[h=1]Hillary's summer of scandal[/h]The former secretary of state’s email woes will produce plenty of headlines in the coming months — and ripe targets for Donald Trump.
By JOSH GERSTEIN
05/25/16 05:20 AM EDT
By JOSH GERSTEIN
05/25/16 05:20 AM EDT
Hillary Clinton pauses while speaking at a get out the vote event in Hopkinsville, Ky., on May 16. | AP Photo
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[h=2] POLITICO MAGAZINE[/h]
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[h=3]The Psychological Quirk That Explains Why You Love Donald Trump[/h]By DAVID DUNNING
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[h=3]Are You #NeverHillary or #NeverTrump?[/h]By MATT LATIMER
A flurry of events set to unfold in the coming days and months could push back into the headlines the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, providing plenty of fodder for Donald Trump and his "Crooked Hillary" attack line.
Republicans are hoping for — and in some cases plotting — a summer of scandal for Clinton that helps tarnish and distract her presidential campaign as she tries to build momentum for a fall showdown with the Manhattan billionaire.
A long-awaited State Department inspector general report on the impact of personal email use on recordkeeping at State is expected to be made public any day. And as many Americans prepare for the traditional Memorial Day kickoff to the summer season, longtime Clinton aide Cheryl Mills is scheduled to sit for a sworn deposition Friday in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the conservative group Judicial Watch.
Mills’ testimony would be the first known time a member of Clinton’s inner circle has been questioned under oath in the email controversy. Another top Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, is set to testify next month. And Clinton herself is awaiting a judge's ruling on whether she should be required to give a deposition.
No matter how that comes out, Clinton also faces an ongoing FBI investigation into the email set up. Some of her aides have already been questioned. She's expressed a willingness to sit down with investigators — something they're expected to take her up on in the next few weeks. Unless it takes place in complete secrecy, such a session would be the highest-profile legal spectacle the former first lady has faced since she testified 20 years ago before a federal grand jury investigating the disappearance and reappearance of Whitewater billing records.
"I think the [Office of Inspector General] report is going to be of interest and the testimony is going to be out there," said Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton. "I think the courts will take action this summer....I don't see any of this going away."
[h=3]Sanders dings Disney near Disneyland[/h]By NICK GASS
On top of all that, there's an expected House report on Benghazi. And a slew of planned document releases from the State Department that a conservative group is planning to make into a movie.
"We have been for months and we will be for the next several months on the receiving end of document productions from the State Department and others," said David Bossie of Citizens United, another conservative organization. "We have been and continue to be in the works on a Hillary documentary....We'd like to have something launch on or around the the Democratic Convention."
Trump has also indicated he's planning to turn up the heat on the issue, once Clinton has finished fighting out the battle for the Democratic nomination with Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sanders "didn’t pick up on the emails, which I think was a big mistake," Trump said Sunday on Fox News. " I’m going to pick up bigly. Because frankly she shouldn’t even be allowed to run for president.”
Clinton allies are bracing for the onslaught and have already moved to take the sting out of some of the potential blows.
"All of this has been a political hit job from the beginning," said David Brock of the pro-Clinton group Correct the Record. "Whether it’s the report being written in the State Department’s Office of Inspector General with the help of a former confidante of Chuck Grassley, at the same time Senator Grassley has been on a political crusade to hurt Hillary Clinton, or the final report of the discredited House Benghazi Committee, we will do as we have from the beginning: preempt, debunk and push back on these partisan lies.”
Earlier this month, as word spread that the release of the inspector general's report was nearing, Brock's group sought to discredit the probe by convening a conference call with reporters. Longtime Democratic attorney Joe Sandler highlighted the complaints of conflicts of interest, charges that the inspector general's office and Grassley aides have denied.
[h=3]Trump dredges up sordid Clinton accusations[/h]By NICK GASS
The IG report, whose release now appears imminent, is expected to focus on the impact of Clinton's use of personal email on State's recordkeeping practices. The inquiry is said to have also looked at personal email use by other staffers and previous secretaries. While the report is likely to be critical of Clinton's use of a private account and how it put many records beyond the reach of FOIA, Democrats hope the investigation notes that recordkeeping and FOIA processes have been highly dysfunctional at State for many years and were not primarily Clinton's fault.
Clinton's supporters on Capitol Hill are also at work trying to bolster her case and uncover facts her backers can rely on.
