Clinton Emails Candal

7/25/2019 Clinton Emails Candal

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Hillary Clinton email controversy

FormerSecretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying before the

House Select Committee on Benghazi

In March 2015, it became publicly known that Hillary

Clinton, during her tenure as United States Secretary

of State, had exclusively used her familys private email

server for official communications, rather than official

State Department email accounts maintained on federal

servers. Those official communications included thou-

sands of emails that would later be markedclassifiedby

the State Department retroactively.

[1]

Debate continues as to the propriety and legality of var-

ious aspects of Secretary Clintons arrangement. Some

experts, officials, and members of Congress have con-

tended that her use of privatemessaging systemsoftware

and a private server violatedState Departmentprotocols

and procedures, as well as federal laws and regulations

governingrecordkeeping. In response, Clinton has said

that her use of personal email was in compliance with

federal laws and State Department regulations, and that

former secretaries of state had also maintained personal

email accounts.

Nearly 2,100 emails on the server were retroactivelymarked as classified by the State Department, includ-

ing 65 emails deemed Secret and 22 deemed Top

Secret. Government policy, reiterated in the non-

disclosure agreementsigned by Clinton as part of gain-

ing her security clearance, is that sensitive information

should be considered and handled as classified even if not

marked as such. After allegations were raised that some

of the emails in question fell into this category, an in-

vestigation was initiated by theFederal Bureau of Inves-

tigation(FBI) regarding how classified information was

handled on the Clinton server.

In May 2016 theState Departments Office of the Inspec-tor General released an 83-page report about the State

Departments email practices, including Clintons. The

controversy continues against the backdrop ofClintons

2016 presidential election campaignand hearings held by

theUnited States House Select Committee on Benghazi.

1 Background

1.1 BlackBerry phones

Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State, Clintonand her circle of friends and colleagues communicated

viaBlackBerryphones.[2] State Department security per-

sonnel suggested this would pose a security risk during

her tenure.[3] The email account used on Clintons Black-

Berry was then hosted on a private server in the base-

ment of her home inChappaqua, New York, but that in-

formation was not disclosed to State Department secu-

rity personnel or senior State Department personnel.[4] It

proved impractical to find a solution, even after consult-

ing theNational Security Agency, which would not have

allowed Clinton to use her BlackBerry, or a similarly un-

secured device, linked to a private server in her home.[5]

Setting up a secure desktop computer in her office was

suggested, but Clinton was unfamiliar with their use[6]

and opted for the convenience of her BlackBerry,[7] not

the State Department, government protocol of a secured

desktop computer. Efforts to find a secure solution were

abandoned by Clinton,[5] and she was warned by State

Department security personnel about the vulnerability of

an unsecured BlackBerry to hacking.[8] She affirmed her

knowledge of the danger, and was reportedly told that the

Bureau of Diplomatic Securityhad obtained intelligence

about her vulnerability while she was on a trip to Asia,

but continued to use her BlackBerry outside her office.[9]

1.2 Domain names and email server

At the time of Senate confirmation hearings on Hillary

Clintons nomination as Secretary of State, the domain

names clintonemail.com, wjcoffice.com, and president-

clinton.comwereregisteredto Eric Hoteham,[10] with the

home of Clinton and her husband in Chappaqua, New

York, as the contact address.[11][12] The domains were

pointed to a private email server that Clinton (who never

had a state.gov email account) used to send and receive

email, and which was purchased and installed in the Clin-tons home forher 2008 presidential campaign.[13][14]

The email server was located in the Clintons home in

1
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2 2 USE OF PRIVATE SERVER FOR GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Chappaqua, New York, until 2013, when it was sent to

a data center in New Jersey before being handed over

to Platte River Networks, a Denver-based information

technologyfirm that Clinton hired to manage her email

system.[15][16][17][18][19]

1.3 Initial awareness

As early as 2009, officials with the National Archives

and Records Administration (NARA) expressed con-

cerns over possible violations of normal federal govern-

ment record-keeping procedures at the Department of

State under Secretary Clinton.[20]

In December 2012, near the end of Clintons tenure as

Secretary of State, a nonprofit group called Citizens for

Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed

a FOIA request seeking records about her email. CREW

received a response in May 2013: no records responsive

to your request were located.[21] Emails sent to Clin-

tons privateclintonemail.com address were first discov-

ered in March 2013, when a hacker named "Guccifer"

widely distributed emails sent to Clinton from Sidney

Blumenthal, which Guccifer obtained by illegally ac-

cessing Blumenthals email account.[22][23][24] The emails

dealt with the2012 Benghazi attackand other issues in

Libyaand revealed the existence of herclintonemail.com

address.[22][23][24] Blumenthal did not have a security

clearance when he received material from Clinton that

has since been characterized as classified by the State

Department.[25][26]

In the summer of 2014, lawyers from the State Depart-

ment noticed a number of emails from Clintons per-

sonal account, while reviewing documents requested by

the House Select Committee on Benghazi. A request by

the State Department for additional emails led to negotia-

tions with her lawyers and advisors. In October, the State

Department sent letters to Clinton and all previous Sec-

retaries of State back to Madeleine Albright requesting

emails and documents related to their work while in of-

fice. On December 5, 2014, Clinton lawyers delivered 12

file boxes filled with printed paper containing more than

30,000 emails. Clinton withheld almost 32,000 emailsdeemed to be of a personal nature.[21] Datto, Inc., which

provideddata backupservice for Clintons email, agreed

to give the FBI the hardware that stored the backups.[27]

As of May 2016, no answer had been provided to the pub-

lic as to whether 31,000 emails deleted by Hillary Clinton

as personal have been or could be recovered.[28]

A March 2, 2015,New York Timesarticle broke the story

that the Benghazi panel had discovered that Clinton ex-

clusively used her own private email server rather than

a government-issued one throughout her time as Secre-

tary of State, and that her aides took no action to pre-

serve emails sent or received from her personal accountsas required by law.[29][30][31] At that point, Clinton an-

nounced that she had asked the State Department to re-

lease her emails.[32] Some in the media labeled the con-

troversy emailgate.[33][34][35]

2 Use of private server for govern-

ment business

According to Clintons spokesperson Nick Merrill, a

number of government officials have used private email

accounts for official business, including secretaries of

state before Clinton.[36] State Department spokesperson

Marie Harfsaid that: For some historical context, Sec-

retaryKerryis the first secretary of state to rely primar-

ily on a state.gov email account.[29] John Wonderlich,

a transparency advocate with the Sunlight Foundation,

observed while many government officials used private

email accounts, their use of private email servers was

much rarer.[37] Dan Metcalfe, a former head of the Jus-

tice Departments Office of Information and Privacy, said

this gave her even tighter control over her emails by not

involving a third party such as Google and helped prevent

their disclosure by Congressional subpoena. He added:

