The head of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday pushed back on the notion that his party is filing a frivolous or redundant lawsuit against the State Department in its effort to obtain the records of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“We filed the original request over six months ago. Under the law, you have to provide for a reasonable amount of time for agencies and governments to comply with open records requests. So after many attempts, and stonewalling from the State Department, our lawsuit becomes ripe after a certain period of time. And now is the time,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said on Fox News’ “Happening Now.”
Host Jenna Lee pointed out that several other entities had already filed similar lawsuits, including two government agencies, and that the RNC could be fined for frivolous litigation if their lawsuit is found to be redundant.
“You have the Department of Justice, you have the [Federal Bureau of Investigation], you have Judicial Watch, and they’re farther ahead than you are at this point. So what exactly are you looking for that these [others] are not pursuing?” Lee asked.
“We’re looking for the State Department to comply,” Priebus responded. “We have standing in our lawsuit for them to comply. And maybe if the court sees that we are being stonewalled by multiple parties, the multiplicity of what’s happening is completely and utterly ridiculous.”
“It’s totally wrong to say that the lawsuit is [duplicative] or that it’s frivolous. We have an independent ground, and we independently have standing in this case,” he added.
The RNC on Wednesday filed two lawsuits against the State Department for failing to respond to open records requests submitted in October and December. Those requests sought communication sent or received by members of Clinton’s staff both in the State Department and on her campaign.
“We have a right, as an entity, this is nothing new,” Priebus said on Fox. “Political parties, entities across the country, are always looking for documents. We have a right to see these documents, we have a right to the same information that any other group out there has a right to see.”
