A Maryland judge has ordered the state bar to open an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s three lawyers who helped delete thousands of her emails deemed personal when she was Secretary of State. Texas lawyer Ty Clevenger who lives in New York filed a complaint against lawyers Cheryl Mills, David Kendall and Heather Samuelson.
David Kendall who is a personal lawyer of the Hillary Clinton for over 20 years is part of the investigation. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images
Circuit Judge Paul F. Harris Jr. said the complaints lodged against the trio were “egregious” and said the state bar couldn’t brush them aside by calling them “frivolous.”
“There are allegations of destroying evidence,” said Judge Harris on Monday morning, where he said the state’s rules require the bar to conduct investigations no matter who raises the complaint, and can’t brush accusations aside.
Cheryl Mills who is a close confidant of Hillary Clinton and was Chief of Staff at the State Department is one of the three attorney under investigation. Credit: Stephen Crowley/NYT
At the end of her tenure as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was required by law to handover all her emails back to the government according to Federal Record Keeping laws. However, rather than turn them over, Clinton with the assistance of her legal team sifted through the huge cache of emails using search terms, handed over what they deemed were work-related emails and deleted the ones deemed personal.
Mr. Clevenger who has pursued sanctions against Hillary Clinton and her legal team in several venues is also pressing the FBI to release details of its investigation of her emails. Since the charge in the complaint “appears to have merit,” a state board that handles professional complaints will now proceed with the investigation.
Texas-born lawyer Ty Clevenger is known as the ‘legal hitman’ for his propensity to taken down Judges, Lawyers and most powerful is going after Hillary Clinton lawyers over the email deletion scandal. Credit: Dallas Morning News
Bars in Arkansas where the Clintons lived and began their political journey and in District of Columbia as well as federal courts, had brushed aside requests from Mr. Clevenger who is seeking to have the lawyers disbarred or suspended.
But Judge Harris said Mr. Clevenger’s request “appears to have merit,” and Maryland Bar Counsel which had earlier ruled the complaint as “frivolous” will now have to launch an investigation and demand a response from the lawyers.
The three lawyers – David Kendall, a longtime Clinton lawyer, Cheryl Mills a long-time Clinton associate and former State Department Chief of Staff and Heather Samuelson – are all licensed to practice law in the state of Maryland.
The trio of Hillary Clinton lawyers accused of helping delete 33,000 emails, Cheryl Mills (L), David Kendall (C) and Heather Mills (R). Credit: Public Domain
Speaking to the Baltimore Sun, Clevenger said, “My thesis is: If you are a politically prominent attorney, you are held to a different standard. I’ve seen this in Texas, California…I choose this case because I knew people would pay attention,” he said to the Sun he said to the Sun which got no response from the trio of Clinton attorney.
Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State used a secret email account tied to a private server she kept at her home in New York to conduct official business in violation of State Department policy. Although the FBI said it risked national security, it the Bureau said Clinton was too inept to understand the risks she was running.
Hillary Clinton with James Comey, then acting FBI Director who exonerated her on the emails and private server investigation. Credit: AP/Getty Images
During the investigation, Clinton maintained that she didn’t knowingly send or receive classified information on the private server. Then acting former FBI director James Comey released a statement on July 5, 2016 saying Clinton’s administration was careless but the email usage didn’t rise to pursuing charges.
Clinton deleted 33,000 emails she deemed were personal after the State asked her to turn them over, eventually turning over 30,000 others.
Maryland’s Attorney Grievance Commission had tried to sideline Mr. Clevenger last year, arguing he had “no personal knowledge of the allegations” so they weren’t going to investigate.
Cheryl Mills during the Benghazi Hearing. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images
Alexis Rohde, a lawyer representing the grievance commission said they have already determined the complaint is “frivolous” but refused to explain any further citing the confidentiality clause binding her from doing so.
“Because all these complaints are confidential, I’m unable to put that before the court,” she said.
Judge Harris rejected that explanation pointing out that this was the first time the Commission had used the term “frivolous” to explain its decision. He also said the rules were clear that the commission needed to investigate.
“I just think this is a rather easy decision at this point,” he said. “The court is ordering bar counsel to investigate.”
The ruling comes a day before Hillary Clinton begins her much dreaded book tour for ‘What Happened’ on Tuesday, something the Democrats wish she could forget and move on.
A Washington Times original report. Additional editing by Manyika Review.
