Clinton did not inform State Department officials about the system, though the watchdog’s report said she had an “obligation” to do so. “And the report does not say what she says it says”, Politifact’s Katie Sanders said.
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But it’s hard not to be skeptical of the narrative that Clinton was ignorant of the rules when the assistant secretary for diplomatic security sent a memo directly to Clinton in March 2011 that urged employees to “minimize the use of personal web email for business”, citing cybersecurity concerns.
But the failings of Clinton, who was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, were singled out as more serious.
While Clinton is under potential criminal investigation by the FBI for the mishandling of classified material sent through her email, remaining silent might be in her best interests and it is certainly her right. Twice, the Hillary and Bill Clinton staffer responsible for maintaining the server had to shut it off to protect data held by America’s top diplomat and the former president. Neither she nor her campaign has claimed, until Podesta’s letter, that she thought that her email setup was carrying on in the tradition of her predecessors.
It’s already clear that, in using the private email server, Clinton broke the rules.
The Clinton campaign is resorting to its familiar strategy of calling this old news while saying everybody does it because Powell also failed to keep records of private email while he was in office.
In a hypothetical matchup, polling from Rasmussen Reports has found Clinton in a dead heat with her likely Republican opponent, Donald Trump, for months. “However, according to these officials, DS (Bureau of Diplomatic Security) and IRM (Bureau of Information Resource Management) did notand would notapprove her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business, because of the restrictions in the FAM and the security risks in doing so”. Might there also be Chinese and Russian hackers out there who’ve also had a look at Clinton’s emails?
Asked today how many more unseen emails from Clinton the State Department has in its possession, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said today that he wasn’t sure.
“As I’ve said many times, if I could go back, I would do it differently”.
Separately from the State Department audit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating whether Clinton’s use of the private email server imperiled government secrets.
Judicial Watch’s FOIA case began as a way to seek documents about talking points related to the 2012 terror attack on USA facilities in Benghazi, Libya, but has since grown to encompass wider questions about Clinton’s use of a personal server while working as secretary of State.
Abedin said “we should talk about putting you on State email or releasing your email address to the department”.
Another major revelation from this report is that the State Department has an undisclosed number of emails in its possession that weren’t released to the public. She also gave misleading statements regarding the scandal. The department said it didn’t have access to those emails at the time.
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Many voters will find their worries confirmed: that Mrs. Clinton thinks rules followed by other people don’t apply to her.
