FBI Uncovered Benghazi Emails From Clinton Server

Wash. Post: FBI Uncovered 30 Benghazi Emails From Clinton’s Email Server. Federal officials on August 30 said Clinton “may have sent or received as many as 30 previously undisclosed emails while secretary of state about the 2012 Benghazi attack,” according to The Washington Post. The Post reported at the time that it was “not yet known how many of those documents may be duplicates” of “emails already made public by the State Department.” The discovery came from a lawsuit filed by the conservative group Judicial Watch. From the August 30 article:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton may have sent or received as many as 30 previously undisclosed emails while secretary of state about the 2012 Benghazi attack, government lawyers said Tuesday in asking a federal judge for a month to turn over potentially public records to a conservative legal group.

It is not yet known how many of those documents may be duplicates of 343 emails already made public by the State Department or contain stray references to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Libya that killed ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others, government attorneys said. The emails were recovered by the FBI in its year-long investigation of Clinton’s private email setup as secretary from 2009 to 2013.

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“At this point there are 30 potentially responsive documents” to the Benghazi matter, Justice Department attorney Robert J. Prince told U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta of Washington. Prince asked to have until Sept. 30 to review the emails for possible classified information which also may require reviews by agencies outside the State Department.

Mehta asked Justice and State department attorneys to speed their review and come back by Sept. 6 with an answer on how many duplicates are in the batch and how many records may need added review. [The Washington Post, 8/30/16]

But Officials Subsequently Found Almost None Of The Emails Were New

Politico: Only One Of The Emails Was New, And It Was A Personal Letter Praising Clinton. Politico reported on September 7 that government lawyers “said a closer review of the records the FBI located revealed only one of the messages was entirely absent from those produced by previous State Department searches,” which was a “flattering note sent by a veteran U.S. diplomat following [Clinton’s] testimony on Benghazi before a Senate panel in January 2013.” As Politico noted, the set of “30 Benghazi-related messages” turned out “to contain little fodder for critics.” From the September 7 article:

A set of about 30 Benghazi-related messages found by the FBI during their investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email system turns out to contain little fodder for critics or supporters of the Democratic presidential nominee.

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[I]n a court filing early Wednesday morning, government lawyers said a closer review of the records the FBI located revealed only one of the messages was entirely absent from those produced by previous State Department searches: a flattering note sent by a veteran U.S. diplomat following her testimony on Benghazi before a Senate panel in January 2013.

“I watched with great admiration as she dealt with a tough and personally painful issue in a fair, candid and determined manner,” then-U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon wrote in a message sent to State Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills[’] official account and forwarded on by Mills to Clinton's personal one. “I was especially impressed by her ability to turn aside the obvious efforts to politicize the events in Benghazi, reminding Americans of the tremendous sacrifice made by Chris Stevens and his colleagues but also insisting that our ability to play a positive role in the world and protect U.S. interests requires a willingness to take risks.”

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“In response to a Benghazi-related FOIA request, after completing its review of the set of documents previously identified as potentially responsive, State has determined that there is one responsive document that is not a duplicate of the documents provided by former Secretary Clinton in December 2014 and that had not been previously provided to Judicial Watch in this case,” State spokesman Mark Toner said. “The email does not change the facts that have previously been made clear about the Benghazi attacks.”

Two other emails found by the FBI were “near duplicates” of previously produced messages, State's lawyers said. The FBI provided files simply showed that Clinton had asked an assistant to print out the emails. One contained an end-of-year message she sent to staffers across the department in 2012. Another was a note from a former advance staffer for Clinton, Rick Jasculca, praising her for her response to the Benghazi attack. [Politico, 9/7/16]

Right-Wing Media Initially Scandalized The Emails As A “Benghazi Bombshell” And “More Mushroom Clouds Of Smoke”

Fox News’ Fox & Friends Hosts: The Discovery Is A “Benghazi Bombshell.” Fox co-host Brian Kilmeade said the announcement was “unbelievable,” while co-host Ainsley Earhardt claimed the findings showed that Clinton’s claim "that she released all of her emails” was “false.” An on-screen graphic called it a “Benghazi Bombshell.” From the August 31 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Well also this morning we have learned that the FBI is now saying that there were 30 emails in that latest batch of Hillary Clinton's emails, 30 of them that were related to Benghazi. These are just discovered.

