Judicial Watch Lawsuit Forces National Archives to Release Hillary Clinton's White House Daily Schedule Records

Market Wire, March, 2008

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the National Archives and Records Administration will release 11,046 pages of former First Lady Hillary Clinton's daily schedule records, comprising 2,888 days of schedules, on March 19 at 10 a.m. in response to Judicial Watch's lawsuit in the matter [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Civil Action No: 1:07-cv-01267 (JR)]. As soon as practical, Judicial Watch will post the documents on its Internet site.

On March 1, the National Archives notified the U.S. District Court that it anticipated Hillary's daily schedule records would be available on or before March 20, the date of a status hearing in Judicial Watch's lawsuit: "The Clinton Presidential Library ('Library') completed its exacting page-by-page, line-by-line review of approximately 10,000 of the 30,000 pages of records potentially responsive to [Judicial Watch's] April 5, 2006 Freedom of Information Act request ('Request') that is the subject of this action."

The National Archives stated in its brief: "The Library has notified the Presidential representatives of the records scheduled for disclosure and anticipates that it will produce those records to plaintiff Judicial Watch, Inc. in advance of the March 20, 2008 hearing." The National Archives, however, suggests it will take "one to two years" to begin processing Hillary Clinton's telephone logs.

"It is about time. We're pleased, thanks to Judicial Watch's lawsuit, that the American people will be able to review Hillary's daily schedule records. The Clintons slow-pedaled this process but were unsuccessful in delaying the document release any further," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "However, this does not put an end to Judicial Watch's pursuit of Hillary's White House records, including her telephone logs. It would be an injustice to force the American people to wait 'one to two years' for the telephone logs of a candidate for the presidency. We are asking the court to force the National Archives to comply with the law and release these records as soon as possible."

With respect to the telephone logs, Judicial Watch filed a new court brief on March 17, 2008 seeking limited discovery concerning the handling of documents requests by the Archives. Judicial Watch also seeks access to records related to the National Task Force on National Health Care Reform, a "cabinet-level" taskforce chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a separate lawsuit [Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Civil Action No: 07-1987 (PLF)].

For more information on Judicial Watch's campaign to force the release of Hillary Clinton's White House records, please visit the Judicial Watch website. To see the court brief, see highlighted links.

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Contact: Jill Farrell 202-646-5188