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Executive Privilege Invoked on Some Clinton Benghazi Emails

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On Wednesday the State Department confirmed that executive privilege was enacted on a “small” amount of emails provided by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Benghazi Select Committee through the State Department. State Department Spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the Department invoked the executive privilege due to ” important executive branch institutional interests.” Kirby declined to provide the exact number of emails that were withheld, but asked Fox News White House Correspondent Ed Henry to keep “in Admiral Kirby, could you talk a little bit about Secretary Clinton’s emails? The State Department has now told the House Select Committee on Benghazi that you’re withholding a small number of documents from investigators because of what is called in a letter, “important executive branch institutional interests.” Is the State Department invoking executive privilege? There’s — what we’re — what we’re doing Ed, is there are a small number that are — are being withheld for executive privilege purposes. That is not uncommon, it’s not atypical. And I would hasten to add that you know, you need to keep it in perspective compared to the wide swathe, just an amazing amount of material that’s already been provided to the select committee. You know, 50,000 pages or more of documents, more than 23 witnesses, and will continue to provide documents. But the White House has very rarely invoked executive privilege. You’re right that you’ve turned over a lot of documents in this investigation, but executive privilege is very rarely invoked. So I just want to be clear. So you’re saying that executive privilege has been invoked now with respect to the Benghazi committee? A small number of responsive documents are not included in this production because they implicate executive branch institutional interests. OK. And how many — when you say a small number, under 10, under five? I don’t have a number for you.

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