What HRC said was that she instructed attorneys acting for the Clintons to remove only private emails. That’s not the same thing.
And we now understand from representations to Justtice Sullivan by counsel for HRC that the Clinton attorneys have reported that, contrary to HRC’s understanding they actually refrained from eading the “content” (or body of the messages within a given email or email stream), but simply delieted emails based on their header information, or that portion of the “meta data” of a given email or stream that displays the participants and the subject line, if the originator of the message or stream chose to use it.
So, what all that MEANS is that different from what was done by the Bush administration in its permanent destruction of some 11 million email messages, and by administration of Massachusetts Governor Romney, it its permanent destruction of its entire email base, all the Clinton attorneys did here was to use the ordinary standard “DELETE” function on the Clinton private server’s data base - which means:
A ) the deleted information was simply disengaged from the server’s message scaffolding,
B ) most if not all the deleted information could be retrieved form the part of the server’s database outside the message scaffolding,
C ) that part of the server’s database was preserved intact and is in fact proving viable for email retrieval,
D ) likely all these messages we’re learning now were retrieved were judged “private” by Clinton attorneys, based on the participants and subject headings or lack of any, and
E ) it’s likely that overwhelmingly these messages will turn out to be private in nature - EXACTLY the sorts of message HRC wanted conveyed outside the DoS and gov dot systems (i.e. ultimate irony).
In the end, it appears all the loose talk and internet nonsense about “55,000 missing emails” is just that: loose talk and nonsense. Instead, DoS has now retrieved about 40,000 email threads that it already had in someone other State employee’s database but didn’t realize it for FOIA purposes immediately (and since have, and how), and the FOIA process will also receive some AS YET UNKNOWN portion of the 15,000 emails deleted by Clinton attorneys as “private”.
And STILL, nothing about this entire process has been sufficient to overturn the soundness in Bernie Sanders’ decision to withhold even a damn from HRC’s emails.
I’m struggling to understand this lawsuit. So every non-classified email any government official sends is subject to public disclosure just for the asking?
I’m all for open government but struggling to see how this is an efficient us of taxpayer resources. I presume Kerry is next? And every other cabinet post? Scour hundreds of thousands of emails looking for things to embarrass people with?
Why would anyone who had any other option ever choose public service?
And by this standard, shouldn’t all phone calls be taped and those tapes released?
And now I understand Secretary Clinton has been compelled to submit to a written deposition for judicial watch?
What is the legal standing for this? I’m a a lawyer and I ask this. And for those who don’t know, the whole theory behind requiring someone to have standing to bring a lawsuit is to prevent abusive suits brought only to destroy public figures through endless abuse of process.
Trump thanks you for your support.
This Whitewater reboot is as boring as the original.
Another suburbanite who doesn’t pay his own way lecturing those who do because the girl he likes is really anti-TPP even though she doesn’t know what it stands for.
What a clown show this is of a bureaucracy gone gonzo. I’m not amazed no one has said to State or the FBI,“What in the heck is going on here???” with all the easy political hay potential. But, the longer this goes the more political it seems and the more incompetent the government appears…
I agree with you, and I’m not a lawyer, so the fact that you feel the same way makes me unsure whether to feel better or worse. I haven’t decided. I don’t know if it’s just Judicial Watch that gets this deference, and if so what their standing would be. Especially to compel a former employee at State to respond to their questions. Seems like a bit of overreach for a “watchdog organization” to wield that much power.
Yup, right now, they’re basically rifling through Hillary’s underwear drawers and desk looking for her private diary hoping for embarrassing tidbits to show up.
I’m actually hoping that at least one or two emails are found excoriating Mitch McConnell.
From: Hillary,
To: Bill
Hey, Bubba, check out this graphic of McConnell. The old vituperous asshole does look like a turtle. LMAO
Don’t forget to pick up a dozen bagels and remember to ask the deli to put the onion and cinnamon raisin in separate bags.
When this whole thing FINALLY fades away, it will have to be remembered as the dumbest witch hunt ever. What’s next? FOIA the notes she passed to boys in grade school? An inventory of Post-its stuck to her computer monitor? Infrared scans of her palms to recapture the phone numbers she wrote there with a pen?
I’ve said it before, if all your hopes for saving the world rest in an email scandal, you have completely left reality.
I don’t think so. Judicial watch wanted a deposition, but the judge decided that she just had to write a letter answering their questions. Not under oath.
The folks that have been beating their whitewater dong ever since Bill started running won’t stop till they die of old age. Maybe just maybe the media will stop giving them an ear.
I have been given that very set of instructions from my wife .
As one who would love to see incriminating emails from the Clinton Foundation I find it hard to believe that Judicial Watch has still been able to keep this saga going forward. Maybe, in my conspiratorial world view, this is the FBI attempting to run an end around past Obama and DOJ. OK OK only kidding about Obama.
You might be forgetting that this is the same bunch that spent 2 weeks investigating Bill Clinton’s Christmas List to see if it was political.
There is no bottom to the Republican sewer and no end as long as they can hurt people they don’t like.
I said this elsewhere but what a sad pathetic life to be beating that that story to death for so long.
Isn’t Ken Starr out at the University of Baylor? Maybe he’s trying another bite of the apple…
Kevin Drum had an interesting question today in his blog:
So here’s my dumb question: why has this happened only to Hillary Clinton? If FOIA can be used to force the release of every email sent or received by a cabinet member, why haven’t FOIA requests been submitted for all of them? It would certainly be interesting and newsworthy to see all of Leon Panetta’s emails. Or all of Condi Rice’s. Or all of Henry Paulson’s.
So what’s the deal? Why has this happened only to Hillary Clinton?
I am guessing if some partisan journalist started going down the line on all past Republican cabinet members emails, maybe this Faux scandal might settle down and smolder out.
Are you referring to me as having a sad pathetic life?
I think the issue should be any government official using any sort of email for any purpose. The security problem isn’t necessarily the origin or destination, but every other server in between. What security there is relies on encryption and obscurity, and encryption is only as good as your enemies’ processing power.