Martin Luther promulgated his 95 Theses “out of love for the truth and the desire to elucidate it.” Here I seek to begin a series stating 95 theses on Hillary Clinton’s use of her own insecure email setup for the conduct of official business as Secretary of State. I begin with the propositions that Clinton deems fundamental to her case as posted at Hillary for America.
1. Clinton resolutely shuns responsibility for her decision to use “a personal account,” and the “challenges” it has created. Clinton’s reference to the arrangement as “a personal account” and to the issues as “challenges” is symptomatic of Clinton’s studied avoidance of responsibility.
2. Clinton’s reference to “a personal account” is itself deceptive. Clinton did not merely set up a personal account; she set up her own private email system including her own server.
3. Clinton claims that her private email setup was a matter of personal convenience, but this is a claim that simply does not withstand scrutiny.
4. Clinton’s establishment of her own private email system for the conduct of official business as cabinet secretary and for the use of her senior aides is unprecedented.
5. According to the Washington Post, Clinton never used her official State Department email account to conduct official business; only official accounts are automatically retained under the Federal Records Act.
6. Clinton claims that nothing she sent or received was marked classified, but even if this were true it would be irrelevant to the most serious national security and related legal issues raised by her misconduct.
7. Clinton has silently abandoned her original claim that she did not send or receive any classified material, a claim which was quickly proved false. Her email setup contained voluminous classified information, including information classified top secret and beyond.
8. In one case captured in the emails released by the State Department, Clinton instructed her deputy to remove the relevant markings and send secure information through insecure means.
9. Clinton claims that she has provided all of her work-related emails to the State Department, but she destroyed 30,000 emails that were preserved on her system, some of which may or may not have been work-related. Her assertion that she provided all her work-related emails is not a statement of fact subject to verification; it is mere assertion.
10. Clinton’s private email setup first came to light when some of her work-related correspondence with Sidney Blumenthal was hacked and posted online. Clinton herself explains elsewhere: “We understand that Mr. Blumenthal had some emails that Clinton did not have, and Clinton had some emails that Mr. Blumenthal did not have…” This by itself appears to demonstrate the falsity of Clinton’s claim that she has turned over all of her work-related emails to the State Department.
NOTE: I invite readers to correct errors by email sent to my attention at [email protected].
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