Over the weekend the State Department announced it would not be releasing at least 22-emails belonging to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton because the top secret, classified information contained in them is too sensitive.
Some of those emails were conversations between Clinton and President Barack Obama.
Now the White House is claiming although President Obama did in fact exchange emails with Clinton on her private email account, Obama was unaware the account was hosted on a private server.
"The President was aware of Secretary Clinton's email address, the two did exchange emails but the President I think, not surprisingly, was not aware of the existence of Secretary Clinton's private server," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday during the daily briefing.
Clinton had multiple secret email addresses she used to conduct all of her official State Department business and correspondence. We do not know which specific address was used for correspondence with Obama. Was it HDR22@ClintonEmail.com? HRod17@clintonemail.com? Another private address? However, what we do know is all were hosted on a private home-brew server, which is obvious give the @ClintonEmail.com hosting name. But sure, Obama just didn't notice or know the details.
Keep in mind the use of private email by high ranking government officials in the Obama administration is not isolated to Clinton and the State Department. A whole slew of Obama appointees and key administration players have been caught using personal email to circumvent congressional oversight and the Freedom of Information Act.
A look at the history of Obama's "most transparent administration in history" reveals the use of private email accounts to evade federal records laws is and has been standard practice. The Obama administration is notorious for using personal e-mail accounts, and even fake alias accounts, to conduct official government business as a way to avoid Freedom of Information Act laws and congressional investigations.
As I've written before, the use of personal email by Obama administration officials isn't isolated to a few individuals working for the President. In fact, it's a habit that is ingrained in a culture of non-transparency. This practice has been employed at the EPA, IRS, Labor Department, Department of Justice and other government agencies to avoid congressional oversight.
Exit question: Does President Obama also conduct official government business, including the discussion of classified information, on his own private email server using a private address?
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