President Obama’s spokesman said Friday that the White House had no role in delaying the release of some of Hillary Clinton’s emails until after early states hold their primary contests.
“I can tell you with full confidence that there has been no political interference in this process,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
The State Department is releasing 1,000 pages of Mrs. Clinton’s emails Friday night, but the department has about 8,000 more pages that it has chosen not to release yet. Vice reporter Jason Leopold is suing the department in federal court for all the documents.
Critics are accusing the administration of delaying the release deliberately until after key primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina hold their elections, in which Mrs. Clinton is facing a tougher-than-expected challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Mr. Earnest said he believes delay in releasing emails has occurred because of the large volume of documents, and because administration officials are “being quite conscientious about the need to coordinate with other agencies that may have a stake” in the release. Various federal agencies are examining the documents to determine whether they contained classified information.
Asked whether White House officials are worried that Mrs. Clinton will be indicted, Mr. Earnest replied that the FBI investigation “does not seem to be headed in that direction.” But he said he was basing that only on a previous comment from the Justice Department that Mrs. Clinton is not a “target” of the probe.
White House officials are said to be increasingly worried that Mrs. Clinton could be indicted in the midst of the presidential race, or that FBI agents will interview her as part of the probe, creating more negative publicity for her campaign.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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