An Earnest deflection

Madam Hillary has produced a voluminous amount of falsehoods about her email setup as Secretary of State. It’s hard to identify a true word she has spoken on the subject.

Among her statements is the assertion that President Obama knew about it. He certainly would have received emails from her ClintonEmail address. Obama himself, however, has said he learned about Madam Hillary’s arrangement along with the rest of us when he read it in the paper. It’s one of Obama’s favorite deflections. Before he declared the IRS scandal to be much ado about nothing, for example, he professed great shock when he learned about it from news reports.

In the matter of Madam Hillary’s email arrangement, did he didn’t he know? NR’s Brendan Bordelon explored the question here this past June. James Rosen asked a few good questions of White House spokesman Josh Earnest at Thursday’s press briefing (video below). RealClearPolitics has posted the video with a brief summary here.

“You have previously confirmed from the podium that President Obama and Secretary Clinton exchanged some number of emails with the Secretary using that private address,” Rosen stated. “Is she accurate when she says everyone she communicated with in government was aware of that government address and that would include the President.”

“Well, James, I’ve acknowledged before that I think most people who are trading emails with someone are aware of the other person’s e-mail address,” Earnest responded. “And, so, I’m not surprised to hear that the president was aware of what her email address was because he traded emails with her.”

Did he know she was using a private server? As RCP puts it: “Earnest, as he has done previously, acknowledge[d] Obama knew about the e-mail address, but likened the e-mail system to what FOX News uses for their employees.” I take it we are to infer that Obama didn’t know and never asked about her email arrangement, but Earnest earnestly deflects the question by indirection. He declines to provide a straightforward answer to the question.

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