Earlier this month, three Democratic senators obtained a letter from the State Department suggesting that reports about 2,100 classified emails were found in Clinton's account may have exaggerated the import of that claim. A top State official suggested there was nothing wrong with Clinton handling about 2,000 of those messages in unclassified channels because they were only classified in order to prevent the release of those messages to the public following FOIA requests.
State legislative affairs chief Julia Frifield wrote in the letter that diplomats "routinely" handle foreign government information on unclassified systems and their jobs essentially require that. Frifield's stance doesn't erase questions about sensitive intelligence information that intelligence agencies say was in several dozen messages in Clinton's account, but it does undercut claims that Clinton's server was rife with data that should have always been treated as classified.
Some Democrats also hope they can change the subject or at least neutralize some of the attacks on Clinton by pointing to Trump's legal woes. He's facing three lawsuits charging that his Trump University real estate seminar program was a scam. And he's been ordered to appear at a deposition of his own next month to answer questions related to lawsuits he filed after two chefs citing his anti-immigrant rhetoric backed out of plans to open restaurants at his planned Trump International Hotel in Washington.
A Clinton campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but many in her camp appear to have staked their hopes on the FBI largely burying the email controversy by deciding not to prosecute anyone involved. Some press reports in recent weeks have said investigators haven't found any evidence of criminal intent, but FBI Director James Comey has said the probe is ongoing. It also seems unlikely any final decisions will be made until after agents interview Clinton.
“Let the FBI finish its investigation. Let the FBI do its job,” Brad Woodhouse of the pro-Clinton group Americans United for Change told reporters earlier this month. “We trust that process. We’d like to see that process through.”
Comey recently declined to comment when asked how or if his agency would let the public know if the probe is closed and what it found. Public statements of that sort are uncommon, but in some high profile investigations like the inquiry into former IRS employee Lois Lerner, the Justice Department has sent letters to Congress outlining why charges were not brought.
Conservative activists say that a decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton won't divert their quest to get to the bottom of the email issue and could even speed it by allowing access to some of the FBI's investigative records, including whatever the agency was able to recover of 32,000 emails Clinton's lawyers deleted after deeming them to be personal.
[h=3]Secret Service sends clarification memo about convention credentials[/h]By HADAS GOLD
"A decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton made by political appointees of President Obama will not be accepted and will have to be reevaluated by any new administration," Fitton said. "Partisans for Mrs. Clinton might be satisfied but independent-minded folks concerned about the rule of law...aren't going to be satisfied."
Congressional committees are also poised to swoop in as soon as the FBI probe ends, although it's unclear whether they'll be able to hold hearings before the election given the lengthy recesses scheduled in those months.
Whatever is discovered through the ongoing probes, lawsuits and depositions, Bossie said he's confident that they will throw Clinton off her game.
"Whether it's the Benghazi report, the state IG report or other types of releases, those are just a variation of bad for Hillary Clinton because on that day and time whenever those happen it is taking her off her message and making her have to answer questions related to these issues that she doesn't want to talk about," the veteran GOP operative said. "That's called winning, if you're Donald Trump."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/gop-sees-summer-of-scandal-for-clinton-223536#ixzz49fcRklzy
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[h=1]Chris Stevens’ Fiancee: ‘No Doubt’ Hillary Lied To Families About Benghazi Attack[/h]
by IAN HANCHETT24 May 201631
Lydie Denier, who was engaged to US Ambassador Chris Stevens, stated that there is “no doubt” in her mind Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lied about the cause of the 2012 attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday’s “Mike Gallagher Show.”
Denier said that if she could talk to Clinton, she would ask why it took so long to send help to the consulate on the night of the attacks, and “Why are you coming out and saying it’s a video — sending someone to say it’s a video, when she was texting her daughter like, oh, we’re being — we’re under attack.”
Denier added that if it was a member of Clinton’s family who was the Ambassador to Libya during the attack, “She would move earth. She would call everyone.” And that Clinton “no doubt” lied to families of the victims by blaming the attack on a YouTube video.
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by IAN HANCHETT24 May 201631
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Lydie Denier, who was engaged to US Ambassador Chris Stevens, stated that there is “no doubt” in her mind Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lied about the cause of the 2012 attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi on Tuesday’s “Mike Gallagher Show.”
Denier said that if she could talk to Clinton, she would ask why it took so long to send help to the consulate on the night of the attacks, and “Why are you coming out and saying it’s a video — sending someone to say it’s a video, when she was texting her daughter like, oh, we’re being — we’re under attack.”
Denier added that if it was a member of Clinton’s family who was the Ambassador to Libya during the attack, “She would move earth. She would call everyone.” And that Clinton “no doubt” lied to families of the victims by blaming the attack on a YouTube video.
