After digitizing all 55,000 pages of Hillary Clinton’s private emails, the State Department discovered new records related to Benghazi and Libya that it had previously missed when sifting through the boxes of emails by hand.
Agency officials now plan to hand over 925 new records to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, according to a senior State Department official.
The State Department had previously given the committee 296 emails related to Benghazi, which officials identified earlier this year as they sorted hard copies of the roughly 30,000 emails Clinton turned over last year.
Chairman Trey Gowdy has repeatedly blasted the agency for its refusal to provide requested documents, blaming delays in the investigation on the State Department’s slow pace of production.
The courts are also beginning to criticize State for its seeming reluctance to cooperate with Freedom of Information Act requests.
A federal judge expressed concern Tuesday that the agency had exaggerated the amount of time it would take to perform a simple computer search for responsive documents, demanding officials move up a proposed timeline for doing so.
Jamal Ware, spokesman for the Benghazi Committee, said lawmakers had not yet received the new Clinton emails.
“The State Department, which has failed to comply with multiple Benghazi Committee requests and failed to act in good faith, is now indicating it intends to foster a more cooperative relationship with the committee,” Ware said Friday. “It’s curious the department is suddenly able to be more productive after recent staff changes involving those responsible for document production.”
Ware said members of the committee would not publicly discuss the content of the new emails until they had been “thoroughly examined.”
“If indeed this is a sign the stonewalling and political protection effort that was previously being run by the Department is diminishing, the committee welcomes it,” Ware said. “The proof will be in the production.”
News that the State Department could soon triple the number of available emails related to Benghazi and Libya, which congressional investigators have been requesting for more than a year, could reignite the probe as it heads into its final months.
Gowdy has said he hopes to wind down the investigation by the end of the year so as not to interfere with the presidential election in 2016.
Clinton herself is set to testify before the select committee Oct. 22, marking the second time she has appeared before Congress to discuss Benghazi since the attack in 2012.
The senior State Department official said the emails contain “discussions referring or relating [to] Libya.” The official said the emails do not change the agency’s “fundamental” understanding of the events surrounding the Benghazi attack, but that they were given to the committee so lawmakers could better prepare for Clinton’s hearing next month.
