Hillary Clinton 'Doesn't Recall' A Whole Lot in Email Server Lawsuit

"I do not recall" was Hillary Clinton's answer nearly two dozen times in response to questions regarding her use of a private email server submitted by conservative activist group Judicial Watch. The answers were part of a filing Thursday in response to the group's lawsuit.

The group, which had wanted to depose her in person, was told by the judge in the case that it would have to submit written questions to which it would receive written answers.

"Secretary Clinton states that she does not recall considering factors other than convenience in deciding to use a personal e-mail account to conduct official State Department business," her lawyers write.

"In the Senate, when Secretary Clinton began using email, she used a personal account for both work related and personal email. Secretary Clinton decided to transition from the account she used in her tenure to the clintonemail.com account. She recalls that it was created in early 2009."

Mostly, Clinton's responses mirrored those that she had given to the FBI during its investigation.

Judicial Watch has been trying to demonstrate that Clinton was using the personal server, in part, to avoid complying with freedom of information requests. Clinton gave no ground in response to questions on that topic.

"Secretary Clinton does not recall whether she had a specific expectation that the State Department would receive FOIA requests for or concerning her e-mail," her lawyer answered.

At another point, Judicial Watch lawyers ask her about an email exchange in August 2011 in which some of her top aides discuss giving her a State Department BlackBerry or State Department email address.

"Secretary Clinton does not recall requesting a State Department-issued Blackberry or a State Department e-mail account in or around August 2011," was the answer of her lawyers.

"Does not recall" is part of the answer on 20 separate occasions. Twice she declined to answer the question on the basis that her lawyers maintained they were outside the scope authorized by the judge.

While her answers didn't reveal anything groundbreaking, there were some interesting tidbits.

Clinton makes it clear that she was under the impression — which turned out to be mistaken — that all of her emails sent to official State email addresses were being archived.

"She understood that, because her practice was to e-mail State Department staff on their state.gov accounts, her e-mail was being captured in the State Department’s record-keeping systems," her lawyers wrote.

Photo Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons