Pompeo vows to produce Clinton emails amid Trump criticism, questions about Hatch Act
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Wednesday that the State Department would “do everything we can” to get declassified Hillary Clinton emails to the American people and pushed back against suggestions that such a disclosure might violate federal law.
“We’ll make sure that all of these emails get to the right place,” Pompeo said, “and we will do everything we can to make sure that the American people get a chance to see as much as we can equitably produce.”
Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman and CIA director, scoffed at the idea that releasing such documents just before an election might run afoul of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in politically motivated activities.
“Releasing emails for the sake of transparency can’t possibly be a violation of the Hatch Act. That’s a ridiculous question,” Pompeo said. “We’ll continue to do the right thing.”
President Donald Trump leveled rare criticism of Pompeo in multiple interviews last week, including one on Fox where he vented frustration that the Clinton emails had not been declassified.
“They’re in the State Department, but Mike Pompeo has been unable to get them out, which is very sad,” Trump said. “Actually I’m not happy about him for that reason. He was unable to get them out. I don’t know why. If you’re running the State Department, you get them out. Forget about the fact that they were classified, let’s go. Maybe Mike Pompeo finally finds them.”
Pompeo told reporters Wednesday that declassifying and producing the emails has been slowed for multiple reasons, including reduced staffing because of COVID-19.
“We’ll make sure we make the right decisions for the American people in transparency,” he said. “It’s what we’ve done for my 2 1/2 years as Secretary of State. It’s what we’ll do every single day until I’m no longer Secretary of State.”
