Roger Yu, USA TODAY
The Associated Press said Wednesday it has sued the State Department to force the release of government documents and e-mails from Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of State, an action taken a day after she defended her use of a private e-mail account to conduct business and after six formal attempts by the news agency to obtain records.
"After careful deliberation and exhausting our other options, The Associated Press is taking the necessary legal steps to gain access to these important documents, which will shed light on actions by the State Department and former Secretary Clinton, a presumptive 2016 presidential candidate, during some of the most significant issues of our time," AP General Counsel Karen Kaiser said in a statement.
"The press is a proxy for the people, and AP will continue its pursuit of vital information that's in the public interest through this action and future open records requests," Kaiser said.
At a news conference following a speech at a United Nations conference on women's economic status Tuesday, Clinton defended her use of a private e-mail account, saying it was done for convenience. Using a personal account was permissible during her tenure as long as she kept the records, and she did not discuss classified information on her personal e-mail, Clinton said.
"Looking back, it would have been better for me to use two separate phones and two separate e-mail accounts," Clinton said. "I thought using one (mobile) device would be simpler. Obviously, it hasn't worked out that way."
Clinton sent or received 62,320 total e-mails while heading the State Department, and deleted 31,830 that she deemed personal.
She turned over 30,490 e-mails to the State Department last fall at its request. More than 27,500 involved official government e-mail addresses.
Clinton said she "chose not to keep" personal e-mails, such as those related to daughter Chelsea's wedding in 2010 or the funeral for her mother, Dorothy Rodham, who died in 2011. "No one wants their personal e-mails made public and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy," she said.
Filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the complaint says "AP seeks the records in question from the State Department to inform citizens both regarding the operation of their government and regarding Secretary Clinton's official actions as Secretary of State."
Beginning in 2010, AP filed six requests under FOIA to obtain records from the State Department regarding Clinton's tenure as secretary, including her calendars and schedules and records concerning the designation of Special Government Employee status given to her former deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin.
The news agency also sought records related to the raid in Pakistan in which Osama bin Laden was killed and surveillance and other anti-terrorism programs conducted by the U.S. government.
AP also requested documents detailing the State Department's dealings with defense contractor BAE Systems. The State Department reached a settlement with BAE in 2011 over violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
Since the first FOIA request was submitted, the State Department "has failed to respond substantively to five of the requests, and has only partially responded to one request" related to BAE Systems, according to the complaint.
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