This week, Hillary Clinton doubled down on the email scandal in a speech that appeared to mock the ongoing investigation of her use of an unsecured email system during her time as Secretary of State and dismissing questions over her use the system as pure politics. She even joked “You may have seen that I recently launched a Snapchat account. I love it. I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves.” It is a great line but it is only funny for those who are entirely untroubled by the real danger that Clinton put national security secrets at risk by insisting on retaining control over her own emails and server. One group that is not laughing are former intelligence officials who have accused the government, again, of showing special treatment for powerful figures in the mishandling of classified material or current officials who are continuing to classify hundreds of emails from Clinton’s records. The number of Hillary Clinton emails now flagged for classification has grown to 300. The number is expected to rise even higher as the agencies plow through thousands of emails that remain after the Clinton staff erased thousands of others from the server.
Clinton again insisted that “I never sent classified material on my email, and I never received any that was marked classified.” The key of this spin is again the word “marked.” I have previously discussed why that explanation is less than compelling, particularly for anyone who has handled sensitive or classified material. As I discussed earlier, virtually anything coming out of the office of the Secretary of State would be considered classified as a matter of course. I have had a TS/SCI clearance since Reagan due to my national security work and have lived under the restrictions imposed on email and other systems. The defense is that this material was not technically classified at the time that it was sent. Thus it was not “classified” information. The problem is that it was not reviewed and classified because it was kept out of the State Department system. Moreover, most high-level communications are treated as classified and only individually marked as classified when there is a request for disclosure. You do not generate material as the Secretary of State and assume that it is unclassified. You are supposed to assume and treat it as presumptively classified. Otherwise, there would be massive exposure of classified material and willful blindness as to the implications of the actions of persons disregarding precautions. For example, there is not a person standing next to the President with a classification stamp in the Oval Office. However, those communications are deemed as presumptively classified and are not disclosed absent review. Under the same logic, the President could use a personal email system because his text messages by definition are not marked as classified. This is the whole reason that Clinton and others were told to use the protected email system run by the State Department. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to secure such systems. Even the Washington Post is now reporting that Clinton’s statements that there was no classified information on her server appear to be “untrue.”
Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd in Iowa that “It’s not about Benghazi. And you know what, it’s not about e-mails or servers either. It’s about politics.” Despite both the State Department and intelligence agencies now finding hundreds of classified emails, Clinton has portrayed the entire matter to be the work of political operatives. In an incredible spin, she has insisted that she is the one who is serious about national security and the protection of secrets in this controversy in refusing to answer questions:
“I won’t get down in the mud with them. I won’t play politics with national security or dishonor the memory of those we lost. I won’t pretend this is anything other than what it is: the same old partisan games we’ve seen so many times before. I don’t care how many super PACs and Republicans pile on. I’ve been fighting for families and underdogs my entire life and I’m not going to stop now.”
Those words are likely to leave many grinding their teeth in the intelligence agencies after Clinton refused for months to turn over the server and then turned over a server that had been wiped clean — unilaterally destroying tens of thousands of emails that were on the server but cannot now be reviewed.
The number of flagged emails is now over 300. Some 305 have already been sent to various agencies for review.
The steady worsening of the scandal stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric of denial coming from the Clinton camp. At the very least, the use of a personal server was reckless and clearly designed to allow Clinton’s staff to control her emails (few people are buying the spin that Clinton just wanted to avoid carrying more than one device). Many view the refusal to use the secured State Department email system as a signature Clintonian move to retain control over information. The decision clearly put national security secrets as risk and I would be astonished if foreign intelligence did not target the vulnerable server. What is striking is that Clinton continues to deny that this was obviously bad judgment and a bad practice for any high-ranking government official. She is not the first to commit such errors but the campaign is unwilling to alter its initial position of denial and mockery of the controversy. This is not a political hatchet job. I dealt with classified material for decades. This is a serious potential breach in my view and the view of people who worked with such material for a living.
