Former State Department Director of Information Programs and Services (IPS) John Hackett claims he raised concerns with key Clinton aides after they “culled out” 30,000 of the secretary’s “personal emails” without following proper protocols.
Hackett told Judicial Watch during a recent deposition, “Well, we heard that there were 50,000 or 60,000 emails, and that they had—‘they’ being the secretary’s team—had culled out 30,000 of these.”
The Epoch Times reports:
Hackett went on to explain that he “wanted to know what criteria they used” in culling the 30,000 emails because “the standard from the National Archives is very strict.”
The National Archives oversees record preservation throughout the federal government.
“If there was, if there were mixed records, that would be considered a federal record,” Hackett told Judicial Watch. “If it was mixed personal and mentioned a discussion, that would be, under the narrow National Archives rules, it would be considered a federal record.”
Hackett said he first raised the issue in an emphatic manner with then-Under-Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy, a member of Clinton’s inner circle of most-trusted aides.
“I have to say, it was emphatic to [Kennedy] and I didn’t speak in tones like that very often to him, you know, that we needed these, you know, the guidelines,” Hackett said.
He told Judicial Watch he thinks he may also have raised the issue with a second State Department official, Rich Visek of the Office of Legal Adviser.
Hackett also found himself questioning Clinton’s use of a Blackberry after seeing a press photo of her using the device.
“And that got me thinking that, well, what, what was that BlackBerry? Was it a government BlackBerry? And if so, where were the emails relating to that BlackBerry,” he questioned.
The official said he raised his concerns about the Blackberry with then-IPS Director Sheryl Walter “and suggested that we had to be careful about what sort of responses we made relating to Hillary Clinton’s emails … if there was a ‘No Record Located’ response that was being given out.”
“In fact, I advised Sheryl that we should stop giving No Record Located responses until we come to … find out what that BlackBerry meant, come to ground about what was known about the former secretary’s emailing habits.”
According to Hackett, Walter agreed with him.
For the full report, click HERE.
