How Clinton’s email scandal took root

The Washington Post ^ | March 27, 2016 | Robert O'Harrow Jr.

[Raebie]

Hillary Clinton’s email problems began in her first days as secretary of state. She insisted on using her personal BlackBerry for all her email communications, but she wasn’t allowed to take the device into her seventh-floor suite of offices, a secure space known as Mahogany Row.

For Clinton, this was frustrating. As a political heavyweight and chief of the nation’s diplomatic corps, she needed to manage a torrent of email to stay connected to colleagues, friends and supporters. She hated having to put her BlackBerry into a lockbox before going into her own office.

Her aides and senior officials pushed to find a way to enable her to use the device in the secure area. But their efforts unsettled the diplomatic security bureau, which was worried that foreign intelligence services could hack her BlackBerry and transform it into a listening device.

On Feb. 17, 2009, less than a month into Clinton’s tenure, the issue came to a head. Department security, intelligence and technology specialists, along with five officials from the National Security Agency, gathered in a Mahogany Row conference room. They explained the risks to Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, while also seeking “mitigation options” that would accommodate Clinton’s wishes.

“The issue here is one of personal comfort,” one of the participants in that meeting, Donald Reid, the department’s senior coordinator for security infrastructure, wrote afterward in an email that described Clinton’s inner circle of advisers as “dedicated [BlackBerry] addicts.”

[henkster]

Nixon was pardoned before indictment. I don’t know whether it was actually legally binding or not.

The Pardon power does not extend to Treason or impeachment, though.

[browniexyz]

Hmm... Hillary is not coming over as the smartest woman in the world in this story, is she?

[originalbuckeye]

IIRC, NOTHING is ‘classified’ after the fact. Information is ‘classified’ and can be ‘declassified’. But not the reverse......why bother designating something as ‘classified’ if it has already been in the open air??? Her supporters are really stupid to believe her. Oh, and I have heard Petraeus has endorsed Hillary!. They must have really damning information on him, must be much more than has already surfaced.

[browniexyz]

But, Bubba, Hillary is out to save the world and she means well and she’s smart and she’s rich and you and I well we are just nothing-balls and we don’t have any good ideas, either. So we need to sit down and shut up.

[Raebie]

The Clinton Foundation emails are on that server too.

[SunkenCiv]

It took root deep in her personal past, back when her pathology of dishonesty and criminality took root.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Hillary’s argument is that her e-mails were not “marked classified” at the time she sent or received them, so it was ok regardless of how sensitive the information contained in the e-mails may have been.

That is no different from arguing that you can tell classified information to anyone you want as long as your words are not marked classified at the time that they come out of your mouth.

[Liz]

.....someone should investigate Ødungo's misuse of email......“each time security asked,
‘What was the solution for POTUS?’ we were politely told to "shut up and color".......

ACADEMY-AWARD WORTHY---Obama puts on a convincing act.
He "knows nothing." Obama didn't even know about this (snix).

PIC Circa 2010--Ex-Pres Clinton in Moscow having a laugh w/ Putin
as strategic US uranium deposits were sold off to Russia for Big Bucks
facilitated by Secy Clinton, as Bill globe-trotted to set up the deal.

"Hahahaha. US ntl security? Hahahaha. You gotta be kidding, Vlad."

====================================================

With all the top-level intel available to him, can Americans actually believe:

<><>Obama was oblivious to the Clintons jerking around US foreign policy?

<><> Obama knew nothing of Hillary and Sid Blumenthal's emails WRT Iran (the man Obama banned from US govt employment)?

<><> Obama knew nothing about the Clinton Foundation/slush fund buck-raking activities?

<><> Obama never noticed Bill Clinton trotting around the globe?

<><> Obama never noticed the Clinton "charity" used to worm his way into the confidences of foreign leaders.... but only those leaders w/ untapped reserves of gold, uranium, oil, and other valuable commodities?

<><> Obama never knew Hillary's brother got a gold-mining permit in Haiti?

Hand-picked by Obama to run State, Hillary ran it like a shadow govt.... w/ her husband taking notes WRT buck-raking opportunities available from Hillary's actions OR inaction.

Secy Hillary never e-v-e-r uttered a discouraging word e-v-e-r......as the Clinton Foundation sucked up hundred of millions of foreign dollars from shady characters.

OF COURSE, the Clintons/ activities NEVER interfered w/ Obama/s own foreign policy initiatives (waiting for hysterical laughter to die down).