She managed successfully to insulate her official emails,

categorically, from the FOIA, both during her tenure at

State and long after her departure from itperhaps for-

ever, making it a blatant circumvention of theFOIAby

someone who unquestionably knows better.[29][38]

According to Department spokesperson Harf, use by gov-

ernment officials of personal email for government busi-

ness is permissible under the Federal Records Act, so

long as relevant official communications, including all

work-related emails, are preserved by the agency.[29] The

Act (which wasamended in late 2014after Clinton left

office to require that personal emails be transferred to

government servers within 20 days) requires agencies to

retain all official communications, including all work-

related emails, and stipulates that government employ-

ees cannot destroy or remove relevant records.[29] NARA

regulations dictate how records should be created and

maintained, require that they must be maintained by the

agency and readily found, and that the records must

make possible a proper scrutiny by the Congress.[29]Section 1924 ofTitle 18 of the United States Codead-

dresses the deletion and retention of classified documents,

under which knowingly removing or housing classified

information at an unauthorized location is subject to a

fine, or up to a year in prison.[29]

Experts such as Metcalfe agree that these practices are

allowed by federal law assuming that the material is not

supposed to be classified,[36][39] or at least these prac-

tices are allowed in case of emergencies,[30] but they dis-

courage these practices, believing that official email ac-

counts should be used.[29] Jason R. Baron, the former

head of litigation at NARA, described the practice ashighly unusual but not a violation of the law. In a sep-

arate interview, he said, It is very difficult to conceive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litigationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_18_of_the_United_States_Codehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_and_Federal_Records_Act_Amendments_of_2014https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Records_Acthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight_Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Harfhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Timeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_backuphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datto,_Inc.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_Albrighthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Benghazi_attackhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Blumenthalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Blumenthalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gucciferhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administrationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administrationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaqua,_New_York


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3

of a scenarioshort of nuclear winterwhere an agency

would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level head offi-

cer to solely use a private email communications channel

for the conduct of government business.[30][40][41] Baron

told the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2015 that

any employees decision to conduct all email correspon-

dence through a private email network, using a non-.govaddress, is inconsistent with long-established policies and

practices under the Federal Records Act and NARA reg-

ulations governing all federal agencies.[42]

2.1 May 2016 report from State Depart-

ments inspector general

In May 2016, the Departments Officeof the Inspector

General Steve Linickreleased an 83-page report about

the State Departments email practices.[43][44][45] The In-

spector General was unable to find evidence that Clinton

had ever sought approval from the State Department staff

for her use of a private email server, determining that

if Clinton had sought approval, Department staff would

have declined her setup because of the security risks in

doing so.[43] Aside from security risks, the report stated

that, she did not comply with the Departments poli-

cies that were implemented in accordance with the Fed-

eral Records Act,[46] The report also stated that, unlike

the other Secretaries of State involved, she and her aides

refused to cooperate with the investigation.[43] Each of

these findings contradicted what Clinton and her aides

had been saying up to that point.[47][48][49]

The report also reviewed the practices of several previous

Secretaries of State and concluded that the Departments

recordkeeping practices were subpar for many years.[43]

The Inspector General criticized Clintons use of private

email for Department business, concluding that it was

not an appropriate method of document preservation

and did not follow Department policies that aim to com-

ply with federal record laws.[43] The report also criticized

Colin Powell, who used a personal email account for

business, saying that this violated some of the same De-

partment policies.[43] State Department spokesman Mark

Toner said that the report emphasized the need for federalagencies to adapt decades-old record-keeping practices

to the email-dominated modern era and said that the De-

partments record-retention practices had been improved

under the current Secretary of StateJohn F. Kerry, Clin-

tons successor.[43] The report also notes that the rules for

preserving work-related emails were updated in 2009.[50]

Inspector General Linick wrote that he found no evi-

dence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser re-

viewed or approved Secretary Clintons personal system,

and also found that multiple State employees who raised

concerns regarding Clintons server were told that the Of-

fice of the Legal Adviser had approved it, and were fur-ther told to never speak of the Secretarys personal email

system again.[51][52][53][54]

Clinton campaign spokesmanBrian Fallonissued a state-

ment saying: The report shows that problems with

the State Departments electronic record-keeping sys-

tems were long-standing and that Clinton took steps

that went much further than others to appropriately pre-

serve and release her records.[43] However, the Asso-

ciated Press said, The audit did note that former Sec-retary of State Colin Powell had also exclusively used

a private email account.... But the failings of Clin-

ton were singled out in the audit as being more seri-

ous than her predecessor.[55] The report stated that By

Secretary Clintons tenure, the departments guidance

was considerably more detailed and more sophisticated,

Secretary Clintons cybersecurity practices accordingly

must be evaluated in light of these more comprehensive

directives.[55]

3 Server security and hacking at-

tempts

In 2008, before Hillary Clinton became Secretary of

State, Justin Cooper, a longtime aide to Clintons hus-

band, former President Bill Clinton, managed the sys-

tem. Cooper had no security clearance or expertise in

computer security.[56] Later,Bryan Pagliano, the former

IT director for Clintons 2008 presidential campaign, was

hired to maintain their private email server while Clin-

ton was Secretary of State.[57][58] Pagliano had invoked

theFifth Amendmentduring congressional questioningabout Clintons server. In early 2016, he was granted im-

munity by the Department of Justice in exchange for co-

operation with prosecutors.[59] A Clinton spokesman said

her campaign was pleased Pagliano was now cooperat-

ing with prosecutors.[60] As of May 2016, the State De-

partment remained unable to locate most of Paglianos

work-related emails from the period when he was em-

ployed by that department under Secretary Clinton.[61]

Security experts such as Chris Soghoian believe that

emails to and from Clinton may have been at risk of

hacking and foreign surveillance.[62] Marc Maiffret, a

cybersecurity expert, said that the server had amateurhour vulnerabilities.[63] For the first two months after

Clinton was appointed Secretary of State and began ac-

cessing mail on the server through her Blackberry, trans-

missions to and from the server were apparently not en-

crypted. On March 29, 2009, a digital certificate" was

obtained which would have permitted encryption.[9]