State Dept. watchdog: Clinton violated email rules
The State Department inspector general concluded that Hillary Clinton did not comply with the agency’s policies on records, according to a report released to lawmakers on Wednesday that also revealed that Clinton and her top aides chose not to cooperate with the review.
The agency on Wednesday released the long-awaited report to Capitol Hill, copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, providing just the latest turn in the headache-inducing saga that has dogged Clinton's campaign.
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“At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department business before leaving government service and, because she did not do so, she did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act."
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I'd provide her quotes saying she followed the rules, but everyone reading knows she a dirty fucking liar.
The State Department inspector general concluded that Hillary Clinton did not comply with the agency’s policies on records, according to a report released to lawmakers on Wednesday that also revealed that Clinton and her top aides chose not to cooperate with the review.
The agency on Wednesday released the long-awaited report to Capitol Hill, copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, providing just the latest turn in the headache-inducing saga that has dogged Clinton's campaign.
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“At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department business before leaving government service and, because she did not do so, she did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act."
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I'd provide her quotes saying she followed the rules, but everyone reading knows she a dirty fucking liar.
Here are the most critical parts of the State Department inspector general report on Clinton’s email use
The report concludes that Clinton’s use of a personal email account was “not an appropriate method.” This knocks down a key argument made in Clinton’s defense — that because she had emailed State Department officials on their government accounts, records of her communications were preserved.
The report concludes that Clinton’s use of a personal email account was “not an appropriate method.” This knocks down a key argument made in Clinton’s defense — that because she had emailed State Department officials on their government accounts, records of her communications were preserved.
Hillary has done nothing but lie on this matter
Remember:
Clinton has said the practice was "permitted" under State Department rules,
popcorn-eatinggif
Remember:
Clinton has said the practice was "permitted" under State Department rules,
popcorn-eatinggif
[h=1]Dr. Herbert London: Hillary Clinton Is ‘Embodiment of Evil’[/h]
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
by JOHN HAYWARD24 May 201689
[h=2]During his Tuesday appearance on Breitbart News Daily, SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon asked geopolitical analyst Dr. Herbert London for his take on the 2016 presidential contest.[/h]“We’re not going to be sending 200,000 troops into the Middle East. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump,” London said. “It’s also true that the Republican Party is clearly split. There are many members of the party who, under no circumstances, could support Donald Trump.”
“I’m not a great fan of Donald Trump’s, but I have to tell you that Hillary Clinton trumps Donald Trump – in the sense that she is, in my judgment, an evil force, an embodiment of evil that would create problems with the sustenance of our Constitution,” he said. “So I cannot, under any circumstances, support Hillary Clinton. My default position is to, therefore, do everything I can to support Donald Trump, only because I don’t want her.”
Bannon asked London to elaborate on his description of Clinton as a “force for evil.”
“What I mean by that is that Hillary Clinton is an inveterate liar,” London replied, explaining:
“Now, I can give you hundreds of other examples of the inveterate lying, and the callous way in which she has used her own emails – which probably are in the possession of the Chinese, the Iranians, and the Russians,” he added. “She’s been thoroughly compromised. So it seems to me, when I say ‘evil,’ I’m talking about someone who doesn’t recognize the real national interests of the United States.”
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by JOHN HAYWARD24 May 201689
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[h=2]During his Tuesday appearance on Breitbart News Daily, SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon asked geopolitical analyst Dr. Herbert London for his take on the 2016 presidential contest.[/h]“We’re not going to be sending 200,000 troops into the Middle East. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump,” London said. “It’s also true that the Republican Party is clearly split. There are many members of the party who, under no circumstances, could support Donald Trump.”
“I’m not a great fan of Donald Trump’s, but I have to tell you that Hillary Clinton trumps Donald Trump – in the sense that she is, in my judgment, an evil force, an embodiment of evil that would create problems with the sustenance of our Constitution,” he said. “So I cannot, under any circumstances, support Hillary Clinton. My default position is to, therefore, do everything I can to support Donald Trump, only because I don’t want her.”
Bannon asked London to elaborate on his description of Clinton as a “force for evil.”
“What I mean by that is that Hillary Clinton is an inveterate liar,” London replied, explaining:
When the bodies were returned from Benghazi to Andrews Air Force Base, she walked up to Ty Woods’ father – who had been one of the SEALs who fought to his last breath to save people at the embassy – and she said to him, “We will not let your son die in vain. We will find the man who is responsible, that is the filmmaker who made the film about the prophet Mohammed, and we will bring him to justice.”
