White House Declines to Release Emails Between Hillary and Obama

The White House blocked the release of emails between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama, an administration official said today. The move comes as over 7,000 pages of emails from Clinton’s private servers were released this afternoon.

The State Department released thousands of emails today as part of an ongoing discovery process from dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits filed against the department.

According to The New York Times, officials at the White House decided against disclosing correspondence between Obama and Clinton, citing “a long history of presidential records being kept confidential while the president is in office.”

By law, the president’s private emails are exempt from FOIA lawsuits. A White House official told reporters that Obama is relying on a precedent set by former administrations, noting that emails between Obama and Clinton will be made public after the president leaves office.

The official said the move by the Obama administration “goes to the core of the president’s ability to receive unvarnished advice and counsel during his time in office,” adding that an expectation of private communications is essential to “the independent functioning of the Executive Branch.”

[Image via shutterstock]

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