Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she “decided” which of Sidney Blumenthal’s emails were work-related, and that her attorneys searched her server to determine what was work-related and “I did not look over their shoulder. I did not dictate how they would do it. I did not ask what they were doing, and how they made their conclusions” during testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday.
When asked how she knew she turned over all her work-related emails, Hillary responded, “I know that because there was a — an exhaustive search done under the supervision of my attorneys, and that is exactly the outcome.”
After being asked about 15 emails the committee had received that she didn’t turn over, Hillary said, “Well, if you’re talking about Mr. Blumenthal, which I assume you are, he had some that I didn’t have, and I had some that he didn’t have, and he — I was under no obligation to make any of his emails available unless I decided they were work-related, and the ones that I decided that were work-related I forwarded to the state.gov accounts of the people with whom I worked.”
She also addressed whether the Blumenthal emails were work-related, stating, “They were from a personal friend, not any official government — not any government official. And they were, I determined on the basis of looking at them what I thought was work-related and what wasn’t, and some I didn’t even have time to read, Mr. Chairman.”
Earlier, after being asked, “Who oversaw this multi-step process in making that determination, which ones [emails on her server] we might get and which ones were personal?” Hillary answered, “That was overseen by my attorneys, and they conducted a rigorous review of my emails.”
After being asked about how this search was conducted and whether it involved physically looking at the emails, and used things like search terms, date parameters, “They did all of that, and I did not look over their shoulders, because I thought it would be appropriate for them to conduct that search, and they did.”
When pressed on whether she could provide the search terms and date parameters to the committee, “Congressman, I asked my attorneys to oversee the process. I did not look over their shoulder. I did not dictate how they would do it. I did not ask what they were doing, and how they made their conclusions.”
(h/t WhiteHousePressCorps)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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