Yesterday the State Department Inspector General released a damning report showing former Secretary Hillary Clinton broke a number of policies and violated federal records laws through her use of a private email server to conduct all of her government business.
Guy broke down the report, and the many Clinton lies proven in the findings, and now the Washington Post editorial board is calling the Democrat presidential candidate's private email use "inexcusable" and a "willful disregard for the rules."
Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 has been justifiably criticized as an error of judgment. What the new report from the State Department inspector general makes clear is that it also was not a casual oversight. Ms. Clinton had plenty of warnings to use official government communications methods, so as to make sure that her records were properly preserved and to minimize cybersecurity risks. She ignored them.
There is no excuse for the way Ms. Clinton breezed through all the warnings and notifications. While not illegal behavior, it was disturbingly unmindful of the rules. In the middle of the presidential campaign, we urge the FBI to finish its own investigation soon, so all information about this troubling episode will be before the voters.
Yesterday the Clinton campaign attempted and failed to do damage control. First, a statement was released declaring the former Secretary did nothing wrong.
"While political opponents of Hillary Clinton are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes, in reality, the Inspector General documents [show] just how consistent her email practices were with those of other Secretaries and senior officials at the State Department who also used personal email. The report shows that problems with the State Department's electronic record keeping systems were longstanding and that there was no precedent of someone in her position having a State Department email account until after the arrival of her successor. Contrary to the false theories advanced for some time now, the report notes that her use of personal email was known to officials within the Department during her tenure, and that there is no evidence of any successful breach of the Secretary's server. We agree that steps ought to be taken to ensure the government can better maintain official records, and if she were still at the State Department, Secretary Clinton would embrace and implement any recommendations, including those in this report, to help do that. But as this report makes clear, Hillary's use of personal email was not unique, and she took steps that went much further than others to appropriately preserve and release her records," the Clinton campaign released Wednesday.
Then, the State Department addressed the report during the daily press briefing.
And finally, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon made an appearance on Special Report to try and explain away the IG findings.
Bottom line: Hillary Clinton put her personal desire to avoid transparency, oversight and scrutiny above the national security of the United States. She is unfit to be president.
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