In the end, the Clinton campaign may be calculating that denial will get her through the primary even if she will have taken severe damage for the general election. The campaign clearly views Bernie Sanders as no real threat and that the opposition in the primary is still incapable of challenging Clinton with the money and party leadership behind her. Nevertheless, her national lead has called from 40 points to 19 points nationally.
Speaking of Glass-Steagall, it was Bill Clinton’s administration that repealed it. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin to be exact.
Where to start with a man like Robert Rubin? A Goldman Sachs chairman who wormed his way into the Treasury Secretary post under President Bill Clinton,
Rubin presided over one of the most radical deregulatory eras in the history of finance. Rubin’s influence within the Democratic Party marked the final stage in
the Democrats’ transformation from the concerned citizens who fought Wall Street and won during the 1930s to a coalition of Republican-lite financial elites.
Rubin’s most stunning deregulatory accomplishment in office was also his greatest act of corruption. Rubin helped repeal Glass-Steagall, the Depression-era law
that banned economically essential banks from gambling with taxpayer money in the securities markets. In 1998, Citibank inked a merger with the Travelers Insurance group.
The deal was illegal under Glass-Steagall, but with Rubin’s help, the law was repealed in 1999, and the Citi-Travelers merger approved, creating too-big-to-fail behemoth Citigroup.
You break the law flagrantly and get caught…you go to jail. Hillary does it and she runs for President.
This is where we are today folks. Very near toast.
Aridog – if it makes you feel any better, her numbers are dropping like a rock. She is losing white women and has already lost white men. Her strength right now is only in the black community and the young (who are erratic voters). She is down to 29%.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/05/01/bernie-sanders-signals-aggressive-challenge-to-hillary-clinton/
“THE PLUM LINE: Do you think the next Democratic nominee should embrace a reinstatement of Glass-Steagall and a financial transactions tax, and pledge to actually prosecute bankers who commit crimes?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Point number three, absolutely. Point number two, I see that not only as a progressive way to raise revenue, but also to dampen the speculative activities of Wall Street. In terms of prosecuting criminals, every place I go in this country, people ask me, “How does it happen that these financial institutions whose greed and recklessness and illegal behavior caused so much damaged — how come none of these guys are in jail?”
In terms of Glass-Steagall, when I was in the House, I voted against all of this stuff. I predicted that by deregulating Wall Street and allowing a handful of these mega-financial institutions to grow and to merge that it would be disastrous for the economy. Of course I believe in reestablishing Glass Steagall. But let me go further. I do not believe that, given that six financial institutions have assets today around $10 trillion — 60 percent of the GDP of the United States — I do not believe that Congress has the capability of regulating Wall Street. I believe that Wall Street regulates the Congress and that you gotta break these guys up.”
“nobody has even alleged that she actively hid anything on purpose”
Ha ha ha.
The Progressive Grand Inquisitor does love her True Believers, never betrayed by their own lying eyes..
Sorry, but I see the “spin” working both ways. Whether previous high level government officials were restricted doesn’t answer how Hillary was able to do what she did, and for so long. The Administration, and Chief of Staff, is responsible for how Cabinet Secretaries comply with security requirements. Those in charge of reviewing possibly sensitive material would have had to know about it. What did they do? Did the president know? The “story” so far is that some unknown amount of “classified” material was transmitted. Okay, but does it matter? The public will probably never know what it was – hey, it’s “classified” – but in the meantime her enemies are pounding her with that club for all its worth.
I’m not saying she’s blameless here. Sure, she showed bad judgment, but the Administration seems just as careless. While so many in the media want to trot out the old “conspiracy” talk about the Clintons, nobody has even alleged that she actively hid anything on purpose, or that she profited from it. Sorry, I don’t go along with “presumptively classified” until some bozo with a clearance gets around to reading it. For all the breach of security, this is still a political fishing expedition. I think it will drag on even longer than Benghazi but will never lead to any legal proceeding.