Former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency

Michael T. Flynn,[64] formerUnited States Secretary of

Defense Robert Gates,[65][66] and former deputy director

of theCentral Intelligence Agency Michael Morell[67][68]

have said that it is likely that foreign governments

were able to access the information on Clintons server.Michael Hayden, formerDirector of the National Secu-

rity Agency, Principal DeputyDirector of National Intel-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_National_Security_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_National_Security_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hayden_(general)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Morellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_T._Flynnhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_Defense_Intelligence_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_key_certificatehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Maiffrethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_and_network_surveillancehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(computer_security)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Soghoianhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Paglianohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Cooper_(aide)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Fallonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kerryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Linickhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_General_of_the_Department_of_Statehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_General_of_the_Department_of_Statehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Inspector_General_of_the_Department_of_State


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4 4 CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN EMAILS

ligence, andDirector of the Central Intelligence Agency

said I would lose all respect for a whole bunch of foreign

intelligence agencies if they weren't sitting back, paging

through the emails.[69]

Clintons server was configured to allow users to con-

nect openly from the Internet and control it remotely us-ing MicrosoftsRemote Desktop Services.[63] It is known

that hackers in Russia were aware of Clintons non-public

email address as early as 2011.[70] It is also known that

Secretary Clinton and her staff were aware of hacking at-

tempts in 2011, and were worried about them.[71]

In 2012, according to server records, a hacker inSerbia

scanned Clintons Chappaqua server at least twice, in Au-

gust and in December 2012. It was unclear whether the

hacker knew the server belonged to Clinton, although it

did identify itself as providing email services forclintone-

mail.com.[63] During 2014, Clintons server was the target

of repeated intrusions originating in Germany, China, andSouth Korea. Threat monitoring software on the server

blocked at least five such attempts. The software was in-

stalled in October 2013, and for three months prior to

that, no such software had been installed.[72][73]

According to Pagliano, security logs of Clintons email

server showed no evidence of successful hacking.[74] The

New York Timesreported that forensic experts can some-

times spot sophisticated hacking that is not apparent in

the logs, but computer security experts view logs as key

documents when detecting hackers, adding the logs bol-

ster Mrs. Clintons assertion that her use of a personal

email account [...] did not put American secrets into the

hands of hackers or foreign governments.[62][74][75]

In 2013, Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazr

("Guccifer") distributed private memos from Sydney

Blumenthalto Clinton onevents in Libya.[76][77] In 2016,

Lazr was extradited from Romania to the U.S. to face

unrelated federal charges related to his hacking into the

accounts of a number of high-profile U.S. figures,[78]

pleading guilty to these charges.[79][80]

While detained pending trial, Lazr claimed to the media

that he had successfully hacked Clintons server, but pro-

vided no proof of this claim.[81] Officials associated with

the investigation told the media that they found no evi-dence supporting Lazrs assertion,[82] and Clinton press

secretaryBrian Fallon said There is absolutely no ba-

sis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his

prison cell.[83][84]

4 Classified information in emails

In various interviews, Clinton has said that I did not send

classified material, and I did not receive any material that

was marked or designated classified.

[1]

According to the State Department, there were 2,093

email chains on the server that were retroactively marked

as classified by the State Department. Sixty-five of

those emails were found to contain information clas-

sified as Secret"; more than 20 contained Top-

Secret information; and the rest contained Confiden-

tial information.[85][86]

Of the 2,100 emails, Clinton personally wrote 104 andher aides wrote hundreds more.[43][87]

A main point of contention in the controversy is if Clin-

ton passed information through her mail server that was

classified at the time, which would be improper because

it was a private, non-secured channel.[88] In June 2016,

Fox News reported that one email received by Clinton

contained classified portion markings, marking part of

the email as classified at the time received.[89]

4.1 Inspector general reports and state-

ments

A June 29, 2015 memorandum from theinspector gen-

eral (IG) of the State Department, Steve A. Linick, said

that a review of the 55,000-page email release found

hundreds of potentially classified emails.[90] A July

17, 2015 follow-up memo, sent jointly by Linick and

the Intelligence Community (IC) inspector general, I.

Charles McCullough III, toUnder Secretary of State for

Management Patrick F. Kennedy, stated that they had

confirmed that several of the emails contained classified

information that was not marked as classified, at least one

of which was publicly released.[90] On July 24, 2015, Lin-

ick and McCullough said they had discovered classifiedinformation on Clintons email account,[91] but did not say

whether Clinton sent or received the emails.[91] Investiga-

tors from their office, searching a randomly chosen sam-

ple of 40 emails, found four that contained classified in-

formation that originated from U.S. intelligence agencies,

including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the

National Security Agency (NSA).[91] Their statement said

that the information they found was classified when sent,

remained so as of their inspection, and never should have

been transmitted via an unclassified personal system.[91]

In a separate statement in the form of a letter to Congress,

McCullough said that he had made a request to the StateDepartment for access to the entire set of emails turned

over by Clinton, but that the Department rejected his

request.[91][92] The letter stated that none of the emails

were marked as classified, but because they included clas-

sified information they should have been marked and han-

dled as such, and transmitted securely.[92]

On August 10, 2015, the IC inspector general said

that two of the 40 emails in the sample were Top

Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information" and sub-

sequently given classified labels of TK (for Talent Key-

hole, indicating material obtained byspy satellites) and

NOFORN.[93] One is a discussion of a news article aboutaU.S. drone strike operation.[93] The second, he said, ei-

ther referred to classified material or else was parallel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_strikes_in_Pakistanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information_in_the_United_States#Handling_caveatshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_satellitehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_Compartmented_Informationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Kennedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_Managementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_Managementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Communityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Inspector_General_of_the_Department_of_Statehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Inspector_General_of_the_Department_of_Statehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Fallonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_Warhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Blumenthalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Blumenthalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gucciferhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_peoplehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Serviceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence


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4.2 FBI investigation 5

reporting ofopen-source intelligence, which would also

be classified.[93][94] Clintons presidential campaign and

the State Department disputed the letter, and questioned

whether the emails had been over-classified by an arbi-

trary process. According to an unnamed source, a sec-

ondary review by the CIA and the National Geospatial-

Intelligence Agencyendorsed the earlier inspectors gen-eral findings concluding that the emails (one of which

concerned North Koreas nuclear weapons program) were

Top Secret when received by Clinton through her pri-

vate server in 2009 and 2011, a conclusion also disputed

by the Clinton campaign.[95]

The IC inspector general issued another letter to Congress

on January 14, 2016. In this letter he stated that an un-

named intelligence agency had made a sworn declara-

tion that several dozen emails [had been] determined

by the IC element to be at the CONFIDENTIAL, SE-

CRET, and TOP SECRET/SAP levels. Other intelli-

gence officials added that the several dozen were not thetwo emails from the previous sample and that the clear-

ance of the IC inspector general himself had to be up-

graded before he could learn about the programs refer-

enced by the emails.[96][97][98]

On January 29, 2016, the State Department announced

that 22 documents from Clintons email server would not

be released because they contained highly classified in-

formation that was too sensitive for public consumption.

