RNC: Request to delay emails a ‘blatant attempt’ to help Hillary Clinton

The Republican National Committee on Friday accused the State Department of delaying the final release of Hillary Clinton’s emails to boost her presidential campaign.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said the Obama administration was trying to help Clinton skate through early primary contests.

{mosads}“It’s clear that the State Department’s delay is all about ensuring any further damaging developments in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal are revealed only after the votes are counted in the early nominating states,” Priebus said in a statement.

“A ruling in favor of this blatant attempt to shield Hillary Clinton from accountability would further erode trust in our political system.”

In a court filing on Friday, the State Department said that an internal oversight and the massive snowstorm barreling through Washington would delay its efforts to have the final batch of Clinton’s emails out later this month.

Some emails will be released on the original deadline of Jan. 29, the department said. But others might not be out until Feb. 29 — after Democratic voters head to the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

A federal judge will need to rule on whether the deadline can be pushed back.

Clinton’s use of a private email server has proven a consistent headache for her campaign, with more than 1,300 messages found to contain some level of classified information. But both the State Department and Clinton’s presidential campaign insist that nothing in her inbox was classified at the time it was sent.

In a statement, department spokesman Mark Toner dismissed concerns that the new delay was about a disagreement over classification levels of Clinton’s documents.

“State Department staff have been working extremely hard to process these emails and we are committed to getting them out,” Toner said.

Priebus said the administration needs to be held accountable.

“The American people should be outraged at the Obama administration’s gamesmanship to protect someone who recklessly exposed classified information on more than 1,300 occasions, including highly sensitive top secret intelligence,” he said.

“Hillary Clinton has already violated the public trust by putting our national security at risk in order to skirt transparency laws,” Priebus added. “Let’s hope her friends at the State Department aren’t allowed to continue doing the same.”