Last night, The New York Times reported that two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether classified government information was mishandled because of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The request comes after an assessment sent last month to the State Department and intelligence agencies that Clinton’s private email account contained “hundreds of potentially classified emails.” More from the Times:
“It is not clear if any of the information in the emails was marked as classified by the State Department when Mrs. Clinton sent or received them. But since her use of a private email account for official State Department business was revealed in March, she has repeatedly said that she had no classified information on the account. The initial revelation has been an issue in the early stages of her presidential campaign. …
At issue are thousands of pages of State Department emails from Mrs. Clinton’s private account. Mrs. Clinton has said she used the account because it was more convenient, but it also shielded her correspondence from congressional and Freedom of Information Act requests. She faced sharp criticism after her use of the account became public, and subsequently said she would ask the State Department to release her emails.”
It’s now crystal clear that Clinton’s claims from months ago about emailing classified materials – claims which she and her campaign maintain to this day – were simply false.
CLINTON: “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. So I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.”
This now raises questions of whether Clinton’s misuse of private email was overlooked while she was Secretary of State because the State Department “lacked a top watchdog” during Clinton’s entire tenure as Secretary.
What is clear: Clinton’s private email use was not as above board as Clinton’s campaign would have you believe.