“Sorry, I don’t go along with “presumptively classified” until some bozo with a clearance gets around to reading it. ”
So what is your more reasonable policy for dealing with the work product of a person who is presented with and generates classified material on a regular, day to day basis?
And why would you characterize as ‘bozo’ a civil servant performing a highly technical, vitally important, and demanding job.
Could it be that you are trying to muddy the waters because Clinton’s acts are indefensible and her explanations laughable?
Michael Scott – Obama knew or should have known. All her emails to him were coming from that account.
Someone says that over 300 emails are “flagged” to determine that they were “classified”.
What is a “flag”? Huh?
If I was Secretary of State I would not use an email system for any private matters or for government matters. For government I would use the old diplomatic pouch. I would not call anyone on a phone and discuss classified matters. I would not speak aloud about same unless I was in a sealed room.
If Hillary complained that the bathroom and particularly the toilet at the foreign embassy was disgusting I think this should be classified. There is no need to enrage the Saudis over their filthy toilets. Nuff said.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Are any candidates talking about restoring the Glass Steagal Act, it’s destruction which was largely responsible robbing every American with a 401K plan – we lost real money out of our pocket but nobody is talking about it. It was the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Where are the candidates on restoring the (centuries old) Writ of Habeas Corpus? The “Nuremberg Defense” used by Nazi war criminals has also been destroyed. The abuse of the 1917 Espionage Act is unprecedented in American history.
This all happened within the last 20 years doing great harm to the United States, where are the 2016 on these issues?
Wow, I. Annie. Thanks for sharing that about Huckabee. He gave a great defense for saving the life of an unborn child. I wish our culture respected life more. Mr. Huckabee just went up a few notches in my esteem of him.
Your video reminds me how every single Republican candidate is far better than Hillary Clinton or any other Democratic candidate.
david – I think the greater question is “Are you willing to execute the person who raped and impregnated an 11 year old?” It should be tit-for-tat.
Paul C. Schulte wrote: “I think the greater question is “Are you willing to execute the person who raped and impregnated an 11 year old?” It should be tit-for-tat.”
I’m not too opposed to that idea, but I tend to be a big restitution type of person. So I say put the baby up for adoption and garnish the wages of the rapist for child support until the child finishes college. The important thing is for our culture to respect life.
shocking
The Sciencegeek
http://www.thesciencegeek.org
Al O’Heem, loved the cartoon! LOL.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/huckabee-wouldn-girl-raped-abortion-article-1.2328350
http://youtu.be/-FUh493Jxi8
“Not really that funny. Huckabee said he would do this yesterday and a few others agree with him.”
So your telling me that Huckabee said he would vote against or revoke abortions of an 11 year old “Rape” victim? Uh huh. . . Do you a quote?
Hillary and Billary can have their ideological colleagues and allies at the Extreme Court “decide” that “Top Secret” means “Open” and “Public.”
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Democrate champion of women’s parts located below their brain, just below the belly button. Keep it fresh and not “out of service ” for 9 months.
Birth control or abort plan
Best of all, there is no chance that the Chinese or Russians or any of our enemies gained access to her emails on the unsescured illegal server, and found anything compromising or blackmailable, nor any national secrets.
Chief Consort – Shirley you jest.
I would think as Sec of State all of my E-mails were classified and not treat them like AOL “You’ve Got Mail Hillary”
I am talking about campaign staffs. The democratic bench is not too deep since we lost all those governors in 2010.
I forgot the Cuban, Rubio. I think I could vote for him.
SWM, I like Fiorina and Kasich. Ben Carson is intriguing. Christie is OK in my book, but he ain’t got it. I have said Walker is not ready for prime time many times, and that indeed seems to be the case. As you hopefully remember, I have said here many times in the past, this country is ripe for a demagogue, and we got us one in Trump.
Honestly, no partisan shot here, SWM. Doesn’t the age of the 2 prominent Dem candidates, and the possible 3rd one in Biden, make you wonder? You said it’s a young person’s game in the Dem party. Not on stage it isn’t.