The FBI has refused a Freedom of Information Act request to release some of the emails seized from Hillary Clinton’s private server.

In March 2016, New York attorney, Ty Clevenger, filed a Freedom of Information Act request to have Clinton’s emails to Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Seventeen months later, the FBI formally refused Clevenger’s request, citing a lack of sufficient public interest. In an official letter, David M. Hardy of the FBI’s Record Management Division, told Clevenger:

“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject. It is incumbent upon the requester to provide  documentation regarding the public’s interest in the operations and activities of the government  before records can be processed pursuant to the FOIA.”

The emails Clevenger requested had been seized as part of the FBI’s 2016 investigation into her handling of classified material on a private email server. Whilst former FBI Director, James Comey, called Clinton’s actions “extremely careless” in July of 2016, it was ultimately concluded that Clinton was too technologically inept to be held responsible. (This, of course, begs the question about how someone who someone can be Secretary of State but still not have the common sense not to handle classified material on a private server).

In a statement to the Washington Post, Clevenger has commented that he suspects political bias may have played a role in the decision:

“I’m just stunned. This is exactly what I would have expected had Mrs. Clinton won the election,  but she didn’t. It looks like the Obama Administration is still running the FBI.”

Clevenger has started a petition on Change.Org to have Clinton’s emails released. You can access the petition here.