This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Hillary Clinton's Latest Scandal: Former SecState Exclusively Used Undocumented, Personal Email Account
While the Hillary Clinton campaign seems unperturbed by recent problematic disclosures by Politico into the Hillary Clinton Foundation, the former first lady and current democrat presidential hopeful will have a field day explaining why, as the NYT reported overnight, Hillary - in her role as Secretary of State - "exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business" according to State Department officials in violation of "federal requirements that officials’ correspondence be retained as part of the agency’s record."
Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act.
Why is this a deeply troubling breach of protocol, not to say a substantial threat to national security by America's former top diplomat? For starter, using Hotmail or Aol instead of a protected, encrypted government address leaves little to the hacker's imagination. But what's worse is that as a result of exclusive reliance on non-government platforms, which have no document retention policy and in fact have a "straight to trash" policy, any and all emails regarding the Benghazi scandal, many of which were FOIAed, could have been and were simply deleted without ever leaving a trace. Or as NSA Nate summarized:
#FOIA pic.twitter.com/jXycJI5QAd
— NSA Nate (@NSANate) March 3, 2015
Even the left-leaning NYT couldn't find the appropriate damage control spin to an action that would lead many to question her common sense sensibilities as a future president:
Her expansive use of the private account was alarming to current and former National Archives and Records Administration officials and government watchdogs, who called it a serious breach.
“It is very difficult to conceive of a scenario — short of nuclear winter — where an agency would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level head officer to solely use a private email communications channel for the conduct of government business,” said Jason R. Baron, a lawyer at Drinker Biddle & Reath who is a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration.
In other words, nothing Clinton did for four years has a paper trail mandated of any and all other civil servants.
Under federal law, however, letters and emails written and received by federal officials, such as the secretary of state, are considered government records and are supposed to be retained so that congressional committees, historians and members of the news media can find them. There are exceptions to the law for certain classified and sensitive materials.
“I can recall no instance in my time at the National Archives when a high-ranking official at an executive branch agency solely used a personal email account for the transaction of government business,” said Mr. Baron, who worked at the agency from 2000 to 2013.
That, and the clear security threat:
Mr. Blanton said high-level officials should operate as President Obama does, emailing from a secure government account, with every record preserved for historical purposes. “Personal emails are not secure,” he said. “Senior officials should not be using them.”
But why this "deus ex" could not have come at a better time for the GOP: "Regulations from the National Archives and Records Administration at the time required that any emails sent or received from personal accounts be preserved as part of the agency’s records. As the NYT adds "others who, like Mrs. Clinton, are eyeing a candidacy for the White House are stressing a very different approach. Jeb Bush, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, released a trove of emails in December from his eight years as governor of Florida."
Things get worse when looking at the initial response by the flailing Clinton camp, who said it was not her responsibility to keep a track of the emails: someone else would - after all for every email there is a sender and recipient:
Mr. Merrill, the spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, declined to detail why she had chosen to conduct State Department business from her personal account. He said that because Mrs. Clinton had been sending emails to other State Department officials at their government accounts, she had “every expectation they would be retained.” He did not address emails that Mrs. Clinton may have sent to foreign leaders, people in the private sector or government officials outside the State Department.
And this: "A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Nick Merrill, defended her use of the
personal email account and said she has been complying with the “letter
and spirit of the rules.”"
Well, no. She failed to comply with rules in every possible form.
Finally, how was the deeply damaging discovery made?
The existence of Mrs. Clinton’s personal email account was discovered by a House committee investigating the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi as it sought correspondence between Mrs. Clinton and her aides about the attack.
Two weeks ago, the State Department, after reviewing Mrs. Clinton’s emails, provided the committee with about 300 emails — amounting to roughly 900 pages — about the Benghazi attacks.
So surely she will release all the emails into the public domain now, especially with the Benghazi investigation still ongoing? Well no.
Mrs. Clinton and the committee declined to comment on the contents of the emails or whether they will be made public.
All of which begs the question: when third party citizens demanded FOIA production of Clinton's emails, related to Benghazi or otherwise, such as Muckrock's Jason Smathers here, just what was the Department of Homeland Security's Privacy Office looking at when deciding it would deny said request?
It also explains why the DHS is so desperate for funding: otherwise, how will the massive government agency sort through non-existant emails to fabricate a reason why they can't be produced in response to "Freedom of Information" requests?
»
- 23308 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Of course she did. Nothing will happen to her as a result of us finding out either.
This is easy, the media can just say 'This is none of our business, Hillary Clinton is a very important woman and needs her privacy'....there, scandal swept under the rug.
Won't matter, she will be a shoe in to the Whitehouse as all of her competitors will be Ron Brown'd on charter flights....
This will probably be my only post about Hitlerys candidacy because as I did last time I have a game of trying to see how little about Presidential contenders I have to listen to or read about. None of it makes any difference to me until they try and take my guns. I will not be voting for a President from either party.
Indeed!
Office of President is gone anyway.
Do you remmeber that the ENTIRE Bush administratin did the same thing except THEY DIDN"T SAVE ANY EMAILS. At least HC kepted all the emails.
