The State Department has told a federal court that it understands the interest in a public release of Hillary Clinton's emails from her time as Secretary of State, but officials say the "voluminous" review will take time, as they've asked to set a release date under the Freedom of Information Act for January 15, 2016.
That would be just over two weeks before the Iowa Cacuses.
"This date is premised on the Department’s good faith estimate of the time required to complete this involved, intensive process," said John Hackett, the State Deparmtent official in charge of responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
The legal back and forth is part of a lawsuit by the group Vice News, which is seeking release of Clinton's emails dealing with the Benghazi attacks.
"The Department’s review of the rest of the remaining records in the collection provided by Secretary Clinton is underway," the State Department noted in its legal filing on Monday.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
But it was made clear the January 15, 2016 target date could well slip.
"It is, however, possible that the time required for the interagency review process could impact the Department’s proposed review timeline," the State Department noted.
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