June 2, 2016

State Department Releases Documents Signed By Hillary Clinton's Aides About Classified National Security Emails



Former state employee Brian Pagliano also asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination before the House Benghazi committee.

[From article]
Senior Hillary Clinton aide Jake Sullivan and former tech support staffer Brian Pagliano each signed agreements with the government pledging not to disclose classified information, according to government documents released Thursday by Republicans.
Both men signed the nondisclosure statements swearing to protect 'marked or unmarked classified information, including email communications,' according to documents released by the Republican National Committee.
The document each of them signed is called a form 312, which requires federal employees to swear, under potential criminal penalty, that they won't mishandle classified information.
Sullivan is a senior campaign advisor who served as Clinton's direct (sic) of policy planning at State, and who sent more than 200 emails that weren't marked classified at the time but were later found to be classified following an agency review.
That review occurred after revelations Clinton maintained her own home email server rather than conducting business on a State.gov account.
The matter is currently under investigation by the FBI.
Pagliano was an IT staffer for Clinton's 2008 campaign, and helped to set up her server at her home in Chappaqua, New York.


Jake Sullivan, a top foreign policy advisor to Clinton at her campaign, left, with Hillary Clinton

Pagliano invoked his 5th Amendment right not to testify in a lawsuit by Judicial Watch related to the email scandal.
"Mr. Pagliano will invoke his right under the Fifth Amendment and decline to testify at the deposition" scheduled for June 6, attorneys Mark MacDougall and Connor Mullin wrote in a court filing.
The documents state that the signers have received 'security indoctrination' about proper handling of classified information.
Spreading such information could cause 'damager or irreparable injury' to the U.S. government, according to the language included in the document.
Pagliano is also seeking to prohibit an 'audiovisual recording' of his deposition, citing constitutional arguments and the risk of 'absue.'
Clinton's longtime aide Cheryl Mills recently gave a deposition and was able to prevent release of a video recording, although a transcript was released.
The RNC got the documents through a FOIA request from the State Department. They released them hours before Clinton delivered a slashing foreign policy address in San Diego where she ripped Donald Trump as 'dangerously incoherent' and said he was unequipped to be near the nation's nuclear codes.
'These documents show that the conspiracy to conceal Hillary Clinton's emails from the public involved many top aides casting aside their sworn obligations to protect classified information in the interest of her political ambition,' said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
'Hillary Clinton endangered our national security and created a culture where top staffers went rogue, silenced career officials and hid a reckless email scheme that placed her political ambitions above all else,' he added. 'These records show that like Clinton, her closest aides did not meet their responsibilities to protect classified information regardless of whether it was marked.'
The document release was just the latest instance of the email scandal intruding on Clinton's campaign schedule. Throughout the past year, the State Department has released troves of internal documents from those Clinton handed over to the agency after she left her post in 2013.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3622803/Bad-sign-Republicans-release-signed-documents-Clinton-aides-caught-email-scandal-pledging-protect-marked-unmarked-classified-information.html

Bad sign: Republicans release signed documents from Clinton aides dragged into email scandal pledging to protect 'marked and unmarked' classified information
Campaign aide and former state official Jake Sullivan signed document pledging to protect classified info 'including email communications'
So did tech aide Brian Pagliano, whose lawyers say he plans to take the Fifth rather than answer questions in a Judicial Watch lawsuit
The papers were standard for such federal employees, but Republicans released them Thursday in what looks like a bid to undercut Hillary Clinton on the day of a major foreign policy speech where she blasted Donald Trump
Clinton is under FBI investigation in connection with the email scandal
By GEOFF EARLE, DEPUTY U.S. POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE.COM
PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 2 June 2016 | UPDATED: 18:42 EST, 2 June 2016

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