Clinton Aide Who Avoided FOIA Insists He Didn’t Want to Avoid FOIA When He Wrote “I Want to Avoid FOIA”
J.K. Trotter · 12/17/15 10:20AMFormer State Department official and longtime Hillary Clinton operative Philippe Reines has repeatedly stated that his email practices at State were aboveboard—even though he was caught lying about using a personal email address to conduct official government business. But new emails obtained by Gawker show that on at least one occasion, Reines discussed skirting the federal open-records law known as the Freedom of Information Act. According to the emails, he told two reporters,“I want to avoid FOIA.” Reines’ attorney dismisses the comment as a joke—but if it was, it was of the funny-because-it’s-true variety.