State Department to release Hillary Clinton's emails by January 2016

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- The State Department proposed an early 2016 deadline for releasing portions of the 55,000 pages of emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private server.

The department made the proposal Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Vice News that sought copies of all of Clinton's emails. The department noted that readying the documents for public release would be a labor-intensive and time-consuming venture.

Noting the public interest in the case, John F. Hackett, acting director of the Office of Information Programs and Services at the State Department, said the department is working to complete the review of the emails as quickly as possible.

"The collection is, however, voluminous and, due to the breadth of topics, the nature of the communications, and the interests of several agencies, presents several challenges," he said.

Hackett said 12 State Department staffers have been assigned to review Clinton's emails. He said the emails will be redacted at a pace of about 1,000 a week and sent to legal advisers for a final review.

Clinton, considered the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential election, has said she wants the documents released quickly. The disclosure that she conducted State Department business from a private email account has been dogging her since it was revealed earlier this year.

In the coming days, the department is expected to release about 900 pages of Clinton's emails related to the attack on the American outposts in Benghazi that killed four Americans.