You are right; she kepted the emails alright.
The Bush defense. That always works. If that august gentleman could do it, then Queen Hillary could do it too. I totally agree with you on that. Man, that gentleman and Dick Cheney were the two best presidents the US ever had. Without them Iraq wouldn't be free..er; Afghanistan wouldn't be a vibrant democracy; Guantanamo bay would have been Cuba's anus and free market principles would have failed. I would vote for Bush/Cheney again. They are the best. And America needs them both more than ever now.
Let them eat cake!
I see this news across all mainstream media in many langauges as top headlines, which means this is a staged and planned "event". Clinton will be "punished" for doing this and nothing happens. All documents which would prove what dirty business Clinton was in, will be officially gone, never ever available for any inspection or investigation.
These lies are transparent, I think they are just preparing the solid ground for Clinton's candidacy. PR news, nothing else.
she'll be "punished" with a new week or two stay in a hospital for an alleged fall and emerge with a face looking ten or twenty years younger, new bleach streaks in her hair and perhaps a new eye color matching these grifters true design--green, as in money. It's always been and always will be all about the money. One can never have enough//enuf.
As a staunch femnist liberal I faithfully cast my vote her way.
and americans always are wondering how the german people could allow this Adolf rise to power.
Look in the mirror.
Its allways 1939 again.
She'll be our next president.
For only one reason and it's brutally and painfully simple.
Vanity. Perhaps the greatest of all sins... from which other sins are derived.
People will vote for her, as they did the Munky, to say "I" voted for the 1st female president of the United States of America.
For democrats, such actions are considered "qualifications" for public office.
Maybe the NSA can do something useful and retrieve the emails for the public record?
Surely they’d think she is “interesting” and would be watching her?
i don't get it, does it mean she didn't use outlook? what about meeting calendars etc?
She is going to be the next President. If you had video of her blowing up St. Judes childrens hospital she would still win. American don't care. As long as Kim Kardashins ass is in the media and they have an iphone in their pockets they are happy working until they die.
Anti-transparency = secrecy.
Your silly rules do not apply to your Fascist masters.
Only a fool let's someone document/retain their email.
Just another wrecking ball to the rule of law. When .gov employees break the law and there is no accountability, there is no rule of law. IRS/EPA/Secretary of State/Minister of (in) Just-us, Preezy. It's not just one rogue .gov-worker. It is systemic.
Yesterday's tweet of the day.....
"Send Help" ~ Christopher Stevens #HillarysSPAMFolder - Will Antonin
Records retention? We don't need no stinkin' records retention. Law is for little people, not for Queen Hillary and King Obama.
Maybe the government will assign the blind guy to look for her emails, just like they did for the IRS scandal.
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2015/02/27/irs-employee-looking-for-lois-lerner-emails-was-blind-literally/
Truth is stranger than fiction!
Will the market be crashing on this news?
On NBC this morning they referred to it as a potential distraction to her campaign. Ahh, Ok.
Related news today:
-
- NEXT EXECUTIVE ACTION? OBAMA 'VERY INTERESTED' IN UNILATERAL TAX HIKE...
- VIDEO: Obama Supporters Endorse Karl Marx As Next President...
- Bush, Clinton Battle for GOLDMAN SACH$...
- Private police forces on rise...
- City University of New York Refunds Illegal Aliens Who Paid Out-of-State Tuition...
- Military satellite explodes above Earth...
- JUDGE: EPA lied about transparency in coverup...
- Dollar 11-year high...
- Record 290 Added to FORBES Billionaires List...
False Flag in Facebook??
- Girl Shot Dead By Teen Boys Over posting...
- Electricity prices hit another record...
- UPDATE: FACEBOOK suspends black middle schooler's account after slamming Obama...
- Students Find Teacher Hanging In High School Classroom...
If the oldstream media doesn't report this as a scandal and the sheeple don't hear it, did it really happen?
The politicians around the world are nothing more than auction items which can be sold to the highest bidder. They will do whatever they can for the lobbyist paying them the maximum amount of money or votes, be it the unions, the banksters, the richest corporations or individuals. They are in the power seat to extract maximum advantage for themselves in the small time frame they occupy the seat of power.
The rest of the population is least of their concerns. The only activity they do is pacify the majority of the population using false statistics and promises of a better future so that they do not lynch them and their masters while they are robbing the taxpayers.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40231.html
Lois Lerner's emails were "lost," Clinton's emails were in a private account and apparently who ever set up her accounts didn't realize they weren't being used and no one receiving official correspondence realized it was coming from a commercial domain.
The sheer quantity of official records being "accidentally lost" by this administration defies rational explanation. I thought it was established without a doubt that this sort of thing was verboten in 2007 when the prior administration tried to pull this stunt. The change narrative gets more threadbare every day.
"Getting convictions for civil rights violations (and Democrat corruption) is too hard !" ..... Eric Bagholder
Ok does anyone believe that Hillary does actually do e-mail ? Her staff for sure but her ??
