The State Department said Monday that they will be releasing a portion of 14,900 Hillary Clinton emails discovered by the FBI in the course of their investigation into her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.
Although the agency has not yet determined how many the nearly 15,000 emails are new or are in fact work-related, as the Deputy Spokesperson for the Department said today, “that's a healthy number there. So there's likely to be quite a few.”
The selection of the 14,900 emails now being released were not part of the close to 30,000 emails — over 52,000 pages — turned over by Clinton’s lawyers in 2014 and released by the State Department in weekly and monthly installments for almost a year.
Related: State Dept: FBI found 15,000 more Clinton emails
These additional emails will also be processed and released by the State Department, this time in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
In a district court hearing, Judicial Watch expressed an urgency that these new emails be released before election day but the judge gave the government agency until September 23rd before a production schedule had to be finalized.
Clinton said previously that she believed she had turned over all work-related emails within her custody to the agency, but this will not be the first time the State Department releases previously unseen Clinton email exchanges in response to a FOIA request by Judicial Watch.
Related: Clinton Told FBI Colin Powell Recommended Private Email: Sources
On Monday, 725 pages of emails were published by the conservative group, handed over by the State Department in response to a separate FOIA court filing for the emails of the former secretary’s top aide Huma Abedin. These pages include 20 previously unreleased exchanges with the former secretary of state as well as emails the conservative watchdog alleges show Clinton Foundation donors were given preferential treatment.
Many of the email exchanges are between Abedin and then top Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band. One such exchange from May 2009 shows Band asking for Abedin’s help in procuring a quick visa interview for a British citizen with a criminal charge.
At first Abedin responds, "I doubt we can do anything but maybe we can help with an interview. I’ll ask."
Later in the email exchange she express concern, “I got this now, makes me nervous to get involved but I’ll ask.”
Band responds, “Then don’t.”
Responding to the Judicial Watch press release in a statement, Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin pointed out, “The emails themselves show that nothing happened here.”
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In a June 2009 exchange, Band told Abedin that Bahraini Crown Prince Salman wished to meet with the secretary, adding, “good friend of ours.”
Abedin responded that the crown prince has already gone through the “normal channels” but a few days later appears to arrange the meeting. Bahrain has donated close to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation according to their website.
“Meeting with foreign leaders is, by definition, the role of the secretary of state,” a Clinton spokesperson responded in a statement. "These emails show that the meeting was set up through official channels."
The State Department also pushed back Monday saying there was “no evidence of any behavior, any relations with the Clinton Foundation that weren't completely above board.”
"There was no impropriety," said State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. "This was simply evidence of the way the process works in that any secretary of state has aids who are getting e-mails or contacts by a broad range of individuals and organizations."
