Judge gives State Department tongue-lashing over Clinton classification training records
By Josh Gerstein
09/19/16 02:23 PM EDT
Updated 09/19/16 04:13 PM EDT
A federal judge lashed out at the State Department on Monday over what he charged was foot-dragging over Freedom of Information Act requests relating to Hillary Clinton's service as secretary of state.
“You have a client that, to say the least, is not impressing the judges on this court, myself included. … It is in your client’s interest to start being more obviously cooperative,” U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon warned Justice Department lawyers representing State during a hearing Monday. “The State Department is at risk of being perceived as obstreperous. [They] need to get with the program.”
The 10-minute hearing took place on a suit for records on how — and whether — Clinton and her aides were trained to handle classified information. State had proposed a deadline of Oct. 17 to produce about 450 unclassified documents relating to the training issue sought by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
However, Leon ordered the diplomatic agency to complete processing and disclosure of those records by Oct. 10. He also said State must produce the records in three installments “of comparable size” and can’t leave the bulk of the records to the last batch.
“We will do our best,” Justice Department attorney Jason Lee told Leon.
“Do better than your best. … You do it,” Leon shot back.
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