At the same time, the State Department announced that it

was initiating its own investigation into whether the server

contained information that was classified at thetime it was

sent or received.[99]

In February 2016, State Department IG Linick addressed

another report to Under Secretary of State Kennedy, stat-

ing his office had also found classified material in 10

emails in the personal email accounts of members of for-

mer SecretaryCondoleezza Ricesstaff and in two emails

in the personal email account of former Secretary of State

Colin Powell.[100][101] None of the emails were classified

for intelligence reasons.[102] PolitiFact found a year ear-

lier that Powell was the only former secretary of state to

use a personal email account.[103] In February 2016, Clin-

tons campaign chairman issued a statement claiming that

her emails, like her predecessors, were being inappro-priately subjected to over-classification.[100][104]

4.2 FBI investigation

The State Department andIntelligence Community(IC)

inspector generals discovery of four emails containing

classified information, out of a random sample of 40,

prompted them to make a security referral to the FBIs

counterintelligence office, to alert authorities that classi-

fied information was being kept on Clintons server and

by her lawyer on athumb drive.[91][92] As part of an FBIprobe at the request of the ICinspector general, Clin-

ton agreed to turn over her email server to theU.S. De-

partment of Justice, as well as thumb drives containing

copies of her work-related emails. Other emails were ob-

tained by theUnited States House Select Committee on

Benghazi from other sources, in connection with the com-

mittees inquiry. Clintons own emails are being made

public in stages by the State Department on a gradual

schedule.[105][106][107]

Clintons IT contractors turned over her personal email

server to the FBI on August 12, 2015,[19] as well as thumb

drives containing copies of her emails.[108][109] In a letter

describing the matter to SenatorRon Johnson, Chairman

of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Clintons

lawyerDavid E. Kendall said that emails, and all other

data stored on the server, had earlier been erased prior to

the device being turned over to the authorities, and that

both he and another lawyer had been given security clear-

ances by the State Department to handle thumb drives

containing about 30,000 emails that Clinton subsequently

also turned over to authorities.[110] Kendall said the thumbdrives had been stored in a safe provided to him in July

by the State Department.[110][110]

On August 20, 2015, U.S. District JudgeEmmet G. Sul-

livanstated that Hillary Clintons actions of maintaining

a private email server were in direct conflict with U.S.

government policy. We wouldn't be here today if this

employee had followed government policy, he said, and

ordered the State Department to work with the FBI to de-

termine if any emails on the server during her tenure as

Secretary of State could be recovered.[111][112][113] Platte

River Networks, the Denver-based firm that managed the

Clinton server since 2013, said it had no knowledge ofthe server being wiped, and indicated that the emails

that Clinton has said were deleted could likely be recov-

ered. Platte River has no knowledge of the server be-

ing wiped, company spokesman Andy Boian told the

Washington Post. All the information we have is that the

server wasn't wiped.[114] When asked by theWashington

Post, the Clinton campaign declined to comment.[114]

In September 2015, FBI investigators were engaged

in sorting messages recovered from the server.[115] In

November 2015, the FBI expanded its inquiry to ex-

amine whether Clinton or her aides jeopardized na-

tional security secrets, and if so, who should be heldresponsible.[116][117]

Conflicting media sources sized the FBI investigation

from 12[118] to 30 agents[119] as of March 2016.

In May 2016, FBI DirectorJames Comeysaid that Clin-

tons description of the probe as a security inquiry was

inaccurate saying Its in our name. I'm not familiar with

the term 'security inquiry'" and We're conducting an in-

vestigation ... Thats what we do.[120]

In July 2016, the New York Times reported in the name

of a Justice Department official that Attorney Gen-

eral Loretta Lynchwill accept whatever recommenda-tion career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about

whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clintons per-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Lynchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comeyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Posthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmet_G._Sullivanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmet_G._Sullivanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Kendallhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Johnson_(U.S._politician)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Benghazihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Benghazihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_Justicehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_Justicehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_generalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drivehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Communityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Ricehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_access_programhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligence_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geospatial-Intelligence_Agencyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_intelligence


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6 5 RESPONSES AND ANALYSIS

sonal email server, and added that The F.B.I. is inves-

tigating whether Mrs. Clinton, her aides or anyone else

broke the law by setting up a private email server for her

to use as secretary of state. [121]

4.3 Journalists and experts

According to the New York Times, if Clinton was a recipi-

ent of classified emails, it is not clear that she would have

known that they contained government secrets, since they

were not marked classified.[1][91] The newspaper also re-

ported that most specialists believe the occasional ap-

pearance of classified information in the Clinton account

was probably of marginal consequence.[13] Steven Af-

tergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy

at theFederation of American Scientists, said that inad-

vertent spillage of classified information into an unclas-

sified realm is a common occurrence.[13]

An August 2015 review by Reutersof a set of released

emails found at least 30 email threads from 2009, rep-

resenting scores of individual emails, that include what

the State Department identifies as foreign government

information, defined by the U.S. government as any in-

formation, written or spoken, provided in confidence to

U.S. officials by their foreign counterparts.[1] Although

unmarked, Reuters examination appeared to suggest that

these emails were classified from the start.[1] J. William

Leonard, a former director of the NARA Information

Security Oversight Office, said that such information is

born classified and that If a foreign minister just told

the secretary of state something in confidence, by U.S.

rules that is classified at the moment its in U.S. channels

and U.S. possession.[1] According to Reuters, the stan-

dard U.S. governmentnondisclosure agreement warns

people authorized to handle classified information that it

may not be marked that way and that it may come in oral

form.[1] The State Department disputed Reuters anal-

ysis but declined to elaborate.[1]

The Associated Press reported that Some officials

said they believed the designations were a stretch

a knee-jerk move in a bureaucracy rife with over-

classification.[93] Jeffrey Toobin, in an August 2015New

Yorkerarticle, wrote that the Clinton email affair is an il-

lustration of overclassification, a problem written about

by SenatorDaniel Patrick Moynihanin his bookSecrecy:

