ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow told CNSNews.com that what triggered the lawsuit was the “definitive” answer from the FBI without any requests for an extension, along with silence from the DOJ, the second recipient of the FOIA request.
“This issue only stood out to us at the time that they made the declaration [that the records did not exist], now we know that declaration was wrong,” Sekulow said. “The Comey FBI lied to us.”
Sekulow said he does not believe the discrepancy was due to negligence or an overwhelming workload at the FBI, arguing that if it had been the case, the agency “would not have been responsive at all.”
“This is in direct contravention to the law, and we are preparing further legal action to force the FBI to come clean and turn over all documents related to this matter to us in a timely manner,” he said.
The released emails include several exchanges between FBI media official Richard Quinn and DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs Director Melanie Newman.
One of those emails, sent by Newman under the subject line “FLAG”, said she wanted to “flag a story that is gaining some traction” about the “casual, unscheduled meeting” between Lynch and President Clinton.
She instructed Quinn to “let me know if you get any questions about this.”
Newman in the email also provide Quinn with some talking points. Although they are supposedly public statements – and separate emails indicate that they had been sent to reporters of major media outlets – the talking points, as well as many other parts of the release, were redacted.
An email sent by Newman to another staff member on July 1, titled “FBI just called,” shows that the agency was “asking for guidance” in responding to media questions about reports stating FBI agents had ordered ‘No photos, no picture, no cell phones’ at the Clinton-Lynch meeting.