Hillary's Email Scandal

[Hashi Lebwohl]

This just might be damage that her campaign manager and staffers can't spin or mitigate. Only her true devotees will continue to support her now. This also explains why she still won't agree to any debates, hold any unscripted news conferences, or answer questions which are not complete softballs.

[Zarathustra]

Her crimes and their cover-up outpace/transcend anything Nixon ever did. The fact that anyone supports her is shocking.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I would bet that her next tactic is going to blame someone. "Such-and-such said I could use a private e-mail server in this way". She will have to blame someone else because otherwise the decision to use a private server stored at her house was her idea. By now she is using some off-the-books phone registered in someone else's name, threatening to use every piece of dirt she has on every person in a position of power she knows to help her clear this mess up. Her personality is such that she is not going to go down in flames alone.

[Zarathustra]

Judicial Watch: Secret Emails Show Hillary Clinton Tied To Benghazi Talking Points

Judicial Watch announced today that newly revealed testimony from the Obama State Department under court order directly ties Hillary Clinton, for the first time, to the now-debunked Benghazi talking points used by United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to claim that the attack was the result of a “spontaneous protest” gone awry. The Obama administration also sent false talking points about the attack to Congress. The State Department is refusing to divulge the contents of the email, citing a discretionary “deliberative process” privilege.

...

However, an unnamed agency staffer initially determined at an unknown time that a “talking points” email was not relevant to Judicial Watch’s request for emails about the Benghazi “talking points.” The Clinton email then was withheld from Judicial Watch. Confusingly, the State Department, in a declaration that “the later message [turned over by Sullivan on June 26] in the email chain, which was not sent to former Secretary Clinton, made it clear that one portion of the earlier message had, indeed, been discussing the talking points given to Ambassador Rice.”

The State Department, nevertheless, is withholding the emails under the “deliberative process” exemption to FOIA disclosure. The State Department alleges that the release of Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi email chain “could reasonably be expected to chill the frank deliberations that occur when senior staff are preparing points or other draft remarks for use by senior Department officials in addressing a matter of public controversy.”

Even though it is known that official State Department business was being conducted, the State Department is also refusing to disclose the email domain names of Clinton’s top aides: Mills, Sullivan and Abedin.

...

Basically, this is what happened: Judicial Watch made a FIOA request last summer, specifically in regards to all communications relating to the Benghazi talking points--which Rice then used on 5 or 6 Sunday news programs as the administration's first public response to the crisis. This is where the carefully crafted myth of a video protest was foisted upon the public as an explanation to shield the administration from criticism over not securing our Consulate from a known terrorist threat. As I've shown in the Benghazi thread, the administration's own people admit in emails that shielding Obama (and his Middle East policies) from criticism was the point in spreading this myth.

Judicial Watch has now learned that the State Department not only has emails linking Hillary directly to the drafting process of this lie, but they refuse to release it in response to a FOIA request. The reason for this refusal is itself the damning evidence of Hillary's involvement, because purpose of the "deliberative process" exemption is to protect senior officials from the alleged chilling effects such an exposure would have on their willingness to participate in the drafting of such talking points with their staff. So if that excuse is legit, it means Hillary was involved in the drafting process. She can't blame this on subordinates and still use that exemption.

All this will soon come to a head, because federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan has now ordered Hillary to affirm--under the threat of perjury--that she and her aides have turned over all official government communications to the State Department (as the law requires).

This is a big deal. It's the first time Hillary will be held legally responsible for the dubious claims she has been making about her emails. She has only a week to comply. Judge Sullivan (the same judge who recently threatened to hold the IRS Commissioner in contempt if he didn't comply ) can even force her to produce her private email server and have it examined by experts!

This scandal is about to crack wide open. So far Hillary has gotten away with it, at least legally, because no official has had the power to threaten her with legal consequences. This judge can, and he did. She must comply. And when she does, we might finally get a peek into those Bengahzi emails the State Department is so desperately trying to hide ... one can only assume for reasons that would ruin Hillary politically. Stayed tuned.

[Cail]

Hillary's starting to swirl the drain. Look for Biden to announce in a week or so.

