The Justice Department is not obligated under the Freedom of Information Act to turn over emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent from her privately maintained account, government lawyers told a federal appeals court Thursday, reported Politico.
"Such action is unnecessary and inappropriate under FOIA," wrote Justice Department lawyers Matthew Collette and Catherine Dorsey in a legal briefing filed Thursday. "FOIA creates no obligation for an agency to search for and produce records that it does not possess and control."
The filing is in response to a case launched by Larry Klayman, founder of the conservative watchdog group Freedom Watch. Klayman is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. to subpoena Clinton's private home-based computer server from which she hosted the private email address she used to conduct official federal business during her tenure at the State Department.
In December, Clinton turned over roughly 30,000 emails to the State Department that she sent or received on her private email account, but deleted about 30,000 more that she deemed private and personal in nature, prompting outrage from transparency advocates.
In the Justice Department's brief, it described Klayman's call for a subpoena as "speculation," reported The Hill.
"Plaintiff provides no basis, beyond sheer speculation, to believe that former Secretary Clinton withheld any work-related emails from those provided to the Department of State," the agency wrote.
It's the first time that the Justice Department has officially addressed the government's accountability for Clinton's private emails, noted The Hill.
The DOJ said that once the State Department reviews Clinton's emails, it will relinquish any relating to Klayman's request.
