Joe Cooper
2016-01-29 23:15:26 UTC
Hillary Clintons campaign has repeatedly pushed back on the idea that
any of the emails she sent using her personal email system while serving
as Secretary of State were classified top secret.
Back in November, for example, campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon tweeted
out a link to a Politico report suggesting that early findings that some
of her emails contained highly classified material were wrong. Maybe
Fallon was just sharing, not endorsing, and the exclamation points he
included in his tweet were just there to demonstrate his surprise at the
story.
In any case, it turns out that the report was wrong, and Clinton did
indeed send at least 22 emails classified as top secret, according to an
Associated Press report this afternoon.
These emails were classified as special access programs, according to
Politico, which means they were compartmentalized within the top secret
designation; even top secret clearance wouldnt necessarily be enough to
get someone access to these communications.
The State Department has slowly making Clintons emails public over the
last few months, following a court order, but not complying with it
fully: A federal judge had ordered the emails to be completely released
by the end of today, but instead, only about 1,000 of the 9,000 remaining
pages of email will be released later tonight.
So far, about 1,300 of Clintons emails have been labeled classified at
some level. Today was the first time, however, that any had been
confirmed to be classified top secret. So far, classified emails have
been redacted for release. The top secret emails revealed today wont be
released in any way; theyll simply be withheld.
On the campaign trail, both Clinton and her team have sought to downplay
the importance of the issue and her responsibility for the matter.
"I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material
that was marked or designated classified," Clinton said. Fallon, her
communications aide, has defended Clinton by saying she was, at worst,
the passive recipient of unwitting information that subsequently became
deemed as classified.
That remains to be seen. As the Associated Press reports today, the State
Department wouldn't disclose if any of the documents reflected
information that was classified at the time of transmission, but
indicated that the agency's Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and
Research bureaus have begun looking into that question.
And whether or not the emails were marked as classified is not the entire
issue. As a Reuters report noted in August, "the government's standard
nondisclosure agreement warns people authorized to handle classified
information that it may not be marked that way and that it may come in
oral form."
Previous reports have suggested that Clinton's emails contained top
secret information, based on information from the inspector general for
the intelligence community. But up until now, as The Washington Post
notes, the State Department had not agreed that any of the emails should
be classified as top secret, and her campaign had relied on the
difference to suggest that the classification of her emails was largely a
dispute between agencies.
What continues to be most revealing about this story is not the
particular contents of any of the emails, but the way that Clinton and
her team have handled it.
At virtually every turn, she and her campaign staffers have misled and
dissembled, repeatedly making statements that later turn out to be false.
In general, her attitude is one of disdain and dismissiveness, as if
transparency and truthfulness about her unorthodox decision to conduct
her State Department email business exclusively on a homebrew email
server was unnecessary, or beneath her. She has displayed both a willful
disregard for the truth and as a generalized resistance to public
scrutiny and oversight. And that may tell us more about her, and what
kind of president she might be, than any email shes sent.
Source: http://bit.ly/1SORe4J
--
Obama Nine Hours Before Paris Terror Attack: "We've Contained ISIS."
ISIS: "We've contained Obama."
"Never underestimate the willingness of white progressives to be offended
on behalf of people who arent and to impose their will on those who
didnt ask for it." (Derek Hunter)
"No doubt Hillary would like to call [Paula] Jones a liar, but Bill paid
Jones $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment suit. Can you imagine the
fun Donald Trump, for one, would have with that? Plus, it was Bill
Clinton, not Paula Jones, who was found by the presiding federal judge to
have committed perjury."--John Hinderaker
any of the emails she sent using her personal email system while serving
as Secretary of State were classified top secret.
Back in November, for example, campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon tweeted
out a link to a Politico report suggesting that early findings that some
of her emails contained highly classified material were wrong. Maybe
Fallon was just sharing, not endorsing, and the exclamation points he
included in his tweet were just there to demonstrate his surprise at the
story.
In any case, it turns out that the report was wrong, and Clinton did
indeed send at least 22 emails classified as top secret, according to an
Associated Press report this afternoon.
These emails were classified as special access programs, according to
Politico, which means they were compartmentalized within the top secret
designation; even top secret clearance wouldnt necessarily be enough to
get someone access to these communications.
The State Department has slowly making Clintons emails public over the
last few months, following a court order, but not complying with it
fully: A federal judge had ordered the emails to be completely released
by the end of today, but instead, only about 1,000 of the 9,000 remaining
pages of email will be released later tonight.
So far, about 1,300 of Clintons emails have been labeled classified at
some level. Today was the first time, however, that any had been
confirmed to be classified top secret. So far, classified emails have
been redacted for release. The top secret emails revealed today wont be
released in any way; theyll simply be withheld.
On the campaign trail, both Clinton and her team have sought to downplay
the importance of the issue and her responsibility for the matter.
"I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material
that was marked or designated classified," Clinton said. Fallon, her
communications aide, has defended Clinton by saying she was, at worst,
the passive recipient of unwitting information that subsequently became
deemed as classified.
That remains to be seen. As the Associated Press reports today, the State
Department wouldn't disclose if any of the documents reflected
information that was classified at the time of transmission, but
indicated that the agency's Diplomatic Security and Intelligence and
Research bureaus have begun looking into that question.
And whether or not the emails were marked as classified is not the entire
issue. As a Reuters report noted in August, "the government's standard
nondisclosure agreement warns people authorized to handle classified
information that it may not be marked that way and that it may come in
oral form."
Previous reports have suggested that Clinton's emails contained top
secret information, based on information from the inspector general for
the intelligence community. But up until now, as The Washington Post
notes, the State Department had not agreed that any of the emails should
be classified as top secret, and her campaign had relied on the
difference to suggest that the classification of her emails was largely a
dispute between agencies.
What continues to be most revealing about this story is not the
particular contents of any of the emails, but the way that Clinton and
her team have handled it.
At virtually every turn, she and her campaign staffers have misled and
dissembled, repeatedly making statements that later turn out to be false.
In general, her attitude is one of disdain and dismissiveness, as if
transparency and truthfulness about her unorthodox decision to conduct
her State Department email business exclusively on a homebrew email
server was unnecessary, or beneath her. She has displayed both a willful
disregard for the truth and as a generalized resistance to public
scrutiny and oversight. And that may tell us more about her, and what
kind of president she might be, than any email shes sent.
Source: http://bit.ly/1SORe4J
--
Obama Nine Hours Before Paris Terror Attack: "We've Contained ISIS."
ISIS: "We've contained Obama."
"Never underestimate the willingness of white progressives to be offended
on behalf of people who arent and to impose their will on those who
didnt ask for it." (Derek Hunter)
"No doubt Hillary would like to call [Paula] Jones a liar, but Bill paid
Jones $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment suit. Can you imagine the
fun Donald Trump, for one, would have with that? Plus, it was Bill
Clinton, not Paula Jones, who was found by the presiding federal judge to
have committed perjury."--John Hinderaker