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Group Sues State Department to Release Clinton Schedule

Citizens United has been trying to get Clinton’s schedule as secretary since March

Hillary Rodham Clinton
AP
October 20, 2015

A conservative nonprofit group is suing the Department of State to release details about Hillary Clinton’s schedule during her tenure there, according to court documents filed on Monday.

Citizens United initially submitted a public information request for the information on the former secretary of state last March, but the State Department has yet to turn over any documents. The nonprofit group has several similar suits pending against the State Department.

The group is asking for any records related to "a schedule, appointment, event, appearance, or any other anticipated commitment of presence" from Clinton that were sent by her schedulers Lona Valmoro and Linda Dewan, according to the initial request filing.

Although the State Department said in a letter to Citizens United last April that it had "determined that [the] request does warrant expedited processing," the department has not produced a response.

In the Monday court filing, Citizens United asked that the U.S. district court in D.C. require the State Department to conduct a search of its records and produce any responsive documents within a determined timeline.

Citizens United said it "didn’t anticipate subject matter as straight forward as Secretary Clinton’s schedule would take seven months and counting to produce," but that the slow response from the State Department appears to be part of a pattern.

"The bottom line continues to be, you will likely not receive any public documents from the State Department unless you file a federal lawsuit and that’s what we’ve done today," said David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United.

Citizens United is also suing the State Department for failing to respond to other public records requests, including one for correspondence between top Clinton aides and the Clinton Foundation. Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered the department to turn over responsive documents by Oct. 22.

The State Department has said it is overwhelmed with records requests. It recently said it was hiring 50 additional staffers to deal with the backlog.