The American Experience.[88] Toobin writes that govern-

ment bureaucracies use classification rules to protect turf,

to avoid embarrassment, to embarrass rivalsin short,

for a variety of motives that have little to do with national

security.[88] Toobin wrote that Its not only the public

who cannot know the extent or content of government

secrecy. Realistically, government officials cant know

eitherand this is Hillary Clintons problem.[88] Toobin

noted that one of Clintons potentially classified email

exchanges is nothing more than a discussion of a news-paper story aboutdrones" and wrote: That such a dis-

cussion could be classified underlines the absurdity of the

current system. But that is the system that exists, and

if and when the agencies determine that she sent or re-

ceived classified information through her private server,

Clinton will be accused of mishandling national-security

secrets.[88]

Richard Lempert, in an analysis of the Clinton email con-troversy published by the Brookings Institution, wrote

that security professionals have a reputation for erring

in the direction of overclassification.[122] Elizabeth

Goitein, co-director of the liberty and national secu-

rity program at the Brennan Center for Justiceat New

York University School of Law, says that The odds are

good that any classified information in the Clinton emails

should not have been classified, since an estimated 50

percent to 90 percent of classified documents could be

made public without risking national security.[122] Nate

Jones, an expert with theNational Security Archive at

George Washington University, said: Clintons mistreat-

ment of federal records and the intelligence communitysdesire to retroactively overclassify are two distinct trou-

bling problems. No politician is giving the right message:

Blame Clinton for poor records practices, but don't em-

brace overclassification while you do it.[122]

5 Responses and analysis

5.1 Clintons response

Clinton spokesmanNick Merrill defended Clintons useof the personal server and email accounts as being in

compliance with the letter and spirit of the rules. Clin-

ton herself stated that she had done so only as a matter of

convenience.[123]

On March 10, 2015, while attending a conference at

theUnited Nations Headquartersin Manhattan, Clinton

spoke with reporters for about 20 minutes.[124] Clinton

said that she had used a private email for convenience,

because I thought it would be easier to carry just one

device for my work and for my personal emails instead

of two.[125][126] It was later determined that Clinton had

used both aniPadand a BlackBerrywhile Secretary ofState.[125][127][128][129]

Clinton turned over copies of 30,000 State Department

business-related emails from her private server that be-

longed in the public domain; she later explained that in-

structed her lawyer to err on the side of disclosure, turn-

ing over any emails thatmightbe work-related. Her aides

subsequently deleted about 31,000 emails from the server

dated during the same time period that Clinton regarded

as personal and private.[130][131][132]

In a court filing in September 2015, attorneys from the

United States Department of Justice Civil Divisionwrote

that Clinton had the right to delete personal emails, notingthat under federal guidelines: There is no question that

former Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice_Civil_Divisionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headquarters_of_the_United_Nationshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Merrillhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Universityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Archivehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University_School_of_Lawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University_School_of_Lawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brennan_Center_for_Justicehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_Institutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_strikes_in_Pakistanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Patrick_Moynihanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Yorkerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Yorkerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Toobinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Presshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondisclosure_agreementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Security_Oversight_Officehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Security_Oversight_Officehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._William_Leonardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._William_Leonardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reutershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_American_Scientists


7/18

5.3 Republican response 7

emails without agency supervision she appropriately

could have done so even if she were working on a gov-

ernment server. Under policies issue both by the National

Archives and Records Administration and the State De-

partment, individual officers and employees are permit-

ted and expected to exercise judgment to determine what

constitutes a federal record.[132][133]

Clinton has used humor to shrug off the

scandal.[134][135][136] In August 2015, when asked

by a reporter whether she had wiped her server,

Clinton laughed and said: What? Like with a cloth

or something? I don't know how it works digitally at

all.[137] In September 2015, Clinton was asked in an

interview withJimmy FallononThe Tonight Showabout

the content of the emails. She laughed it off, saying there

was nothing interesting and joking that she was offended

people found her emails 'boring'.[138]

5.2 Democratic response

In August 2015, the New York Times reported on

interviews with more than 75 Democratic governors,

lawmakers, candidates and party members on the

email issue.[139] The Times reported that None of the

Democrats interviewed went so far as to suggest that the

email issue raised concerns about Mrs. Clintons ability

to serve as president, and many expressed a belief that it

had beenmanufacturedby Republicans in Congress and

other adversaries.[139] At the same time, many Demo-

cratic leaders showed increasing frustration among party

leaders of Clintons handling of the email issue.[139] For

example,Edward G. Rendell, formergovernor of Penn-

sylvania, a Clinton supporter, said that a failure of the

Clinton campaign to get ahead of the issue early on meant

that the campaign was left just playing defense.[139]

Other prominent Democrats, such as GovernorDannel P.

Malloyof Connecticut, were less concerned, noting that

the campaign was at an early stage and that attacks on

Clinton were to be expected.[139]

At the October 2015 primary debate, Clintons chief ri-

val for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator

Bernie Sanders of Vermont, defended Clinton, saying:

Let me say this. Let me say something that may not

be great politics. But I think the secretary is right. And

that is that the American people are sickand tired of hear-

ing about your damn emails!" Clinton responded: Thank

you. Me too. Me too. Clinton and Sanders shook hands

on stage.[140][141] According to the Los Angeles Times:

The crowd went wild. So did the Internet.[140][141]

Sanders later clarified that he thinks Clintons emails is

a very serious issue,[142] but that he thinks Americans

want a discussion on issues that are real to them, such aspaidfamilyandmedical leave,college affordability, and

campaign finance reform.[141]

5.3 Republican response

Republican National Committee chairman Reince

Priebus said, in a statement regarding the June 30

email releases, These emails ... are just the tip of the

iceberg, and we will never get full disclosure until Hillary

Clinton releases her secret server for an independentinvestigation.[143] Gowdy, a Republican, said on June

29, 2015 that he would press the State Department

for a fuller accounting of Clintons emails, after the

Benghazi panel obtained 15 additional emails to Sidney

Blumenthal that the department had not provided to the

Committee.[144]