[Vraith]

Hillary's starting to swirl the drain. Look for Biden to announce in a week or so.

You're probably right.
And that will make everything different.
Not.
I like Joe, mostly, as a human.
Not as Pres, though.
But he'd be better than any of the rest, so far.
Yay.
I'm so damn enthused.

[[[heh...fun tangent! Say what you want about Hillary's server and security...at least HER shit wasn't hacked. Unlike millions of other people who had/have useful info..."protected" by people who live and die by "secrets."]]]

[Zarathustra]

[[[heh...fun tangent! Say what you want about Hillary's server and security...at least HER shit wasn't hacked. Unlike millions of other people who had/have useful info..."protected" by people who live and die by "secrets."]]]

Do you often believe things for which there is zero evidence? How could you possibly know whether Hill's emails have been hacked? Do you have knowledge of China's cyberwar efforts that the rest of the planet does not? Have you looked at Hillary's server yourself (and would you have the expertise to detect hacking if you did)? Do you imagine that she's a better IT expert than the government's own security experts? We're talking about a lady who wants us to believe that she doesn't know you can have two email accounts on the same device!

[Edit: the FBI would probably be interested in the source of your certainty, Vraith, since they are currently investigating this very issue with grave concerns about whether she compromised national security.

Also:

A top intelligence official under President Obama, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, says that the chances Hillary Clinton's private emails were hacked is "very high." Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency but is now retired, called it hackings "likely."

link

]

[Vraith]

Do you often believe things for which there is zero evidence?

I think if she'd been hacked, the whole world would know it.
[[[HEEEyyyyyy! Maybe THAT's what they're really hiding.....holy cow, I hope no gov't folk or candidates check out the Watch ever---I just gave them a killer conspiracy bite.]]]
Do you often completely lack any sense of irony?
You don't find it at all funny? I mean, it's not light-fun like Gaffigan's hot pocket hot pockets....but still.

[Zarathustra]

Vraith, see edit above. Also, do you remember why Hillary admitted a private email server in the first place? The reason we know about this is because emails sent to her from Blumenthal were hacked! That's why she had to come clean in the first place, because it became public knowledge with the release of those hacked emails.

From Wired.com:

Why Clinton's Private Email Server Was Such a Security Fail


...
The domain Clintonemail.com (and thus its registrar) was certainly known to at least one hacker: The notorious celebrity hacker Guccifer first revealed it in 2013 when he spilled the emails of Clinton associate Sydney Blumenthal.

...

Anyone who hacked Network Solutions would be able to quietly hijack the Clintonemail.com domain, intercepting, redirecting, and even spoofing email from Clinton’s account. And Network Solutions is far from the Internet’s hardest target: Hundreds of its domains were hacked in 2010, a year into Clinton’s tenure at the head of the State Department.

[Cail]

Hillary's starting to swirl the drain. Look for Biden to announce in a week or so.

You're probably right.
And that will make everything different.
Not.
I like Joe, mostly, as a human.
Not as Pres, though.
But he'd be better than any of the rest, so far.
Yay.
I'm so damn enthused.

If Biden runs, he'll get the nomination. He'll have the full backing of BO (unlike Gore with Clinton), and it'll give people a way to clear their consciences by not voting for Hillary. Let's face it; Sanders, Webb, and O'Malley don't have a prayer.

If Biden gets in the race, Jeb Bush will be POTUS.

[Zarathustra]

From the NY Post: FBI investigation is a criminal probe, despite Hillary's denials

The FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s unsecured email account is not just a fact-finding venture — it’s a criminal probe, sources told The Post on Wednesday.

The feds are investigating to what extent Clinton relied on her home server and other private devices to send and store classified documents, according to a federal source with knowledge of the inquiry.

“It’s definitely a criminal probe,” said the source. “I’m not sure why they’re not calling it a criminal probe.


“The DOJ [Department of Justice] and FBI can conduct civil investigations in very limited circumstances,” but that’s not what this is, the source stressed. “In this case, a security violation would lead to criminal charges. Maybe DOJ is trying to protect her campaign.”

