Transcript of Huma Abedin Date: June 28, 2016 Case: Judicial Watch, Inc. -v- U.S. Department of State Planet Depos, LLC Phone: 888-433-3767 Fax: 888-503-3767 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.planetdepos.com Worldwide Court Reporting | Interpretation | Trial Services 1 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x 4 JUDICIAL WATCH, INC., : 5 Plaintiff, : 6 v. : Civil Action No. 7 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, : 13-cv-1363(EGS) 8 Defendant. : 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X 10 11 Videotaped Deposition of HUMA ABEDIN 12 Washington, DC 13 Tuesday, June 28, 2016 14 9:29 a.m. 15 16 17 18 19 20 Job No.: 113000 21 Pages 1 - 224 22 Reported by: Debra A. Whitehead Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 2 1 Videotaped Deposition of HUMA ABEDIN, held at the 2 offices of: 3 4 BRYAN CAVE, LLP 5 1155 F Street, NW 6 Suite 700 7 Washington, DC 20004-1357 8 (202) 508-6000 9 10 11 12 Pursuant to notice, before Debra A. Whitehead, an 13 Approved Reporter of the United States District Court 14 and Notary Public of the District of Columbia. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 3 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 ON BEHALF OF PLAINTIFF: 3 RAMONA COTCA, ESQUIRE 4 JAMES F. PETERSON, ESQUIRE 5 MICHAEL BEKESHA, ESQUIRE 6 PAUL J. ORFANEDES, ESQUIRE 7 JUDICIAL WATCH, INC. 8 425 Third Street, SW, Suite 800 9 Washington, DC 20024 10 (202) 646-5172 11 12 ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANT: 13 CAROLINE LEWIS WOLVERTON, ESQUIRE 14 MARCIA BERMAN, ESQUIRE 15 STEVEN A. MYERS, ESQUIRE 16 JOHN R. GRIFFITHS, ESQUIRE 17 SARAH E. PROSSER, ESQUIRE 18 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 19 CIVIL DIVISION 20 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW 21 Washington, DC 20530 22 (202) 514-2205 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 4 1 A P P E A R A N C E S C O N T I N U E D 2 ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANT: 3 ALISON R. WELCHER, ESQUIRE 4 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE 5 OFFICE OF THE LEGAL ADVISOR 6 2201 C Street, NW 7 Washington, DC 20520 8 (202) 647-6371 9 10 ON BEHALF OF THE WITNESS: 11 MICHAEL BRILLE, ESQUIRE 12 MARTHA L. GOODMAN, ESQUIRE 13 BOIES, SCHILLER & FLEXNER LLP 14 5301 Wisconsin Avenue, NW 15 Washington, DC 20015 16 (202) 237-2727 17 18 19 20 21 22 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 5 1 A P P E A R A N C E S C O N T I N U E D 2 ON BEHALF OF THE WITNESS: 3 MIGUEL E. RODRIGUEZ, ESQUIRE 4 BRYAN CAVE LLP 5 1155 F Street, NW 6 Washington, DC 20004-1357 7 (202) 508-6000 8 9 10 ALSO PRESENT: 11 JEREMY DINEEN, Video Specialist 12 THOMAS J. FITTON, President, Judicial Watch 13 GREGORY LAUDADIO, Judicial Watch 14 CHEYENNE TRIMELS, Judicial Watch 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 6 1 C O N T E N T S 2 EXAMINATION OF HUMA ABEDIN PAGE 3 By Ms. Cotca 10 4 By Mr. Brille 217 5 By Ms. Cotca 221 6 7 E X H I B I T S 8 (Attached to the Transcript) 9 ABEDIN EXHIBIT PAGE 10 Exhibit 1 Second Amended Subpoena to Testify 12 11 at a Deposition in a Civil Action, 12 Huma Abedin 13 Exhibit 2 E-mail String 80 14 Exhibit 3 E-mail String 94 15 Exhibit 4 3/17/09 E-mail from Purcell Lee 147 16 to Mr. Wagganer et al. 17 Exhibit 5 E-mail String 152 18 Exhibit 6 5/7/09 E-mail from Mrs. Clinton 154 19 to Ms. Jiloty 20 Exhibit 7 E-mail String 158 21 Exhibit 8 E-mail String 161 22 Exhibit 9 E-mail String 166 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 7 1 E X H I B I T S C O N T I N U E D 2 ABEDIN EXHIBIT PAGE 3 Exhibit 10 E-mail String 180 4 Exhibit 11 E-mail String 195 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 8 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 09:28:19 2 VIDEO SPECIALIST: Here begins Tape Number 09:28:19 3 1 in the videotaped deposition of Huma Abedin in the 09:28:33 4 matter of Judicial Watch, Inc., v. the U.S. 09:28:36 5 Department of State, in the U.S. District Court for 09:28:40 6 the District of Columbia, Case Number 13-CV-1363. 