On September 12, 2015, Republican Senators Charles

Grassley and Ron Johnson, chairmen of the Senate

Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, respec-

tively, said they will seek an independent review of

the deleted emails, if they are recovered from Clintons

server, to determine if there are any government re-lated items among those deleted.[114] The Justice Depart-

ment (DOJ), on behalf of the State Department has ar-

gued that personal emails are not federal records, that

courts lack the jurisdiction to demand their preservation,

and defended Clintons email practices in a court filing

on September 9, 2015. DOJ lawyers argued that fed-

eral employees, including Clinton, are allowed to dis-

card personal emails provided they preserve those per-

taining to public business. There is no question that

former Secretary Clinton had authority to delete per-

sonal emails without agency supervisionshe appropri-

ately could have done so even if she were working ona government server, the DOJ lawyers wrote in their

filing.[114]

5.4 Later responses by Clinton

Clintons responses to the question, made during her pres-

idential campaign, have evolved over time.[88][145] Clin-

ton initially said that there was no classified material on

her server.[88] Later, after a government review discov-

ered some of her emails contained classified information,

she said she never sent or received information that was

marked classified.[88] Her campaign also said that otheremails contained information that is now classified, but

was retroactively classified by U.S. intelligence agencies

after Clinton had received the material.[146] See also the

section above on theMay 2016 IG reportfor a number of

Clinton statements that were contradicted by the report,

and how she and her supporters responded afterwards.

Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said: She was at

worst a passive recipient of unwitting information that

subsequently became deemed as classified.[146] Clinton

campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmierihas stressed

that Clinton was permitted to use her own email account

as a government employee and that the same process con-cerning classification reviews would still be taking place

had she used the standard 'state.gov' email account used
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Palmierihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy#May_2016_report_from_State_Department.27s_inspector_generalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Homeland_Security_and_Governmental_Affairs_Committeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Judiciary_Committeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Johnson_(U.S._politician)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grassleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grassleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reince_Priebushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reince_Priebushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairman_of_the_Republican_National_Committeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_reformhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_tuition_in_the_United_Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_leavehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_leavehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermonthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sandershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticuthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dannel_P._Malloyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dannel_P._Malloyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Pennsylvaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Pennsylvaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_G._Rendellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufactured_controversyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Showhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Fallon


8/18

8 6 HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI

by most department employees.[93][147] Palmieri later

stated: Look, this kind of nonsense comes with the terri-

tory of running for president. We know it, Hillary knows

it, and we expect it to continue from now until Election

Day.[15]

In her first national interview of the 2016 presidentialrace, on July 7, 2015, Clinton was asked by CNN's

Brianna Keilar about her use of private email accounts

while serving as Secretary of State. She said:

Everything I did was permitted. There was

no law. There was no regulation. There was

nothing that didnot give me the fullauthority to

decide how I was going to communicate. Pre-

vious secretaries of state have said they did the

same thing. Everything I did was permitted

by law and regulation. I had one device. When

I mailed anybody in the government, it would

go into the government system.[148]

On September 9, 2015, Clinton apologized during an

ABC News interview for using the private server, saying

she was sorry for that.[149]

Appearing on NBCs Meet the Presson September 27,

2015, Clinton defended her use of the private email

server while she was secretary of state, comparing the

investigations to Republican-led probes of her husbands

presidential administration more than two decades ago,

saying, It is like a drip, drip, drip. And thats why I said,

theres only so much that I can control.[150]

Clinton and theState Department said theemails were not

marked classified when sent. However, Clinton signed

a non-disclosure agreement which stated that classified

material may be marked or unmarked.[151][152][153][154]

Additionally, the author of an email is legally required to

properly mark it as classified if it contains classified mate-

rial, and to avoid sending classified material on a personal

device, such as the ones used exclusively by Clinton.[155]

5.5 Comparisons and media coverage

Media commentators have drawn comparisons of Clin-tons email usage to past political controversies.[156] Pa-

cific Standard Magazine published an article in May 2015,

comparing email controversy and her response to it with

theWhitewaterinvestigation 20 years earlier.[157]

In August 2015, Washington Postassociate editor and

investigative journalist Bob Woodward, when asked

about Clintons handling of her emails, said they re-

mind him of theNixon tapesfrom theWatergate scan-

dal.[158] On March 9, 2015, columnist Dana Milbank

wrote that the email affair was a a needless, self-inflicted

wound brought about by debilitating caution in trying

to make sure an embarrassing e-mail or two didn't be-come public, which led to obsessive secrecy. Milibank

pointed out that Clinton herself had justifiably criticized

the George W. Bush administration in 2007 for its se-

cret White House email accounts.[159]

On Fox News Sunday, political analyst Juan Williams

contrasted themedia coverageof Clintons emails to the

coverage of the 2007 Bush White House email contro-

versy.

[160]

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an editorial

saying that the only believable reason for the private

server in her basement was to keep her emails out of

the public eye by willfully avoiding freedom of informa-

tion laws. No president, no secretary of state, no public

official at any level is above the law. She chose to ig-

nore it, and must face the consequences.[161][162] Pascal-

Emmanuel Gobry wrote in The Week that Clinton set up

a personal email server, in defiance or at least circumven-

tion of rules, with the probable motive of evading federal

records and transparency requirements, and did it with

subpar security.

[163]

6 House Select Committee on

Benghazi

On March 27, 2015, Republican Congressman Trey

Gowdy, Chairman of theSelect Committee on Benghazi,

asserted that some time after October 2014, Clinton uni-

laterally decided to wipe her server clean and summar-

ily decided to delete all emails.[164][165] Clintons attor-

ney,David E. Kendall, said that day that an examination

showed that no copies of any of Clintons emails remained

on the server. Kendall said the server was reconfigured to

only retain emails for 60 days after Clinton lawyers had

decided which emails needed to be turned over.[166]

6.1 Subpoenas for State Department testi-

mony

On June 22, 2015, the Benghazi panel released emails be-

tween Clinton andSidney Blumenthal, who had been re-

cently deposed by the committee. Committee chairman

Gowdy issued a press release criticizing Clinton for not

providing the emails to the State Department.[167] Clin-

ton had said she provided all work-related emails to the

State Department, and that only emails of a personal na-

ture on her private server were destroyed. The State De-

partment confirmed that 10 emails and parts of five others

from Sidney Blumenthal regarding Benghazi, which the

Committee had made public on June 22, could not be lo-

cated in the Departments records, but that the 46 other,

previously unreleased Libya-related Blumenthal emails

published by the Committee, were in the Departments

records. In response, Clinton campaign spokesman Nick

Merrill, when asked about the discrepancy said: She hasturned over 55,000 pages of materials to the State De-

partment, including all emails in her possession from Mr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Blumenthalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Kendallhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Benghazihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Gowdyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Gowdyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weekhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Journal_Sentinelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_White_House_email_controversyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coveragehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Williamshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_analysthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News_Sundayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Milbankhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_White_House_tapeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woodwardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investigative_journalisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_controversyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Presshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brianna_Keilarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN


9/18

9

Blumenthal.[168]

Republican Committee members were encouraged about

their probe, having found emails that Clinton did

not produce.[168][169] Clinton campaign staff accused

Gowdy and Republicans of clinging to their invented

scandal.