Clinton’s camp has downplayed the inquiry as civil and fact-finding in nature. Clinton herself has said she is “confident” that she never knowingly sent or received anything that was classified via her private email account.

...

If it is proved that Clinton knowingly sent, received or stored classified information in an unauthorized location, she risks prosecution under the same misdemeanor federal security statute used to prosecute former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, said former federal prosecutor Bradley Simon.

...

“The threshold under the statute is not high — they only need to prove there was an unauthorized removal and retention” of classified material, he said.

...

“My guess is they’re looking to see if there’s been either any breach of that data that’s gone into the wrong hands [in Clinton’s case], through their counter-intelligence group, or they are looking to see if a crime has been committed,” said Makin Delrahim, former chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, who served as a deputy assistant secretary in the Bush DOJ.

“They’re not in the business of providing advisory security services,” Delrahim said of the FBI. “This is real.”
...

[Zarathustra]

FBI seize Hillary's emails after determining they contain "above top secret" classifications

These emails, according to the Inspector General, were classified at our nation's 2nd highest security classification at the time they passed through Hillary's server, directly contradicting her own claims. They also found zero evidence that Hillary was using encryption! My god. Some of our nation's highest secrets were being passed around on a homebrew server without encryption, all so Hillary could avoid Congressional oversight and freedom of information requests. This is beyond incompetence. This is criminal. Literally (see post above).

[Hashi Lebwohl]

She will probably avoid actual criminal charges--maybe--but this should spell the end of her political aspirations.

[Zarathustra]

Judge Napolitano has been the most vocal in sounding the alarm on this issue from the beginning. He's been right all along. He said in March that the issue of classified documents was the most serious charge here, and that it was IMPOSSIBLE for her to not have classified info on her server. She was Secretary of State! Our highest foreign relations official! Even her calendar is classified. Discussions of her calendar are classified.

And despite her ludicrous denials, he was right. She likely has 100s if not 1000s of classified docs on her computer (none of it protected by encryption, Vraith). He said this was a serious crime, and she would be forced to give up her server. He was right.

Now he's saying that she is in GRAVE legal trouble. I think we should listen to him. This is going to get a lot worse. If Hillary was actually innocent, she wouldn't have tried so hard to retain control of her server. There's bound to be some stuff on there that she didn't want the public to see (duh), and now it has a chance of being exposed. We might get to the bottom of the Benghazi cover up at last.

The latest news is that there's evidence someone at State Department removed the classification labels of documents sent to Hillary--which is a felony itself. Most likely, it was done by underlings who knew Hill had an unsecured private server. A very clumsy attempt to protect the Boss. So it looks like there is a conspiracy (i.e. more than one person) to hide violations of the law concerning our highest Top Secret secrets. Once the FBI starts leaning on these underlings (who have all lawyered up), expect the ones at the top to come crashing down.

Dems better get serious about an alternate candidate now. Bernie doesn't have a chance. Sarah Palin could beat an avowed socialist. [Did anyone see where he wants to "transform" America? Sound familiar? Why do liberals hate America so much they have to make into something completely different???]

[kevinswatch]

Yes, all of this e-mail stuff is getting ridiculous. She has no credibility.

I seriously hope the Dems do get serious about supporting someone else.

I don't mind what Bernie has to say, but he's just too dirt old. I have no problem with his socialism. It's not like he could actually *transform* the country anyway with a Republican-controlled congress. Any more than a hard right religious nut or libertarian could transform the country (and I'm sure they would love to *transform* our country as well).

But anyway, yes, they need someone else. Bernie Sanders isn't going to get me excited, and I'd rather see anyone other than Hilary.

-jay

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Bob Woodwards says that Hillary's e-mail server reminds him of the Nixon tapes.

If having a personal e-mail server violated at least ethics standards if not various Federal laws regarding document preservation and/or security, then who knew she had this private, personal e-mail server and when did they know that she had it? Wouldn't that make them tangentially culpable if they didn't report it? I am certain that someone at State knew she had it and I am certain they knew that if they said anything she would hang them out to dry but now people who might have been willing to fall on their own sword for her 6 years ago (which would have been a less grueling end) might be more willing to testify against her--she has no power over anyone at this time outside revealing secrets about them.

