Here’s the question of the day: Can someone who faces charges for mishandling highly classified documents; failure to provide security for the ambassador and other Americans in Benghazi; and failure to keep her duties at State and her connection with the Clinton Foundation at arm’s length, be permitted to run for president? She is currently under investigation for all three.
(Cartoon courtesy of Cleveland.com)
The late Friday confirmation by the administration that Hillary Clinton’s unsecured home server contained closely guarded secrets, including 22 e-mails with the highest level of classification, comes just three days before the Iowa presidential nominating caucuses. They will not, of course, be part of the document dump.
News wonks are accustomed to the Obama administration’s release of bad news on Friday afternoons believing that people are thinking about their weekend activities and don’t pay any attention to the news. But this isn’t an ordinary weekend in Iowa.
The media covering the Clinton campaign in Iowa have reported that her supporters are unconcerned with the e-mail issue. Unbelievable.
During a Des Moines, Iowa town hall, Clinton turned on her “aw shucks, I’m not into computers” persona saying, “Some of them (e-mails) are, you know, frankly, are little embarrassing. You know, you find out that sometimes I’m not the best on technology and things like that …”
She could have been referring to the fawning e-mail from Liz Randall-Sherwood following her appearance on 60 Minutes, quoted below. Randall-Sherwood currently serving as Deputy Secretary in the Energy Department, is undoubtedly looking to a future appointment by Clinton.
“Please tell HRC she was a ROCK STAR yesterday. Everything about her ‘performance’ was what makes her unique, beloved, and destined for even more greatness. She sets the standard that lesser mortals can only dream of emulating.” – Liz Randall-Sherwood e-mail to Clinton aide Jake Sullivan
Intelligence officials have indicated that most of the classified material found on Clinton’s server were sent by Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin and Sullivan. Exasperated with Sullivan, who told her, “… until ops converts it to the unclassified mail system, there’s no physical way for me to email it,” she responded, “just email it.” And Clinton continues to deny sending or receiving e-mails marked classified.
On another occasion, I understand that Sullivan converted a classified document into an unclassified email attachment, scanning it on an unsecured computer and sending it without classified markings on orders from Clinton.
Clinton and her top aides had access to a Pentagon-controlled classified network, but it isn’t possible to email from systems within it to an unsecure system. “It takes a very conscious effort to move a classified e-mail or cable from the classified systems over the unsecured open system and then send it to Hillary Clinton’s email account,” reported Raymond Fournier, a veteran Diplomatic Security Service special agent.
Investigators have asked for more time to review the Clinton documents. While many believe the FBI will seek an indictment against her, most are not optimistic that the left-leaning DOJ will prosecute her.