“That was an absolute lie. She knew it was a lie when she was saying it. How can you say that to a father who is grieving over the loss of a son?” London asked. “How can you say that to an American hero? I mean, to me, that was about as sickening a moment as I can imagine in American life.”
“Now, I can give you hundreds of other examples of the inveterate lying, and the callous way in which she has used her own emails – which probably are in the possession of the Chinese, the Iranians, and the Russians,” he added. “She’s been thoroughly compromised. So it seems to me, when I say ‘evil,’ I’m talking about someone who doesn’t recognize the real national interests of the United States.”
[h=2]Clinton Failed to Report Multiple Attempts to Hack Personal Email[/h]SHARE
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BY: Morgan Chalfant
May 25, 2016 4:48 pm
Hillary Clinton failed to report multiple attempts to hack her personal email account during her tenure as secretary of state.
The revelation came in a lengthy report issued by the State Department’s inspector general, which faulted Clinton for violating federal regulations governing the use of personal email by high-ranking administration officials.
The Washington Times noted that a hacking attempt in 2011 led a technology staffer to shut down the server for a few minutes and later warn aides not to send “anything sensitive” to Clinton, according to the report. While the former secretary of state also expressed fear to open email following another attempted breach, Clinton still did not report it to the government.
“Notification is required when a user suspects compromise of, among other things, a personally owned device containing personally identifiable information,” investigators wrote in the report, which was released on Wednesday. “However, OIG found no evidence that the Secretary or her staff reported these incidents to computer security personnel or anyone else within the Department.”
Additionally, when aide Huma Abedin suggested that Clinton sign up for an official State Department email account or notify the agency of her exclusive use of a personal address in 2010, Clintonrefused and indicated that she didn’t “want any risk of the personal [email account] being accessible.”
Clinton’s personal email server, which she has long claimed to have used out of convenience, is currently under investigation by the FBI.
According to the State Department watchdog, Clinton did not comply with policies implemented by the department in accordance with the Federal Records Act. Her senior staffers also violated federal records regulations, the report noted.
The department’s inspector general also found no evidence that Clinton sought approval to use personal email to conduct official business.
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Hillary Clinton / AP
BY: Morgan Chalfant
May 25, 2016 4:48 pm
Hillary Clinton failed to report multiple attempts to hack her personal email account during her tenure as secretary of state.
The revelation came in a lengthy report issued by the State Department’s inspector general, which faulted Clinton for violating federal regulations governing the use of personal email by high-ranking administration officials.
The Washington Times noted that a hacking attempt in 2011 led a technology staffer to shut down the server for a few minutes and later warn aides not to send “anything sensitive” to Clinton, according to the report. While the former secretary of state also expressed fear to open email following another attempted breach, Clinton still did not report it to the government.
“Notification is required when a user suspects compromise of, among other things, a personally owned device containing personally identifiable information,” investigators wrote in the report, which was released on Wednesday. “However, OIG found no evidence that the Secretary or her staff reported these incidents to computer security personnel or anyone else within the Department.”
Additionally, when aide Huma Abedin suggested that Clinton sign up for an official State Department email account or notify the agency of her exclusive use of a personal address in 2010, Clintonrefused and indicated that she didn’t “want any risk of the personal [email account] being accessible.”
Clinton’s personal email server, which she has long claimed to have used out of convenience, is currently under investigation by the FBI.
According to the State Department watchdog, Clinton did not comply with policies implemented by the department in accordance with the Federal Records Act. Her senior staffers also violated federal records regulations, the report noted.
The department’s inspector general also found no evidence that Clinton sought approval to use personal email to conduct official business.
[h=2]State Department Can’t Definitively Say Clinton Server Wasn’t Hacked[/h]SHARE
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BY: David Rutz
May 25, 2016 4:48 pm
State Department spokesman Mark Toner could not definitively say that Hillary Clinton’s private email server had not been hacked during a briefing Wednesday.
The State Department’s inspector general confirmed Wednesday in a scathing report that Clinton’s use of the private server for official business violated federal regulations meant to ensure the safety of classified information. The report contradicted claims made by Clinton and her campaign that her conduct was fully above board.
Questions about the server’s security have circulated since last year when its existence was revealed. A Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer,” who pled guilty to hacking-related charges Wednesday, claims he successfully breached Clinton’s server.
“There were hack attempts on her server,” a reporter said. “How did that not bring a reassessment that maybe this wasn’t the best strategy?”
Toner said there were unsuccessful attempts to hack the server, but the reporter retorted that the inspector general report did not characterize the attempts as successful or unsuccessful.
“I apologize, actually,” Toner said. “I misspoke.”
“Do you have any reason to think that there was a successful attempt?” another reporter asked.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to clarify. The OIG report doesn’t address, specifically, the security of her system, including whether or not any of the reported attempted hacks were successful,” Toner said. “For that, I would just have to refer you to her team to talk about whether there were, or whether any were successful … To our knowledge, there were not, but I don’t know that’s a comprehensive knowledge.”
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BY: David Rutz
May 25, 2016 4:48 pm
State Department spokesman Mark Toner could not definitively say that Hillary Clinton’s private email server had not been hacked during a briefing Wednesday.
The State Department’s inspector general confirmed Wednesday in a scathing report that Clinton’s use of the private server for official business violated federal regulations meant to ensure the safety of classified information. The report contradicted claims made by Clinton and her campaign that her conduct was fully above board.
Questions about the server’s security have circulated since last year when its existence was revealed. A Romanian hacker known as “Guccifer,” who pled guilty to hacking-related charges Wednesday, claims he successfully breached Clinton’s server.
“There were hack attempts on her server,” a reporter said. “How did that not bring a reassessment that maybe this wasn’t the best strategy?”
Toner said there were unsuccessful attempts to hack the server, but the reporter retorted that the inspector general report did not characterize the attempts as successful or unsuccessful.
“I apologize, actually,” Toner said. “I misspoke.”
“Do you have any reason to think that there was a successful attempt?” another reporter asked.
“Thank you for giving me the chance to clarify. The OIG report doesn’t address, specifically, the security of her system, including whether or not any of the reported attempted hacks were successful,” Toner said. “For that, I would just have to refer you to her team to talk about whether there were, or whether any were successful … To our knowledge, there were not, but I don’t know that’s a comprehensive knowledge.”
Hillary is on record saying that she has not "been personally contacted" by the FBI. That is lawyer talk all the way and in this case they would be contacting her lawyers and not her personally. That is the same logic that she used saying none of her email on her illegal server was classified. another play on words. How could the Stae Dept classify email they knew nothing about. How can you trust what she says based on what she says. What she says is aimed at the less educated for sure. Anyone with common sense can read right through her. Is that reverse transparency LOL.
[h=1]State Department email report complicates Clinton’s message[/h]
The Associated Press
by AP26 May 201663
SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — Hillary Clinton is telling voters not to trust Donald Trump, but a new government report about her usage of a private server as secretary of state is complicating that message.
The sharp rebuke from the State Department’s Inspector General, which found Clinton did not seek legal approval for her homebrew email server, guarantees that the issue will remain alive and well for the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
The new report comes at a particularly challenging time for the Clinton campaign.
Already, Clinton faces questions about her trustworthiness, with months of polling showing voters give her low marks for integrity.
It’s a narrative that Trump has been eager to encourage. In the early weeks of his general election campaign, he’s dubbed Clinton “Crooked Hillary.”
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by AP26 May 201663
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SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — Hillary Clinton is telling voters not to trust Donald Trump, but a new government report about her usage of a private server as secretary of state is complicating that message.
The sharp rebuke from the State Department’s Inspector General, which found Clinton did not seek legal approval for her homebrew email server, guarantees that the issue will remain alive and well for the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
The new report comes at a particularly challenging time for the Clinton campaign.
Already, Clinton faces questions about her trustworthiness, with months of polling showing voters give her low marks for integrity.
It’s a narrative that Trump has been eager to encourage. In the early weeks of his general election campaign, he’s dubbed Clinton “Crooked Hillary.”
[h=2]Now Clinton aide fights to keep video of her being deposed about email scandal secret because of her 'personal privacy'[/h]
Hillary Clinton's former chief of staff Cheryl Mills is asking a federal judge to limit the release of a deposition she'll record Friday about the setup of her ex-boss' private email server.
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Hillary Clinton's former chief of staff Cheryl Mills' lawyers have asked a federal judge to limit the release of a deposition she'll record on Friday, saying video and audio could be used to 'exploit' her
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The separate Freedom of Information Act lawsuit is a separate legal case entirely from the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server
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Hillary Clinton's former chief of staff Cheryl Mills' lawyers have asked a federal judge to limit the release of a deposition she'll record on Friday, saying video and audio could be used to 'exploit' her
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The separate Freedom of Information Act lawsuit is a separate legal case entirely from the ongoing FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server
