US judge orders release of private Clinton emails

WASHINGTON

The U.S. State Department has been ordered by a Washington court to release a batch of privately held emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton every 30 days starting from the end of June.

District Judge Rudolph Contreras also demanded the State Department complete the release of all 55,000 pages of emails – which Clinton sent and received through a personal account – by January 29, 2016.

The completion date is set to come three days before the first preliminary election for the U.S. presidency in Iowa.

Wednesday’s order came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Vice News correspondent Jason Leopold earlier this year under the Freedom of Information Act after Clinton's office failed to give a substantive response to the new outlet's request.

Leopold requested the release of reviewed emails once a week.

The State Department initially offered to release all the emails next January but later it revised its offer, suggesting a release in batches once every 60 days.

The issue of the emails garnered attention after Clinton, who is now running for the post of U.S. president, admitted she used her private email address while serving as head of the State Department between 2009 and 2012.

The State Department last Friday released nearly 300 emails from Clinton related to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

WASHINGTON

The completion date is set to come three days before the first preliminary election for the U.S. presidency in Iowa.

Leopold requested the release of reviewed emails once a week.

The State Department initially offered to release all the emails next January but later it revised its offer, suggesting a release in batches once every 60 days.

The State Department last Friday released nearly 300 emails from Clinton related to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.