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Well it’s just unbelievable on top of that that all these emails had to be retrieved by the FBI after she said her lawyers went through and said everything not work-related was there, let alone this being the content.

TUCKER CARLSON (CO-HOST): Yeah I think you've totally missed it. With all respect I think you’re wrong because I remember vividly Hillary Clinton saying that she turned over all her emails.

KILMEADE: Really?

CARLSON: And I think she said it more than once. I think she did.

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CARLSON: Well I stand corrected.

EARHARDT: She swore in a federal court, she swore to you, the American public, that she released all of her emails. Well guess what? We're learning this morning and we learned many many mornings ago, too, because it keeps developing that that is false. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/31/16]

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: Emails Will Have “Conspiracy Theorists … Swirling.” MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinski criticized the State Department in response to the discovery of the emails, saying, “Where is the State Department on this? It just sort of some place where things gets lost? I don't understand.” Co-host Joe Scarborough called the announcement part of a “one-two punch for the Clintons” that would have “Conspiracy theorists … swirling.” From the August 31 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): The State Department revealed yesterday it has found as many as 30 additional emails from her server that may be related to the Benghazi attacks. Those emails came from the cache of 15,000 the FBI had to recover forensically but some could be duplicates.

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But I guess my bigger question is about the State Department. Why can't they figure this out? Why can't they find these things? Where is the State Department on this? It just sort of some place where things get lost? I don't understand.

JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): The emails do keep trickling out and David Ignatius it’s a one-two punch for the Clintons this morning. And the question is how do you just find 30 more emails regarding Benghazi? Conspiracy theorists will be swirling for some time about that. [MSNBC, Morning Joe, 8/31/16]

National Review: “Don’t Worry. There’s Probably No Fire Here. Just More Mushroom Clouds Of Smoke.” National Review’s Ian Tuttle wrote that Clinton had “[sworn] under oath that she had provided all Benghazi-related emails to the House Select Committee on Benghazi” and added, “There’s probably no fire here. Just more mushroom clouds of smoke.” From the August 30 article (emphasis original):

That’s funny. I distinctly remember Hillary Clinton swearing under oath that she had provided all work-related emails to the Department of Justice, and swearing under oath that she had provided all Benghazi-related emails to the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

But don’t worry. There’s probably no fire here. Just more mushroom clouds of smoke . . . [National Review, 8/30/16]

HotAir’s Ed Morrissey: Announcement Could Fuel “Potential Perjury And Obstruction Charges” Against Clinton. HotAir editor Ed Morrissey wrote that the announcement was “another unpleasant surprise from the e-mail scandal” and that it could “add fuel to the fire over potential perjury and obstruction charges relating to Hillary’s Congressional testimony, assuming anything in them contradict her representations there.” Morrissey added that Clinton “managed to shoot herself in the foot politically by creating the opportunity for them to be found in this manner rather than turning them over from the beginning.” From the August 30 blog (emphasis original):

Team Hillary just got another unpleasant surprise from the e-mail scandal that has plagued Hillary Clinton for the past eighteen months. This time, it involved the original scandal that produced the e-mail scandal. The State Department admitted in court today that the FBI found 30 e-mails relating to Benghazi among the thousands of deleted e-mails recovered by investigators, the Associated Press reported within the past hour[.]

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One thing’s for sure: the House Select Committee will be demanding to see these ASAP, if they haven’t already. It might also add fuel to the fire over potential perjury and obstruction charges relating to Hillary’s Congressional testimony, assuming anything in them contradict her representations there. At the least, Hillary has managed to shoot herself in the foot politically by creating the opportunity for them to be found in this manner rather than turning them over from the beginning, and just when Democrats thought she had finally cleared the Benghazi hurdle. Expect to hear a lot of repeats of previous “witch hunt” accusations against Republicans, but don’t expect them to work much if any or all of those 30 e-mails produce a substantive refutation of Hillary’s narrative on Benghazi. [HotAir, 8/30/16]