Did her boss at the time know that she had it? I suspect he didn't--her use of a private server would allow her to keep her dealings secret from both the citizens and from her boss, given her dislike of Obama (remember--SecScate was her consolation prize to keep her devoted Democrat fans in the fold). She was running State her way, not his.

Anyway....many of her higher-level staff from State have obtain lawyers in advance of the inevitable FBI inquiries. Some of them are probably also weighing their options and seeing how much they might be able to get for telling what they know. She will know this, too, and that is going to weigh into her own decisions. At this point her best outcome scenario is dropping out of the race and completely retiring from public life; her worst outcome scenario is Federal charges and being found guilty.

[Zarathustra]

Even if none of this leads any farther--federal charges, Benghazi smoking gun, etc.--what we already know is enough to disqualify her for President ... if people were actually concerned about things like transparency and national security (more than politics).

Consider this: Sec. Kerry admitted that it's likely the Chinese and Russians are reading his emails, even with all the precautions he takes by not having a homebrew server with zero encryption. Therefore, whatever Hillary has taken pains to hide, we can be sure that the Russians/Chinese have that, too.

So imagine having a President who is compromised to this degree. Think about how easily she could be blackmailed by foreign governments threatening to reveal secrets that could either doom her presidency politically (Benghazi) or subject her to criminal prosecution (knowingly conspiring to mishandle classified info). This is an untenable situation. She has damaged her credibility beyond repair. She cannot be trusted to place our country's needs above her own petty concerns. She has already demonstrated a disregard for national security secrets, merely for "convenience," if we even bother to take her sole explanation seriously.

I can't believe there are still so many Dems who don't see a problem with this. It's unbelievable how many people don't care.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

There is at least one long-time Hillary supporter who would prefer that she bow out of the race before she goes too far to back out and winds up being defeated because of all this e-mail mess.

I normally don't like Daily Mail out of the UK--too much like a tabloid and the side banners are always full of celebrity junk--but this article does have a timeline at the bottom.

[Zarathustra]

I normally don't like Daily Mail out of the UK--too much like a tabloid and the side banners are always full of celebrity junk--but this article does have a timeline at the bottom.

That's one of Daily Mail's best qualities! Side banner = shots of side boobs!

They do break an important story now and then, like the one above. (And you could adjust your screen to cut off the side banner if the girls are too distracting.) I don't understand why it's not a bigger deal that Hillary was caught in such a blatant lie. She told us in March during her first Emailgate press conference that her server was set up for Bill Clinton, in her home, guarded by Secret Service agents (whatever good that would do against a cyberattack ). Now we know the truth: it was held in a mom-and-pop computer company that kept its servers in a bathroom closet in a loft apartment in Colorado ... for some of our nation's highest secrets, the emails of our nation's top diplomat! Simply incredible. There's no explanation to account for the discrepancy in her claims. No explanation why she didn't choose a reputable company to hold such info, a company with security clearances for top secret info, at the very least. We do know that the Platte River computer company is run by a "big Democrat" known to the Colorado governor. So maybe it was more important for the Secretary of State to get a loyal party member who could keep secrets for political reasons than to get a competent, reputable company.

But that's not all. After an incredibly tasteless joke * about loving her knew Snapchat account because the emails "erase themselves," she pretended not to understand the question when a reporter asked her if she had wiped her email server clean. She literally said, "What, with a cloth or something?" Who knew Hillary could be so darn funny? But seriously, NBC is reporting that two informants with direct knowledge of the FBI investigation believe, after examining her server, that someone attempted to wipe the server clean. And despite this, Hillary would not answer the question and accept responsibility, choosing instead to play stupid--after claiming emphatically that she was "the official in charge" of making decisions for her server.

*[I wonder if the FBI got a chuckle out of that one. I wonder if our intelligence agencies who guard our nation's highest secrets thought it was funny for the Secretary of State to make light of destroying classified info--a federal crime, btw.]

[kevinswatch]

She seriously needs to step down so the Dems can get a real candidate.

-jay