Judge orders search for more of Hillary Clinton's Benghazi emails

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered the Department of State to search for additional emails Hillary Clinton may have written about the 2012 Benghazi attack.

The judge's order relates to Freedom of Information Act requests from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled the State Department has not put enough effort into tracking down messages Clinton may have sent about the assault in which four Americans were killed, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Judicial Watch argued the State Department did not search properly for Clinton's emails because it only conducted searches on external sources. Mehta agreed.

"To date, State has searched only data compilations originating from outside sources -- Secretary Clinton, her former aides, and the FBI," Mehta wrote in the ruling. "It has not, however, searched the one records system over which it has always had control and that is almost certain to contain some responsive records: the state.gov e-mail server ... Therefore, State has an obligation to search its own server for responsive records."

Mehta ordered a status report by Sept. 22. Clinton was shrouded in controversy after it was revealed she used a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 until 2013 -- controversy which extended throughout the 2016 presidential campaign.

Prior to Mehta's order, the State Department said it found 348 Benghazi-related messages or documents that Clinton sent or received in a period of five months after the attack.

Judge orders State Department to search for more of Clinton's Benghazi emails by United Press International on Scribd