the first to report that Clinton likely also used unauthorized electronic equipment—an iPad and an iPhone—as Secretary of State after being warned not to. A veteran State Department official told JW in March that on at least half a dozen occasions Clinton’s top aides asked the State Department’s Office of Security Technology to approve the use of an iPad and iPhone. Each time the request was rejected for security reasons.