09:28:44 7 Today's date is June 28, 2016. The time 09:28:51 8 on the video monitor is 9:29 a.m. The videographer 09:28:55 9 today is Jeremy Dineen, representing Planet Depos. 09:29:00 10 This video deposition is taking place at Bryan Cave, 09:29:04 11 1155 F Street, Northwest, in Washington, DC. 09:29:08 12 Would counsel please voice-identify 09:29:12 13 themselves and state whom they represent. 09:29:14 14 MS. COTCA: Ramona Cotca, for Judicial 09:29:17 15 Watch. 09:29:20 16 MR. ORFANEDES: Paul Orfanedes, for 09:29:20 17 Judicial Watch. 09:29:22 18 MR. BEKESHA: Michael Bekesha, for 09:29:22 19 Judicial Watch. 09:29:25 20 MR. PETERSON: James Peterson, for 09:29:25 21 Judicial Watch. 09:29:25 22 MR. FITTON: Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch 09:29:25 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 9 1 President. 09:29:28 2 MR. LAUDADIO: Gregory Laudadio, Judicial 09:29:28 3 Watch. 09:29:30 4 MS. TRIMELS: Cheyenne Trimels, Judicial 09:29:30 5 Watch. 09:29:34 6 MR. GRIFFITHS: John Griffiths, State 09:29:34 7 Department. 09:29:36 8 MR. MYERS: Steven Myers, State 09:29:36 9 Department. 09:29:36 10 MS. WELCHER: Alison Welcher, State 09:29:36 11 Department. 09:29:38 12 MS. BERMAN: Marcia Berman, State 09:29:41 13 Department. 09:29:42 14 MS. WOLVERTON: Caroline Wolverton, State 15 Department. 16 MR. RODRIGUEZ: Miguel Rodriguez, for Huma 17 Abedin. 18 MS. GOODMAN: Martha Goodman, for 19 Ms. Abedin. 09:29:46 20 MR. BRILLE: Mike Brille; Boies, 09:29:47 21 Schiller & Flexner, for Ms. Abedin. 09:29:52 22 VIDEO SPECIALIST: The court reporter 09:29:52 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 10 1 today is Debbie Whitehead, representing Planet 09:29:52 2 Depos. 09:29:54 3 Would the reporter please swear in the 09:29:54 4 witness. 09:29:54 5 HUMA ABEDIN, 09:29:54 6 having been duly sworn, testified as follows: 09:30:03 7 EXAMINATION BY COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF 09:30:03 8 BY MS. COTCA: 09:30:03 9 Q Good morning, Ms. Abedin. My name is 09:30:09 10 Ramona Cotca, and I represent Judicial Watch in this 09:30:12 11 lawsuit. 09:30:15 12 Could you -- 09:30:17 13 A Good morning. 09:30:18 14 Q Good morning. 09:30:19 15 Could you for the record please state your 09:30:20 16 full name? 09:30:22 17 A Huma Abedin. 09:30:23 18 Q Okay. Can you hear me okay? 09:30:24 19 A Yes, I can hear you. There's a little bit 09:30:26 20 of an echo, but I can hear you okay. 09:30:28 21 Q Okay. Have you ever had your deposition 09:30:30 22 taken before? 09:30:32 PLANET DEPOS 888.433.3767 | WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM Videotaped Deposition of Huma Abedin Conducted on June 28, 2016 11 1 A No. This is my first time. 09:30:34 2 Q Okay. So I would like to go over some 09:30:35 3 ground rules for the deposition. As you know, 09:30:37 4 you've been sworn in under oath. We have the court 09:30:39 5 reporter here who is transcribing everything that we 09:30:41 6 are saying here today. For that reason, I would ask 09:30:44 7 that we try not to speak over each other. So I will 09:30:46 8 do my best to let you finish answering the 09:30:49 9 questions, and then even though you may anticipate 09:30:52 10 the question that I'm about to ask, I would just ask 09:30:54 11 that you let me finish asking the question so we 09:30:57 12 don't speak over each other. Is that fair? 09:30:59 13 A Yes.