In what is thought by some to be a move to stave off a common ploy in the Obama administration's support for Clinton, lawyers for Jason Leopold filed a motion to prevent the State Department from extending the release date for emails sent and received by the former secretary of state and current democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
The 13-page document filed Monday seeks to prevent the state department from gaining "an extension of time to complete production of Clinton emails."
I filed #FOIA request for all HRC emails in Nov 2014, sued in Jan 2015. Story abt private email broke March 2015 https://t.co/E4RNHAM2Hd
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) January 26, 2016
Earlier, Vice News journalist Jason Leopold demanded the department make thousands of Clinton emails public, adding that any extension of the timeline would lead to "irrevocable harm."
According to lawyers, the department's explanation for postponing the release of the final part of emails to January 29 "is woefully vague."
"The State has failed to show good cause for the requested extension, that it is necessary or that the interests of justice will be served by granting it," the plaintiff claimed.
If the court satisfies the department's request and extends the release for another month, voters in the first four primary states will not be able to benefit from any political revelations contained therein.
"[I]f the Court allows State to delay release of thousands of pages of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's official work emails, a substantial portion of the electorate will be forced to vote without the benefit of important information to which it is entitled about the performance of one of the candidates for U.S. President while serving as Secretary of State," the lawyers wrote.
Lawyers Ryan James and Jeffrey Light expressed concern that the final group of emails could contain "the most controversial records," and thus be the reason the department is asking for additional time.
