It looks like the convenient device theory Hillary Clinton has used to deflect inquiries as to why she used her private email account almost exclusively to conduct official business while serving as Secretary of State is a bunch of pure hogwash. It has become evident that in addition to her personal phone, she also used an I-pad connected to her personal email account to send and receive information related to her official duties. The story emerging from this strange and unprecedented breach of protocol, if not law and regulation, is that Hilary’s email shenanigans appear to be part of a deliberate attempt to withhold her communications from public – and partisan – scrutiny.
While the Clinton machine is ever so skilled at deflecting the core issues and focusing the media discussion on the irrelevant matter of personal convenience, she may have just been caught in her own web of deception. Not only do recently disclosed email communications indicate that Clinton used multiple devices, but they also show that at least on one occasion she replied to an official email with personal information. The implication here couldn’t be clearer. What is the likelihood that she also replied to personal communications with ‘official’ and possibly classified and sensitive information?
Bu this situation goes way beyond merely one of convenience and miscommunication. Hilary’s efforts to withhold the emails was part of a deliberate attempt to keep her communications off of the official State Department email servers, and therefore away from prying eyes in the Congress and even the Obama administration in which she served. Her obstructive behavior in connection with the Benghazi Affair – in which State Department staff made a big show of presenting documents for Congress to review ‘in camera’ – while severely restricting the Congressional Committee’s ability to retain and analyze her communications – now seems much more deliberate and cynical than it did at the time. After all, part of Secretary Clinton’s rationale for restricting Congressional access was to protect sensitive national security information. The fact that Clinton so brazenly and consistently violated security protocols in the normal course of business seems to belie the national security rationale and reveal it as merely a pretext to forestall what she viewed as a political investigation.
The fact is that Secretary Clinton not only used her private email to conduct official business, she also used a private server stored in her home to store the communications. It would therefore be impossible for a third party internet provider – Google or Microsoft or Apple for example – to turn over records if it were subpoenaed by the government. Mrs. Clinton and her minions have claimed that the private server was later destroyed (again implying that national security was a primary concern), and that no record of sensitive emails remain. That assertion cannot be independently proven unfortunately.
But what is undisputedly true is that her private server could easily be hacked without her knowledge, and sensitive information vacuumed up by some Russian or Chinese or Iranian (or whoever else) intelligence agency. And even if she became aware that her server had been compromised, one wonders whether or not she would have disclosed such a colossal breach of security in light of her obvious political ambitions. The likelihood is that ALL of Secretary Clinton’s email and text traffic through that server has been recorded, examined and disseminated by foreign powers.
Hillary Clinton was, and remains, a high level intelligence target because she is so arrogant, careless, and ignorant of the value of things she did, said, and received, “in the clear”, while working as Secretary of State. Her use of that server, and how her electronic traffic was handled was a flagrant security violation, which provided valuable intelligence information to the enemies of the United States. Any other federal employee, who held clearances which gave her access to the Presidents Daily Brief, would have been fired, and federally prosecuted for doing the same thing. Instead Clinton seems to revel in obstinacy and obstruction, without so much of a hint of recrimination at the damage she has incurred to the trust of the American people towards officials who are supposed to be putting their interests first.
Senator Clinton clearly new the stakes involved when she decided to conduct official business from her personal email account. Namely, she intentionally commingled her personal interests and causes with America’s national interest. To wit, a story first published in Gawker which points out that Hillary’s long-time Ally Sidney Blumenthal used the private email to back channel communications between Secretary Clinton and Russian President Putin Ally Bidzina Ivanishvili. The communication was notable because it showed Hilary’s reliance on her private network of intelligence and diplomatic contacts in a way that clearly sought to circumvents official channels and Congressional scrutiny. Blumenthal of course is a key figure in the Clinton Foundation, which has received significant support from foreign interests, which has amassed over $2 billion dollars in donations.
While Clinton’s political and philanthropic efforts are ostensibly separate endeavors, one wonders to what extent they are really independent of each other. The Clintons rose to prominence on the basis of their public service and seem to have profited quite handsomely from their political connections. And as Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton seemed to be on making her public service more convenient and amenable to her private life.
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