Hillary Clinton has one truly remarkable achievement to her credit. In four years as Secretary of State she neither received nor sent nor discussed nor communicated via email a single bit of classified information.
Revelations about the emails have put Clinton in the crosshairs of a broadening inquiry into whether she or her aides mishandled classified information when she used a private server set up at her New York home to conduct official State Department business.
While campaigning for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton has repeatedly denied she ever sent or received classified information. Two inspectors general have indicated that five emails they have reviewed were not marked classified at the time they were stored on her private server but that the contents were in fact “secret.”
The email issue, however, has distracted from Clinton’s campaign for days and already has hurt her in public opinion polls. Besieged with questions, she has found herself caught in a murky dispute between State Department and intelligence officials over whether emails on her server were classified.
According to her, anyway. One wonders- what the hell did she do for all that time other than trade favors for cash donations to the Clinton Foundation?
Meanwhile the number of Hillary Clinton emails flagged for containing classified materials has increased by 60:
While media coverage has focused on a half-dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal emails containing sensitive intelligence, the total number of her private emails identified by an ongoing State Department review as having contained classified data has ballooned to 60, officials told The Washington Times.
That figure is current through the end of July and is likely to grow as officials wade through a total of 30,000 work-related emails that passed through her personal email server, officials said. The process is expected to take months.
The 60 emails are among those that have been reviewed and cleared for release under the Freedom of Information Act as part of a open-records lawsuit. Some of the emails have multiple redactions for classified information.
Among the first 60 flagged emails, nearly all contained classified secrets at the lowest level of “confidential” and one contained information at the intermediate level of “secret,” officials told the Times.
These do not include two of Clinton’s emails containing “top secret” information. The emails that Clinton denies are classified come from five different intelligence agencies:
WASHINGTON — The classified emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server contained information from five U.S. intelligence agencies and included material related to the fatal 2012 Benghazi attacks, McClatchy has learned.
Of the five classified emails, the one known to be connected to Benghazi was among 296 emails made public in May by the State Department. Intelligence community officials have determined it was improperly released.
Clinton claims to accept classified material only by “phone, videoconference, on paper or in person.”
So all those times you see her on her blackberry she was planning a wedding or a yoga routine. Things that need to be erased over and over. And over.
Recently, Clinton’s story “evolved” again:
“First, none of the emails alleged to contain classified information were written by Secretary Clinton.” (Emphasis added.)
For now, the State Department is covering for her:
The State Department is taking the line of Hillary Clinton’s that material in her personal email server was not classified at the time, and State is not accepting the intelligence inspector general’s determination that some information was top secret.
“None of them were classified at the time,” Mark C. Toner, State’s deputy spokesman, told reporters this week.
Likely to save some of their own backsides. It is proven that Clinton has lied about her emails, much as she lied about Benghazi. Classified information, such as satellite data and drone operations, magically appear in her emails and she seems to lack the mental firepower to recognize it.
We are left to choose whether Hillary Clinton is an incompetent moron or a liar of Biblical proportions.
And I’ll say it again. In 2007 Hillary Clinton said that having secret email accounts was “shredding the Constitution” and in 2009 sent a personal cable “warning employees to ‘avoid conducting official department business from your personal e-mail accounts.” But then Bill Clinton did say that the Clintons got to operate under their own set of rules.
UPDATE: We’re up to 300 possible classified emails
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Drudge headlined how unusual it is that an FBI probe is being run out of its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Nearly all [FBI] investigations are assigned to one of the bureau’s 56 field offices.
But, lest you thought this means Hillary will ever be indicted, note that Obama spent the weekend socializing (in public) with her and Bill.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/16/politics/hillary-clinton-barack-obama-marthas-vineyard/index.html?eref=edition
In other words, Obama wants a legacy with followthrough by the next Dem president.
And he is willing to hang Hillary and allow her to twist in the wind a bit if it gets concessions from her about whatever they disagree about.
She will be HIS lapdog.
Or she will go to jail.
Bob Woodward:
@Wordsmith:
Hillary Milhous Nixon
Why would anyone assume that a Secretary of State would use email to knowingly transmit or receive any classified information?
Anyone having a clue about internet privacy understands that it’s not even safe to transmit your Social Security or credit card numbers using email. It’s not as if Hillary Clinton’s private email server was her only communication option.
Maybe because that’s what she said she did…..
Clinton said she used a private domain for her official work during her time at the State Department out of “convenience,” but admitted in retrospect “it would have been better” to use multiple emails.
“I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two,” she said.
@Nanny G, #5:
Much of Clinton’s official communications would have been about mundane, day-to-day bureaucratic matters relating to the operation of the large governmental department that she headed. She opted to use the same private server for that and for personal email.
That doesn’t mean she used the same channel to send and receive classified documents and to discuss state secrets. Those channels themselves may be something that isn’t openly discussed.
@Greg:
Keep pitching dude, but the onion is slowly being peeled. Maybe one day you will recognize the stink.
One question I have for the Clintonions who are spinning at 250,000 RPM to add cover for her lies is do they make orange jump suits with spandex in the ankles?
