Archives for 2015

Read the full story: The Inquisitr

Giving her first press conference in over two years, Hillary Clinton faced the cameras yesterday, denying any illegality in her actions concerning use of a private, unsecured email account for business purposes.

 

Journalists are hungry for the truth, as is America, following Mrs Clinton’s refusal to hand over the server employed while using the email address hrd22@clintonemail.com, the Daily Mail reports. Originally run out of the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, New York, this was the sole email address Clinton used while in the Obama administration. The Republicans are calling for a thorough investigation into the matter, fearing a breach of security, and no doubt in an effort to mar favor for Hillary in the run up to announcing her run for the 2017 presidency next month…

 

Dan Epstein, Executive Director of the conservative watchdog group, Cause of Action, remains adamant that a “full investigation” be carried out.

 

“It belies the spirit of openness and transparency in government. It keeps the public in the dark, and it raises serious national security concerns.”

Read the full story: Politico

Cause of Action, the right-leaning government watchdog group, has filed three new FOIA requests with the State Department to recover some of Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails. The first, delivered to the department’s IG, seeks “documents relating to any review, audit or investigation, whether merely considered, ongoing or completed, concerning Secretary’s Clinton’s compliance with electronic recordkeeping requirements and use of personal devices for agency business,” as well as any emails she might have sent to the White House — correspondence the group contends would prove high-level officials knew Clinton was using a personal email account. The other FOIAs take aim at whether Clinton received any records management training or waivers from federal rules. The FOIAs: http://bit.ly/1EObZ8y

Read the full story: Headlines & Global News

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday defended her use of a private email address during her tenure as the U.S.’s top diplomat, saying that it was more convenient to use one device for both her government work and personal life, though she admitted she would have done things different in retrospect.

 

“Looking back it would have been better to use separate phones and two separate e-mail accounts,” Clinton said following a keynote address at a Women’s Empowerment Principles event at the United Nations in New York. “I thought using one device would be simpler; obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way.”…

 

“The only reason to use a private email system for official government communication is to keep information from becoming public and covering your tracks,” Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein said in an email to reporters, according to The Daily Caller. “Sec. Clinton should have known that what she was doing violated the letter and spirit of the law. This isn’t a matter of poor judgment; this is a deliberate and orchestrated violation of the public trust that raises serious legal and ethical concerns.”

Read the full story: National Review

Meanwhile, the government accountability group Cause of Action made three new FOIA requests regarding HRC’s email use. One is being sent to the State Department’s Inspector General, asking for all documents relating to any review, audit or investigation, whether merely considered, ongoing or completed, concerning Secretary’s Clinton’s compliance with electronic recordkeeping requirements and use of personal devices for agency business. The group is also asking for “All documents, including but not limited to electronic communications, including any person at the White House, the U.S. Department of State, the Clinton Family Foundation, and the Clinton Foundation, referring or relating to any document in the request above.” A spokesman for Cause of Action writes, “It’s clear that the White House, including President Obama, knew Secretary Clinton was using a non-government email address. The key question we’re asking is, did the White House ever do anything about it?”

Read the full story: Washington Times 

It is hard to imagine the 2016 presidential race without Hillary Clinton.

 

But Mrs. Clinton seems to have missed the most important lesson that everyone else learned from the Watergate scandal: The cover up is worse than the crime.

 

“The Federal Records Act requires that an agency head preserves a record. It also requires that if records were unlawfully removed, defaced or destroyed that the agency head notify the archivist at the National Archives. In this case, Mrs. Clinton should have notified the head archivist that she had in her possession, official agency records,” said Daniel Epstein, executive director of Washington transparency group Cause of Action.

 

Mrs. Clinton may have also been in violation of national security laws if any of her emails contained classified information.