US State Department not to release Clinton records as GOP wants

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets supporters during a campaign event at Truckee Meadows Community College on August 25, 2016 in Reno, Nevada. (AFP)

The US State Department says it will not comply with the GOP demand for records from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton until after the November presidential election.

In a court filing late Monday, the Republican National Committee insisted that the department should release all the 1,600 pages about formal events during her tenure as the secretary.

“Time is of the essence,” the committee said. “The RNC cannot agree to a summary-judgment briefing schedule that extends into next year.”

The department said earlier this week that two-thirds of Clinton’s records held in the Diplomatic Reception Room cannot be made public.

A federal judge will have to see into the matter before the department’s proposed schedule can be approved.

Clinton’s use of private server to send and receive emails as the secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 has been used against her bid for the White House in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Newly released emails earlier this month showed that the now Democratic nominee gave special access to donors of the Clinton Foundation as the secretary of state in the first Obama administration.

According to the Associated Press, more than half of her meetings with non-governmental officials at the time were with donors to the so-called charity organization, established by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.