@Nanny G:
He is letting the “legal” system disrupt the Hillary campaign rather than appear to be ignoring it himself.
@Greg: Here’s a question for you, Greg; if there was NOTHING wrong with having a private email server stashed away in a private residence to conduct official State Department business on, why didn’t she notify the State Department that she was using a private server?
But there is LOTS of classified information on Hillary’s server; someone sent it and SOMEONE received it. Particularly in light of her past severe criticism of private email servers for official business, WHY did she have such a thing and WHY did she not inform State she had it?
I’m afraid another of your golden idols is just iron pyrite.
@Bill, #9:
Clinton was the highest authority in the State Department. Maybe she sent herself a memo.
Release of the full contents of a former Secretary of State’s email server was demanded under the Freedom of Information Act. Anything released could become public. There’s likely content that it isn’t in the nation’s best interest to have made public. Even if the nature of the some material didn’t require classification to begin with, it does now, owing of the level of exposure it could get. So, everything is being reviewed and some is being classified as required before being released for public distribution. There’s likely classified communication now that didn’t need the protection of classified status originally—only the expectation of privacy. It wasn’t intended to be pinned up on a public bulletin board for everyone in the world to look at.
This shouldn’t be difficult to understand, except by those who simply don’t want to understand. Those who don’t want to understand are getting a lot of encouragement from certain elements of the media.
@Greg:
There you have it; the ultimate justification for Hillary doing what she did: she is above the law.
News flash to Greg, Hillary, Obama, Holder and far too many other liberals: NO ONE is above the law. There are rules that must be followed regardless of how God-like one may consider one’s self. There are SECURITY reasons for individuals not to use private servers as well as the transparency factor. Just because Hillary was Secretary of State does not endow her with the right to disregard national security.
Silly and weak, Greg.
It has yet to be established that any laws have been broken. There are only non-stop accusations, leveled at anyone the right considers a political enemy, which they seem to think everyone should automatically believe for no other reason than the fact that they’ve been made.
Here’s another news flash, for anyone who has somehow failed to notice: The right constantly makes claims that they never seem to be able to back up with evidence. When they’re called on it they invariably claim cover-up, and quickly shift focus onto some other fabricated scandal. I imagine they begin each morning quietly meditating on a photograph of Monica Lewinsky’s dress, and praying that another such Holy Grail is really out there somewhere.
@Greg: Improperly storing classified information is against the law, Greg. Improperly handling classified information is against the law. Not only that, but it puts national security at severe risk.
Now, what was so important to Hillary to have a private, unsecured server that made that risk worthwhile? If she broke no laws, it at least confirms that she should NEVER be President. She is obviously too selfish and stupid.
There was no risk to national security if it wasn’t being used to transmit information that was classified at the time.
Recent classification is a matter of protecting the confidentiality of certain internal State Department communications that the State Department doesn’t want in the public domain because they might be damaging for any number of reasons.
Who are you going to trust to make that call? FOX News? FOX News wants damages, so long as they can be pinned on their political targets.
@Greg:
Classified information being transmitted insecurely through the internet and stored on an unsecured personal computer is a crime. and there certainly is a risk as any government IT technician can tell you. Additionally, Hillary used the same server for personal business as well as to communicate to foreign nationals.
Greg must mean like as damaging to Hillary Huma and a good number of other well placed Democrat aligned officials. That’s called “cover-up” and if that is what some in the State Department are doing they are committing crimes. Nixonian indeed.
You are ranting again. This has nothing to do with FOX News. FOX News did not illegally place classified information on Hillary’s server. All FOX did was a slight rewrite of an AP report about the discovery of illegally stored classified information.
Exclusive: Hillary’s IT Contractor Did Not Have Proper Security Clearance
Oh, by the way Greg: Iowa State Fair attendees pick Sanders over Clinton
45% of 1000 = 450 for Hillary which clearly is lower than Trump’s 677 votes and Carson’s 470. Tell us again how Hillary is in the lead.
@Greg:
Thus far, I haven’t gotten any of the breaking news on this from Fox. But, who are you going to believe; the most trusted name in news (confirmed by polls and surveys) or the least credible woman on the planet (established by her own actions)?
@Bill, #16:
Do you believe the results of popularity polls relate to the accuracy of a TV news outlet’s reporting? Reality and TV ratings are entirely different things.
@Greg: I didn’t say anything about ratings… which, by the way, surpasses all others. I cited surveys and polls specifically on honesty and trustworthyness. You confuse a news source reporting facts you wish to deny and ignore with dishonesty.
@Bill, #18″
Perhaps you should read a little more about what the poll results actually said, rather than focusing on a single response that validates what you want to believe:
Fox News once again most and least trusted name in news
The single most trusted news source across the board is actually PBS.
@Greg: Most trusted by those looking for the facts and truth. Least trusted by liberal lemmings who create and believe any and all of the silliest and weakest of excuses for failure. (Oh, I don’t mean YOU, Greg… snicker)
Greg you beclown yourself yet again. While it is true that a private server was not illegal, passing sensitive national security information, (you understand, the Secretary of Sate’s stock in trade) through same is most definitely against the law.
