Federal Judge Blasts State Department for ‘Slow-Walking’ Its Release of Clinton Documents
Monday, an attorney for the U.S. State Department was in court for a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit launched by the Daily Caller News Foundation after the department failed to provide documents related to Hillary Clinton’s access to top secret programs.
The State Department said it has found more than 1,000 documents dealing with the subject, of which about 450 are unclassified. The attorney, Jason Lee, said it could take nearly a month to process those documents, but they wouldn’t commit to a timeline for producing the rest, citing lack of resources to process all of the FOIA demands it has faced.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, however, was not impressed. According to The Washington Times, he said the government wasn’t “being all that cooperative,” and told the attorney it was time for the government to “shape up” and do its duty to its citizens.
“Get with the program, so to speak, so that the people of this country can have the information they need,” he ordered. “The State Department needs to start cooperating to the fullest extent possible. They are not perceived to be doing that.”
Apparently, Lee didn’t get the message, though. After ordering a faster response for the 450 unclassified pages, the attorney said the department would try its best, which triggered another outburst from the bench.
“Do better than your best. Do it,” Leon said. “You have a client that, to say the least, is not impressing the judges on this court … at being all that cooperative. This way of doing business needs to stop.”
