Friday was a very bad day for Hillary Clinton, as her email scandal deepened in several serious ways. Remember when her campaign angrily insisted that the intelligence community's Obama-appointed Inspector General had
BREAKING: State Department declares 22 emails on Hillary Clinton's account `top secret'; won't release them.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 29, 2016
Fox News has also reported that some 'beyond top secret' information is also being withheld entirely. The "innocuous" damage control fairy tale is dead, killed off by the Inspector General and the Obama State Department. Team Clinton's preposterous "Republicans and their allies" conspiracy theory suffers yet another body blow:
The intelligence community has deemed some of Hillary Clinton’s emails “too damaging" to national security to release under any circumstances, according to a U.S. government official close to the ongoing review. A second source, who was not authorized to speak on the record, backed up the finding. The determination was first reported by Fox News, hours before the State Department formally announced Friday that seven email chains, found in 22 documents, will be withheld “in full” because they, in fact, contain “Top Secret” information...the Obama administration confirmed to the Associated Press that the seven email chains would be withheld. The department has since confirmed those details publicly. The decision to withhold the documents in full, and not provide even a partial release with redactions, further undercuts claims by the State Department and the Clinton campaign that none of the intelligence in the emails was classified when it hit Clinton's personal server. Fox News is told the emails include intelligence from "special access programs," or SAP, which is considered beyond “Top Secret.”
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Intelligence community sources confirm that this intelligence was top secret and above from the very moment it hit her vulnerable server; it was not upgraded retroactively. And then there's this crucial detail:
State Department declares an entire Sid Blumenthal memo to be classified. https://t.co/4mFiVXpAWq
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) January 30, 2016
That would be the same Sidney Blumenthal who'd been barred from official service by the Obama White House because of his unethical reputation, the same Sidney Blumenthal whose email correspondence Hillary has claimed was strictly personal and not at all work-related, and the same Sidney Blumenthal whom Hillary swore under oath was not an adviser of hers, "official or unofficial." Lie upon lie. This man was trafficking in extremely secret US intelligence while working as an off-the-books advisor to Mrs. Clinton, in direct violation of Obama's wishes (while being paid by the Clinton Foundation), and his emails unquestionably related to her work as Secretary of State. That's even clearer now that the Obama administration has decided to withhold an entire email of his due to its top secret contents, calling it too dangerous to release. Keep in mind that he did not have access to secure government email systems through which to send such intelligence, as required, because he was
One WH statement contradicts the other pic.twitter.com/QJqhMYXTP5
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 29, 2016
The White House is simultaneously insisting that there's been no political influence in this case whatsoever, yet Obama's press secretary is telling reporters that they don't expect an indictment...a decision-making process that is supposedly the sole purview of the allegedly non-political Justice Department. Something smells rotten already; this marks the
Senate Intel Committee ranking Democrat @SenFeinstein on latest on @HillaryClinton emails -- pic.twitter.com/XPy75PoIbu
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 30, 2016
This is utter garbage. The "marked classified" excuse is totally bunk, as acknowledged by Hillary Clinton herself. She signed a binding nondisclosure form upon assuming office that specifically stated that she was required to recognize and protect all classified material, "marked or unmarked." These secret emails were born classified at the very highest levels. Her handling of them appears to have been flagrantly reckless and negligent, which is a federal crime. All the verbiage about the emails "originating" from someone other than Hillary is also irrelevant nonsense. The reason this problem exists is that she exclusively used an unsecure, private server to conduct all of her official business. This violated "
Here's one of the classified memos (this one from Sid Blumenthal) which Hillary forwards. https://t.co/AfOL1qOzml - pic.twitter.com/RkCWWRveVC
— Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) January 30, 2016
I'll leave you with a few facts, and an assessment from a former NSA official who's intimately familiar with classification laws and protocols:
Brutal. #Hillary #EmailScandal #NationalSecurity pic.twitter.com/juprvPRVH9
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 30, 2016
Shouts of "overclassification" are the last refuge of USG officials who broke secrecy laws, got caught, and have no leg left to stand on.
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 30, 2016
Hillary's in deep trouble over #EmailGate. As I told you months ago. Hillbots are freaking out, as they should. Some bad news can't be spun.
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 30, 2016
The seriousness of the classified material confirmed to be on her private server is escalating. The final (ludicrously delayed) email dump ought to be a real doozie. And again, these court-ordered disclosures only entail the messages she and her lawyers didn't unilaterally delete without any oversight, and about which she's lied. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is all over it. This is far from over.
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