[originalbuckeye]

I believe her newest excuse is that she didn’t attend the meetings needed to discern ‘classified’. If that’s the case, WHY WASN’T SHE FORCED TO GO TO THE MEETINGS.......SHE WAS SEC OF STATE FOR *&%#@’s SAKE!

[Liz]

EVEN BEFORE HER INFAMOUS UN PRESSER WHERE THE SMIRKNG HILLARY DENIED EVERYTHING---Fox has Hillary on video wherein Hillary tells an earlier tech conference in California: “I have, you know, an iPad, a mini iPad, an iPhone and a Blackberry.”

" Where are all those electronics, Hillary"?

Did Hillary delete pertinent e-mails while subject to congressional investigation?

THE NYT REPORTED 3/27/15: Clinton’s review (and erasing?) of her emails did not occur when she was secretary of state ......or even shortly after she left office.

Last October, nearly two years after she left office, the State Department sent her a letter requesting all government records, like emails, she may have possessed. In response, she provided the State Department in December with about 30,000 printed emails that she said were government records. She has said that an additional 30,000 emails were personal.

It appears Clinton still has copies of the emails she deemed public records. Attached to Mr. Kendall’s letter was one sent to him by the State Department this week.

A letter from the under secretary of state for management, Patrick F. Kennedy, said that the department understood that she wanted to keep copies of those documents. Mr. Kennedy said that the agency had consulted with the National Archives, and that allowing her “access to the documents is in the public interest as it will promote informed discussion” as she responds to congressional and other inquiries.

========================================

ADDENDUM---The State Dept may also be facing charges of misleading a court WRT the court's request for documents...and for tampering w/ evidence.

=======================================

......an article months ago mentioned the first server Hillary used was the one in their Chappaqua house for Slick/s use when he left the White House......against the advice of Slick/s people. At some point Hillary went to a server managed by an outside company. Pagliano probably had some involvement in the migration if not sole responsibility.

Hillary obviously had to keep her pay-to-play Foundation business off government computers. Fortunately whether it was Pagliano or someone else, the file deletion/wipe was less than professional.

What’s going to happen to Sid Blumenthal? Not a govt employee, Sid was employed by the Cilnton Foundation and had side business interests.....but Sid had clasified info almost verbatim (as confirmed by the NSA). The next few months are going to be beyond interesting. Hillary is dead meat. (hat tip meatloaf)

[Walkingfeather]

For the definitive Info on this scandal, watch this... its worth the time. http://www.judicialwatch.org/live/

[Walkingfeather]

It may look like a fresh chummed shark tank.

[T-Bird45]

Thanks for extracting that sentence from the article because answers exactly my question since it was well-known during the 2008 campaign that The One was also all about the Crackberry. They made a big deal of the fact they got some kind of increased security on his device so he could continue to use it. Now, it just seems another question to fold into all the other questions about POTUS.

[henkster]

I believe her newest excuse is that she didn’t attend the meetings needed to discern ‘classified’.

No time for these boring meetings. She was too busy "fighting for us."

[lacrew]

“She placed personal convenience ahead of her obligation to protect our nations secrets.”

There is a narrative on this...and you may have fallen for it.

Do you really think convenience was the primary driver? I believe her main goal was to avoid record keeping requirements - makes sending Sandy Burglar to the archives unnecessary in the future.

[centurion316]

Working with classified materials can be cumbersome and, in the case of low-level classification, annoying.

God forbid that Hillary be subjected to any annoyance, who do these people think they are? The article makes it clear that she deliberately broke several laws, but claims that she did it for her convenience. Nonsense, she did this to ensure that her political enemies could not get this information and that includes her enemies in the White House.

[morphing libertarian]

anybody have a list of Hillary lies or charges against her over time?

[Walkingfeather]

YEs they are spinning as they know the hammer is coming down on her. My guess is that the Foundation and influence peddling will nail her. HARD. sharing state secrets for personal gain WHOA. FBI doesnt like that too much.

[Pollster1]

I don’t believe this nest of flimsy excuses for a minute. Hillary wanted to keep everything she did private, unsearchable, and out of reach of the Public Information Act and other demands for disclosure. She’s indifferent to espionage against the United States, since she’s not the one being hurt, but exposure terrifies her.

The real risk to Hillary is and always has been from Americans, and she thought she would be safer from being caught if she controlled everything. She wants to control our lives just as she wants to control her communications and everything else in the world.

[henkster]

The FBI doesn’t like her security breaches, but the AGUSA is fine with them. Nothing to see here; Loretta will say so.