I won’t expect you to stipulate that she withheld a substantial number of her emails relating to a specific time frame, even though it is becoming increasingly clear that she has. So far the best defense you have attempted to advance is that we just can’t be certain what is in emails she has had professionally wiped clean from her personal server.
Your next maneuver is a lame suggestion that some shadowy mustache-twirling villain, (last week CIA, this week the always reliable lefty bogey man FOX news) of planting incriminating evidence on her server. If anyone could do so, it would be clear evidence that her server is insufficiently secure, and strengthen the case against her. The weak argument you offer is not only not exculpatory, it begs indictment of the very party you seek to defend.
@Me, #21:
It hasn’t been established that she actually did that, has it?
Of course, much of what the right believes isn’t supported by evidence. Recent polls also suggests that they may not be able to recognize a clown when they see one. We’ll see who is laughing when the performance is over.
At the risk of repetition, sensitive national security information is the stock in trade of the Secretary of State. Since she had ALL of her communiques directed through a personal conduit, with no state department secured avenue, it defies credibility that sensitive national security information did not flow through her personal server.
While it has yet to be established that she did so, I refer to the standard if it walks like a duck and leaves duck shit all over the place it’s beyond reasonable doubt evidence of the presence of a duck. Her professional cleansing of her server, belligerent refusal to turn over its contents and deliberate deflection of investigators inquiries represent a whole lot of duck shit.
@Me:
And we haven’t even touched on the possibility that Hillary set up her government email to automatically redirect all incoming emails to her unsecured server.
Exclusive: Dozens of Clinton emails were classified from the start, U.S. rules suggest
@Nanny G:
Indict: 1) Hillary R. Clinton set up her own private server, which is against the law. She is a criminal already. 2) H.R. Clinton has failed to turn over all of her papers regarding her service as Secretary of State. She was suppose to do this by law shortly after leaving office. She didn’t.
Hillary has said in the news that she turned over her server. No true. She lies. The FBI took her server. The investigation is a criminal investigation.
IT’S NOT A QUESTION OF HILLARY CLINTON GOING TO PRISON. THE REAL QUESTION IS FOR HOW LONG. 2 Years, 5 years, 10 years. These crimes Hillary Clinton has committed are very serious, involve national security and are FEDERAL crimes.
@Me, #23:
All? That’s totally absurd. The Secretary of State had every secure avenue of communication available to the U.S. Department of State fully at her disposal. She elected to use a private email server for routine, day-to-day communications as a matter of convenience. Do you honestly believe that means she didn’t also use highly secure channels whenever the occasion demanded?
There are probably highly secure channels of communication available at the top levels of U.S. government that the public doesn’t even know about. Those won’t be part of any discussion because secrecy would be part of their security.
@Greg: You’re saying Hillary MUST have used other communications instead of the one device she claimed she used simply because she was going to be getting Classified and Top Secret information.
Well, sure she could have been lying when she stood in front of the podium at the UN and claimed she only used ONE device for everything, for convenience’ sake.
It’s not like she doesn’t lie.
But here’s an interesting historical take on how Classified and Top Secret information had been dealt with before Hillary:
http://pjmedia.com/blog/hillarys-air-gap-problem/
On a side note, before I retired I worked in the field of white collar espionage.
Silly little businesses, with nothing big at stake, like Macy’s, Sears and JCPenny all have, to this day, closed systems like the one spoken of above.*
Hillary should have known better.
And with Huma of the Muslim Brotherhood by her side she really ought to have been more careful.
@Nanny G, #28:
There’s no evidence supporting the assertion that classified information was sent, received, or stored on Clinton’s private server. There’s only someone making a vague claim that something that might be considered classified may have turned up there.
That is being deliberately spun into a false impression that the Secretary of State thoughtlessly used her email account and private email server as a means of conveying and discussing the nation’s most sensitive intelligence and documents. Absolutely no evidence in support of that absurd proposition exists.
Charlie Martin’s article is nothing more than a factual discussion of the history of government security protocol from the beginning of the digital information age to present as a preamble to that absurd proposition, for which he also offers no evidence.
Greg, she HERSELF admitted that she used her personal server exclusively, because carrying two devices would have been inconvenient. It is true that she COULD have used any number of highly secured avenues for her communiques, but by HER OWN ADMISSION chose not to!
Your assertion, and it is no more than that, stating that the Secretary of State, the nations preeminent diplomat, did not have classified information coming through the sole conduit of which she availed herself is beyond stupid.
Her own behavior is indicative of misdeed. She had her server professionally wiped, (not with a dust rag), refused to allow anyone to examine it, and has repeatedly attempted to deflect any inquiry into its contents.
But then you also seem to believe that the Clinton’s post White House wealth is purely a circumstance of their celebrity and popularity. Good grief!
@Nanny G: People like Greg who have little or no ability to reason defend their positions regardless of the evidence against it. Life is too short to try to change their mind if they have one. Life can me much more productive trying to determine if the egg appeared first or was the chicken a live birth.