It's all okay! I'm sure she was using an @reagan.com secure account. They don't scan your emails.
"I did not have email relations with that terrorist"
"That depends on what your definition of communication is."
Why use gov't email when your sole purpose as Secty of State was to shake down corporations for the Clinton Foundation?
Nobody remembers Obamao's blackberry when he took office? Who was on the other end of the communications using that? Anybody think there is a record of calls made and received? Emails send and received? Of course not.
Funny how this turd bobs up .... before Holder leaves his orifice .... Obama is to Clinton .... as Lenin is to Trotsky ?
Anyone else remember DHS head Janet Napolitano infamously not using email at all (at least per her own claims)?
Yes. Janet claimed that she did not use any email. It was to deflect criticism that she must have read memo X just because it was sent to her email. As I recall.
How can anyone, with the an IQ higher than that of a cedar fence post, possibly be surprised by this...
Blair regime used this trick to circumvent Government server trails too. I know lawyers that use this trick to communicate with other lawyers and keep their online clients in the dark as they scour the data room. It must be because Blair was a lawyer, Hillary is a lawyer and they simply love hiding the trail of their treachery.
Waterboarding is too good for lawyers but it should be tried
I thought Vince Foster was sent to retrieve Clinton's emails ?
Right up there with Nutland's phone recording - zero OPSEC.
Beltway "imperial complacency" and technical incompetence has surpassed the EPIC FAIL level.
Scum.
you folks are in for another 4 years of exceptional leadership
bimbo or bush, like the man with the wallet says, "i can live with either one".
you are doomed.
tic toc
Even the left-leaning NYT couldn't find the appropriate damage control spin to an action that would lead many to question her common sense sensibilities as a future president: ...
Her secret unaccountable account isn't a breach of common sense--it is a clear violation of federal law.
It also proves that there is no Inspector General at the State Department, also required by federal law.
I have personally known three pure sociopaths in my lifetime, and these three all believed, at a deep level, that no rule (or code or law) applied to them.
Hillary is a pure sociopath.
Lots of ZH Posters are against Government of all kinds and believe Laws are Fictions.
Wall Street & Vichy DC just take advantage of money in politics, gift giving, favors, and use legislation to provide advantages to powerful Capitalist like them selves.
If a politician, even Hilary, Exposed the Energy monopolies/oligopolies... they each could take US President in 2016.
"The rise in the electricity price index ran counter to the gasoline price index, the overall energy price index, and the overall Consumer Price Index, all of which declined in January as well as over the past twelve months."
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/electricity-price-inde...
-------------------------------
--- Teeth's US Dream Anthem --
-------------------------------
- It is 1 Minute to Midnight: Neo-Feudal Debt Slavery & nuke war
- Problem is Bankers, Politicians, Lawyers & Judges
- Failure of Self Regulation of Bankers, Politicians, Lawyers & Judges
- US Constitution is Usurped, Gone are Budget Powers, Legislative Powers, War Powers
- Money has taken over the Government, Banking, Universities, Science
- American Dream is over, Corruption is the same in all Countries now
- Old American Dream may serve as basis for new Country someday
-------------------------------
--- Teeth's US Dream Anthem --
-------------------------------
bill clinton has stated under oath:"I never had sex with that women"..er oh of the two I'd say he never had sex with hillary- not in the last 20 yrs or so..DSK did say bill was great at his party but he liked em young..
corrupt depraved evil lying and 100 million richer than you or I..
Her Hilaryness' emails probably contained damning information of how she and Bill have raked in more than $100 million since Bill left the office of the traitorship—oops, I mean, the Presidency. They are payments after the fact for many actions made while Bill and Hillary were in office:
• treasonous transfer of military high-technology to the Chinese;
• illegal involvement of NATO and bombing the former Yugoslavia with unmarked USAF aircraft to effect transfer "ownership" of Kosovo;
• funneling formerly Libyan armaments to Al Qaeda terrorists trying to overthrow Muamar Qaddafi, leading to the massacre of our ambassador and his protective detail;
I could continue but it's rather depressing seeing the level of lawlessness that our high elected officials, who should be setting good examples to follow, are allowed to commit with impunity. Well, as my late-Father used to say, "…every dog has his day in the sun."
This is BY FAR the most troubling news I've read in a very long time
Dit IT security at State approve that? What say, Ms. Haft?
Not that it matters. Thre's hardly a doubt in my mind that the Russians, the Chinese, and a couple of teenagers in Isarel saw it all.
I am sure we will to, but the it will be timed for someone's advantage.
If it was against regulations or not security cleared for communicating government secrets, and somebody has it, then she should be over.
(Much to my ex-wife's chagrin, which, of course, helps explain the "ex" part)
What difference does it make!
Can anyone forget the moral outrage expressed by the mainstream media that Palen used private email for some official business while she was governor? But now that it's Hillary (in one of the most sensitive cabinet offices of the federal government), count on it that this story will be quickly swept under the carpet as soon as other stories can be generated to push it out of the limelight.
The Clintons are -- and will forever be -- above the law.