In terms of a simple coin, there are two sides to the daunting Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal, one side covered daily in the press, which is awful, and the other side of that same coin, never covered in the press and even more awful.
The well-discussed public side of the coin involves her perhaps felony or misdemeanor use of a private server. This author has always thought that if she had not denied that this was a stupid mistake by a low-tech older stateswoman, the entire matter would have injured her reputation, but not become a huge campaign issue. This author also believes that if she had provided one hundred percent of her e-mails and the server to the State Department when she left office, the entire matter would have injured her reputation, but not become a huge campaign issue. And perhaps, the same is true if she had not claimed there were no classified documents received or sent.
Of course, now Mrs. Clinton faces the very strong likelihood of an indictment. And she now needs an indictment or another meaningful event where it is clear there was an alleged crime or a potential prosecution so that President Obama can pardon her. The conversation would not be unlike that of President Ford pardoning President Nixon. Without an indictment or indictment-like event and an accompanying pardon, Hillary Clinton has no certainty of avoiding a jail cell either before and/or after her presidential run or presidential service. You can hear the high pitched syllables of President Obama already: “Mrs. Clinton served the United States of America with great honor and distinction. The Republicans have spent decades trying to prove she committed every crime in every jurisdiction in America. I will pardon her because of her great work for our citizens in the past and the great work she will do for our citizens in the future.”
But what about the other side of the coin? The “more awful” side of the coin, the side where I would like to ask Mrs. Clinton these questions: “Is it true that as Secretary of State you neither received nor sent a single e-mail that was classified? Like Harry Potter, did you communicate by having an owl carry the messages back and forth?”
The Secretary of State runs a department with a budget of over $65 billion. The U.S. State Department has over 5000 employees. She was in charge of the diplomatic missions to over 180 countries with more than 250 posts around the world (including Libya). The Secretary of State has a single boss, one un-dotted line, the President of the United States. Hillary Clinton also had certain responsibilities with respect to the United States mission to the United Nations. In these roles, Mrs. Clinton never sent or received a classified e-mail. Really?
By her very words, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly told the citizens of the United States as reported by the Los Angeles Times: “I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received.”
We famously have seen Hillary Clinton’s face sitting and waiting for the Bin Laden operation to conclude. Did the President call and ask her to come over for cookies and milk? Was there never a single e-mail sent or received involving the timing or propriety of the operation?
Four years, over 1300 days as Secretary of State, hundreds of those days overseas, and Mrs. Clinton claims she never sent or received classified information. If such is the case, the only conclusion one can reach from her own words is that she never really was the Secretary of State and was never involved in protecting the United States or orchestrating a single activity that was both important and classified.
Perhaps one of the reasons Mrs. Clinton wants to be President of the United States is that she will not feel fulfilled until she is on the receiving side of a classified e-mail or has a thought she needs to convey that is worthy of being considered classified.