EMAIL ISSUES

In the past, I have been skeptical of Mrs. Clinton’s excuses over her mishandling of the transmission of her work related emails via her private server instead of the government’s, during her years of service as a secretary of state from 2009 -2013. The main reason for my critical attitude was based on her not following her boss’s specific directions on how to manage the internal work related emails and then, her not informing until after her email problems were exposed.

This is why I was puzzled about her dismissive attitude towards those questioning her actions and why it took her months to apologize and to accept responsibility.  I am convinced that an early on humble “mea culpa” would have saved her a lot of grief.

Of course, when I wrote this blog on 8/17, I was unaware of the Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell having sent her a 2009 memo regarding the handling of emails. The email exchange between Clinton and Powell was released on Wednesday (9/7/16) by the State Department after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee demanded it.

As per a 9/8/16 CNN News report by Deirdre Walsh, “Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee who released the full email exchange, said that it “shows that Secretary Powell advised Secretary Clinton with a detailed blueprint on how to skirt security rules and bypass requirements to preserve federal records, although Secretary Clinton has made clear that she did not rely on this advice.” Awkward,,,,!

In addition. it turns out that while the FBI could not show that her computer system was compromised, the government server that she was supposed to use, was verified to be penetrated by foreign hackers on multiple occasions.. It is hard to believe that the system (formerly used by her husband) and that she accessed did not have ample security checks.

As to all the hoopla about her forwarding her emails via her private or the government’s server, even with the rare case of classified data being included, I deem these events as being immaterial and a waste of time and tax payer dollars. My reasoning for this, is that if the FBI or the GAO were to do an audit of emails transmitted during the subsequent 2 years after she left, that both organizations would find similar results of a percentage of classified data slipping through the cracks, even though everyone is using the government server which was also not secure.

What people don’t get is that at the U.S. state department, there is a completely separate system for dealing with classified information versus the one used for daily non-classified work functions which are not supposed to be including any work product which could potentially contain classified material but mistakes do occur due to human error.

In short, any audit of the state department’s work done from 2013 -2015, via the non classified government server would produce similar results to what the FBI reported regarding Mrs. Clinton’s emails. In addition, the work done via the government’s server was definitely verified to be compromised via cyber attacks by Russia in 2014 and 2015. But remember that the FBI was not able to prove that Mrs. Clinton’s emails were subject to similar cyber attacks. If WikiLeaks never produces the 33,000 admitted deleted emails of Mrs. Clinton’s personal correspondence, then it is safe to conclude that the security wall of her private server was never breached.

Yes, there are obviously major systemic problems which need to be addressed and which were not remotely covered by the press, this FBI investigation and all the republican congressional led hearings in pursuit of the “truth.”.

 BENGHAZI

After the initial State Department’s Accountability Review Board’s Benghazi investigation, I classify the next eight hearings as a waste of time and tax payer dollars. I resent the spending of tax payer monies to fund the republican hardliners oppositional research via several committee hearings in the guise of uncovering the facts of the 9/11/12 surprise attack by Libyan locals against an American compound in Benghazi. An important fact that has not been emphasized enough, is that the Benghazi compound was also a CIA operation. The compound was not equipped to the standard of a typical embassy.

None of numerous Benghazi reviews uncovered real evidence of an administration cover-up or failure to properly respond to the attacks. I am certain that pursuing Mrs. Clinton for political purposes was their sole focus because many questions weren’t asked that if asked, could have presented a clearer, more complete picture of what went wrong that night. This lack of thoroughness tells me that uncovering the truth was not their real intent.

Clinton Foundation issues

The newest anti-Hillary allegations have to do with the possibility of there having been instances of “pay for play” incidents between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state. I do not expect this to amount to anything of significance but time will tell the rest of the story.

Update: 9/11/16 For more information regarding the republicans’ contrived charges regarding Mrs. Clinton’s emails, see the below article by John Dean.

Related Article:

The Outrageously False Charges of Perjury Against Hillary Clinton … https://verdict.justia.com/2016/08/…/outrageously–false–charges–perjury-hillary clinton…8/18/16 – John W. Dean, former counsel to President Nixon, discusses the charges of perjury…brought against Hillary Clinton by  …