The conservative political organization Citizens United on Thursday demanded the federal government hand over any documents showing that State Department officials discussed the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server with Democrats.
The organization filed a pair of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests asking the State Department to give up any records showing that officials referenced the ongoing investigation or the department’s internal watchdog with top congressional Democrats or Clinton’s presidential campaign.
{mosads}“Citizens United wants to know if congressional Democrats are acting as defense attorneys for Hillary Clinton by seeking to politicize and undermine the State Department Inspector General’s investigation,” group President David Bossie said in a statement to The Hill. “Similarly, we want to know if Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is inappropriately communicating with Democrat political appointees at the State Department about the status of the State Department Inspector General’s investigation.”
Thursday’s filing comes after a super-PAC aligned with Clinton asked the government last week to hand over messages between the feds and Republicans in Congress.
Critics of Clinton have seized on her unconventional email setup, which is currently being investigated by the FBI, to claim that the former secretary of State jeopardized national security and shielded herself from public scrutiny.
Democrats have returned fire, claiming that sources aligned with Republicans have selectively leaked damaging evidence against Clinton.
One Citizens United FOIA request on Thursday asked for copies of communications between “any U.S. State Department employee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign,” including top officials John Podesta, Roby Mook, Jake Sullivan and Jennifer Palmieri. The second FOIA request looks for interaction between department employees and 15 separate Democratic offices on Capitol Hill.