[169]

6.2 Allegations of politicization

In response to comments made on September 29, 2015,

by House Republican Majority LeaderKevin McCarthy

about damaging Clintons poll numbers,[170] Minority

Leader Nancy Pelosi threatened to end the Democrats

participation in the committee.[171][172][173] Representa-

tiveLouise Slaughterintroduced an amendment to dis-

band the committee, which was defeated in a party-

line vote.[174] On October 7, theeditorial boardof The

New York Timescalled for the end of the committee.[175]

Representative Alan Grayson took step towards filing

an ethics complaint, calling the committee the new

McCarthyism and alleging that it violates both House

rules and federal law by using official funds for politi-

cal purposes.[176] Richard L. Hanna, a Republican rep-

resentative fromNew York,[177] and conservativepundit

Bill O'Reilly acknowledged the partisan nature of the

committee.[178]

6.3 Clintons testimony at public hearing

House Select Committee on Benghazi Hillary Clinton publichearing

On October 22, 2015, Clinton testified before the

Committee and answered members questions for

eleven hours before the Committee in a public

hearing.[179][179][180][181]

TheNew York Timesreported that the long day of often-

testy exchanges between committee members and their

prominent witness revealed little new information about

an episode that has been the subject of seven previ-

ous investigations...Perhaps stung by recent admissions

that the pursuit of Mrs. Clintons emails was politicallymotivated, Republican lawmakers on the panel for the

most part avoided any mention of her use of a private

email server.[179] The email issue did arise shortly be-

fore lunch, in a shouting match between Republican

committee chairTrey Gowdyand two Democrats,Adam

Schiff and Elijah Cummings.[179] Late in the hearing,

RepresentativeJim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, accused

Clinton of changing her accounts of the email service,

leading to a heated exchange in which Clinton re-peated that she had made a mistake in using a private

email account, but maintained that she had never sent or

received anything marked classified and had sought to be

transparent by publicly releasing her emails.[179]

7 Freedom of Information lawsuits

7.1 Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of

State

Judicial Watch, a nonprofit advocacy organization, filed

a complaint against the Department of State in theU.S.

District Court for the District of Columbiaon September

10, 2013, seeking records under thefederal Freedom of

Information Actrelating to Clinton aideHuma Abedin(a

former deputy chief of staff and former senior advisor at

the State Department).[182][183] Judicial Watch was par-

ticularly interested in Abedins role as a special govern-

ment employee (SGE), a consulting position which al-

lowed her to represent outside clients while also serving at

the State Department.[182] After corresponding with the

State Department, Judicial Watch agreed to dismiss its

lawsuit on March 14, 2014.[182] On March 12, 2015, in

response to the uncovering of Clintons private email ac-

count, it filed a motion to reopen the suit, alleging that the

State Department had misrepresented its search and had

not properly preserved and maintained records under the

act.[182] U.S. District JudgeEmmet G. Sullivangranted

the motion to reopen the case on June 19, 2015.[184][185]

On July 21, 2015, Judge Sullivan issued supplemental

discovery orders, including one that Clinton, Abedin,

and former Deputy Secretary of StateCheryl Mills dis-

close any required information they had not disclosed al-

ready, and promise under oath that they had done so,

including a description of the extent Abedin and Mills

had used Clintons email server for official government

business.[186][187] On August 10, 2015, Clinton filed her

declaration, stating I have directed that all my emails

on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or poten-

tially were federal records be provided to the Depart-

ment of State, and that as a result of this directive,

55,000 pages of emails were produced to the Depart-

ment on December 5, 2014.[188][189][190] Clinton also said

in her statement that Abedin did have an email account

throughclintonemail.comthat was used at times for gov-

ernment business, but that Mills didnot.[188][189][190] The

statement was filed as Clinton faced questions over fif-teen emails in exchanges with Blumenthal that were not

among the emails she gave to the department the previous
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Millshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmet_G._Sullivanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huma_Abedinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_District_of_Columbiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_District_of_Columbiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Watchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jordan_(U.S._politician)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Cummingshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Schiffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Schiffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Gowdyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%2527Reilly_(political_commentator)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Yorkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_L._Hannahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Graysonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Timeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Timeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editorial_boardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Slaughterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pelosihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCarthy_(California_politician)


10/18

10 7 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAWSUITS

year.[189] She did not address the matter of those emails in

the statement.[189] On September 25, 2015, several addi-

tional emails from her private server[191] surfaced that she

had not provided to the State Department.[191][192][193]

These emails between Clinton and General David Pe-

traeus, discussing personnel matters, were part of an

email chain that started on a different email account be-fore her tenure as Secretary of State,[191][192][193] but con-

tinued onto her private server[191] in late January 2009

after she had taken office.[191][192][193] The existence of

these emails also called into question Clintons previous

statement that she did not use the server before March 18,

2009.[194]

In February 2016, Judge Sullivan issued a discovery or-

der in the case, ruling that depositions of State Depart-

ment officials and top Clinton aides were to proceed.[195]

On May 26, 2016, Judicial Watch released the tran-

script of the deposition of Lewis Lukens,[196] on May 31,

2016, the transcript of Cheryl Mills,[197] on June 7, 2016,the transcript of Ambassador Stephen Mull,[198] and on

June 9, 2016, Karin Lang, Director of Executive Secre-

tariat Staff.[199] The testimony of Clarence Finney, who

worked in the department responsible forFOIAsearches,

said that he first became curious about Clintons email

setup after seeing theTexts from Hillary meme on the

Internet.[200]

7.2 Jason Leopold v. U.S. Department of

State

In November 2014, Jason Leopoldof Vice Newsmade

a Freedom of Information Act request for Clintons State

Department records,[201][202] and, on January 25, 2015,

filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Dis-

trict of Columbia seeking to compel production of respo-

sive documents.

[201][202][203]

After some dispute betweenLeopold and the State Department over the request, U.S.

District Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered rolling produc-

tion and release of the emails on a schedule set by the

State Department.[204][205][206]

Over the next several months, the State Department com-

pleted production of 30,068 emails, which were released

in 14 batches, with the final batch released on February

29, 2016.[207] Both theWall Street JournalandWikileaks

independently set up search engines for anyone who

would like to search through the Clinton emails released

by the State Department.[208][209]

The emails showed that Blumenthal communicated withClinton while Secretary on a variety of issues including

Benghazi.[143][210][211][212]

7.3 Associated Press v. U.S. Department of

State

On March 11, 2015, the day after Clinton acknowledged

her private email account, the Associated Press (AP)

filed suit against the State Department regarding multi-

ple FOIA requests over the past five years. The requests

were for various emails and other documents from Clin-

tons time as secretary of state and were still unfulfilled

at the time.[213][214][215] The State Department said that a

high volume of FOIA requests and a large backlog had

caused the delay.[213][216]

On July 20, 2015, U.S. District JudgeRichard J. Leonre-

acted angrily to what he said was the State Department

for four years dragging their feet.[216] Leon said that

even the least ambitious bureaucrat could process the

request faster than the State Department was doing.[217]

On August 7, 2015, Leon issued an order setting a strin-

gent schedule for the State Department to provide the

AP with the requested documents over the next eight

months.[215] The order issued by Leon did not include

the 55,000 pages of Clinton emails the State Department

scheduled to be released in the Leopold case, or take

into account 20 boxes given to the State Department by

Philippe Reines, a former Clinton senior adviser.[215]

7.4 Other suits and coordination of email

cases

In September 2015, the State Department filed a motion

in court seeking to consolidate and coordinate the large

number of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits relating

to Clinton and Clinton-related emails. There were at the

time at least three dozen lawsuits are pending, before 17

different judges.[218][219]

In anU.S. District Court for the District of Columbiaor-

der issued on October 8, 2015, Chief U.S. District Judge

Richard W. Roberts wrote that the cases did not meet

the usual criteria for consolidation but: The judges who

have been randomly assigned to these cases have been

and continue to be committed to informal coordinationso as to avoid unnecessary inefficiencies and confusion,

and the parties are also urged to meet and confer to assist

in coordination.[219]

In 2015, Judicial Watch and the Cause of Action Insti-

tute filed two lawsuits seeking a court order to compel

the Department of State and theNational Archives and

Records Administrationto recover emails from Clintons

server. In January 2016, these two suits (which were con-

solidated because they involved the same issues) were dis-

missed asmootby U.S. District JudgeJames Boasberg,

because the government was already working to recover

and preserve these emails.

[220]

In March 2016, the Republican National Committee filed

four new complaints in the U.S. District Court for the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_(law)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committeehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Boasberghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mootnesshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administrationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archives_and_Records_Administrationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_W._Robertshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_District_of_Columbiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Reineshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_J._Leonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileakshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Contrerashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_Newshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Leopoldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texts_from_Hillaryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOIAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposition_(law)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeus


11/18

11

District of Columbia stemming from Freedom of Infor-

mation Act requests it had filed the previous year. These

new filings brought the total number of civil suits over

access to Clintons records pending in federal court to at

least 38.[221]

In June 2016, in response to the Republican NationalCommittees complaints filed on March 2016, the State

Department claims it will take 75 years to complete

the review of documents which are responsive to the

complaints.[222] It has been observed that a delay of this

nature would cause the documents to remain out of public

view longer than the vast majority of classified documents

which must be declassified after 25 years,

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[4] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

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[8] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/3/

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[9] Robert O'Harrow Jr. (March 27, 2016).How Clintons

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tons inner circle of advisers as dedicated [BlackBerry]

addicts...."Her attention was drawn to the sentence that

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ham. ABC News. Retrieved March 19, 2015. (Thename Eric Hoteham is similar to that of Eric Hothem, a

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[11] Who Is Eric Hoteham? Clinton Private Server Listed

Under Mysterious, Untraceable Name CBS DC.

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April 1, 2015.

[12] Sick, Gary (March 9, 2015). 5 questions: The Clinton

email Tarini Parti. Politico.com. Retrieved April 1,

2015.

[13] Scott Shane and Michael S. Schmidt (August 8, 2015).

Hillary Clinton Emails Take Long Path to Controversy.

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[14] The Facts About Hillary Clintons Emails, The Briefing,

hillaryclinton.com: The server for her email was physi-

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Secret Service. Retrieved August 17, 2015

[15] Eric Tucker, Clinton Aides Agree to Preserve Emails after

Judges Order, Associated Press (August 13, 2015).

[16] Natasha Bertrand, VP of Cybersecurity Firm Hired byHillary Clinton: 'We would never have taken it on' if we

knew of the ensuing chaos Business Insider' (August 19,

2015).

[17] Tom Hamburger and Karen Tumulty (August 12, 2015).

Hillary Clintons e-mail server turned over to FBI . The

Washington Post. Retrieved August 14, 2015.

[18] Labott, Elise (August 11, 2015).Hillary Clinton to turn

over private email server to Justice Department. CNN.

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[19] Dilanian, Ken (August 11, 2015).Clinton relents, gives

up possession of private email server. AP.

[20] Gerstein, Josh (March 6, 2015). Clinton private email

violated 'clear-cut' State Dept. rules. Politico.com. Re-

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[21] O'Harrow Jr., Robert.How Clintons email scandal took

root,Washington Post(March 27, 2016).

[22] Hacker Begins Distributing Confidential Memos Sent To

Hillary Clinton On Libya, Benghazi Attack. The Smoking

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[23] Cook, John (March 20, 2013). Hacked Emails Show

Hillary Clinton Was Receiving Advice at a Private Email

Account From Banned, Obama-Hating Former Staffer.Gawker. Retrieved September 30, 2015.

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[26] Morrison, Micah.Hillary Clintons rogue agenda: Why

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nts/2016/may/31/hillary-clinton/fact-checking-hillary-clintons-claim-her-email-pra/http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/may/31/hillary-clinton/fact-checking-hillary-clintons-claim-her-email-pra/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/us/politics/state-department-hillary-clinton-emails.html?_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/us/politics/state-department-hillary-clinton-emails.html?_r=0https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-clintons-email-scandal-took-root/2016/03/27/ee301168-e162-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-clintons-email-scandal-took-root/2016/03/27/ee301168-e162-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.htmlhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-clintons-email-scandal-took-root/2016/03/27/ee301168-e162-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSKCN0QQ0BW20150821http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSKCN0QQ0BW20150821http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/21/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSKCN0QQ0BW20150821


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Documents

Clinton Emails Candal