In what has developed from a cursory spin-off issue from the Benghazi catastrophe in which US Ambassador to Libya and terrorist liaison Chis Stephens was killed, Hillary Clinton’s use of her private internet server and the server of the Clinton Foundation for emails that contained sensitive and confidential material has now ballooned into a major controversy in true Clinton fashion.
Judge Andrew Napolitano summed up the gist of the controversy in a few short paragraphs in his article “Hillary Lies Again,” where he wrote,
It now appears that Mrs. Clinton was managing her war using emails that she diverted through a computer server owned by her husband’s charitable foundation, even though some of her emails contained sensitive and classified materials. This was in direct violation of federal law, which requires all in government who possess classified or sensitive materials to secure them in a government-approved venue.
The inspector general of the intelligence community and the inspector general of the State Departmenteach have reviewed a limited sampling of her emails that were sent or received via the Clinton Foundation server, and both have concluded that materials contained in some of them were of such gravity that they were obliged under federal law to refer their findings to the FBI for further investigation.
The FBI does not investigate for civil wrongdoing or ethical lapses. It investigates behavior that may be criminal or that may expose the nation’s security to jeopardy. It then recommends either that indictments be sought or the matter be addressed through non-prosecutorial means. Given Mrs. Clinton’s unique present position — as the president’s first secretary of state and one who seeks to succeed him, as well as being the wife of one of his predecessors — it is inconceivable that she could be prosecuted as Gen. David Petraeus was (for the crime of failing to secure classified materials) without the personal approval of the president himself.[1]
Napolitano himself has analyzed a number of the emails that are now in the public domain as a result of the Freedom of Information Act. He states,
I have not seen the emails the inspectors general sent to the FBI, but I have seen the Clinton emails, which are now in the public domain. They show Mrs. Clinton sending or receiving emails to and from her confidante Sid Blumenthal and one of her State Department colleagues using her husband’s foundation’s server, and not a secure government server. These emails address the location of French jets approaching Libya, the location of no-fly zones over Libya and the location of Stevens in Libya. It is inconceivable that an American secretary of state failed to protect and secure this information.[2]
In an interview with Republican blowhard Sean Hannity, Napolitano reiterated his disgust with Clinton’s email scandal and stated that, if she truly believed the statements she has made in her defense or that the material contained in the emails was not sensitive enough to be damaging to US national security, she was unfit for office.
I saw emails, not the ones that the inspectors general saw, I saw emails that have been revealed under the Freedom of Information Act. And in them, she is discussing the location of French fighter jets during the NATO bombardment of Libya, how big the no fly zone is, where the no fly zones are, and are you ready for this? – the location of Ambassador Stevens, who of course was murdered, in Libya.
If that is not classified, if she didn’t think that was classified, she has no business being in public office.[3]
Yet, not long after Napolitano made his statements, the number of emails being considered jumped from a few dozen to 60.[4]
As mentioned earlier, the Clinton “emailgate” scandal erupted as a result of the Congressional investigations into the Benghazi incident. As investigations, already built upon the shaky premise that the killing of Stevens was a tragic accident, began to take place, Clinton stalled Congressional investigators, provided obstinate statements, and did everything possible to avoid providing documents and, obviously, emails that may have been pertinent to the investigation.
After refusing to turn her email over to an independent third party, Clinton then announced that she had gone through her email and determined which emails were private and which were public. She then deleted the emails which she claims were private – all 30,000 of them.[5]
As Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times wrote in March, 2015
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has refused to turn her email server over to an independent third party and claims she has wiped the server clean, dealing a setback to the special investigative committee looking into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, the probe said late Friday.
. . . . .
“Not only was the secretary the sole arbiter of what was a public record, she also summarily decided to delete all emails from her server ensuring no one could check behind her analysis in the public interest,” Mr. Gowdy said in a statement excoriating Mrs. Clinton’s actions.
Mr. Gowdy said Mrs. Clinton’s response to his subpoena was to re-transmit several hundred pages of emails that the State Department has already turned over.
. . . . . . .
Mrs. Clinton said at a press conference earlier this month that she culled through more than 60,000 emails from her time as secretary and decided about 30,000 of them were public records that should have been maintained. She said the rest were private messages relating to her daughter’s wedding or her yoga class schedule, and she didn’t keep those.
But Mr. Gowdy said Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers informed him Friday that she “unilaterally decided to wipe her server clean and permanently delete all emails” from it.
He said it wasn’t clear when Mrs. Clinton made the final decision, but he said it appeared to have happened after the State Department asked her to turn over her government business messages in late October.
Mrs. Clinton rejected use of a government-issued email account during her four years as secretary, first relying on an account she used while a senator and then later setting up an email server at her home in New York and using an account on that to conduct all of her business, both public and private.
She insists she followed the law, which at the time didn’t require officials to use government-issued accounts but did require them to turn over all official records to be stored. Mrs. Clinton didn’t turn over those records until last December, after the Benghazi probe noticed she had used a private email and requested those records from the State Department, which then asked Mrs. Clinton for them. The law doesn’t set a date for turning over records.
Open-records experts, however, question Mrs. Clinton’s designation of her server as private, saying it was set up in order to do government business, and so it and the emails on it arguably belong to the government.
In August, 2015, Hillary finally handed over the keys to her server as well as three thumb drives. Unfortunately, all of the material had apparently been wiped clean in a professional data elimination job.[6] The thumb drives contain only what Clinton had poured through and approved to be left on the drives.[7] The rest of the data was unusable.[8]
There is much more to the story of Benghazi than mere incompetence or lack of consideration for lives Clinton may have put at risk by using a personal internet server. Without attempting to detail the history of the US/NATO destabilization and destruction of Libya and Syria, the fact is that Ambassador Chris Stevens was acting as a coordinator, facilitator, and arms dealer for terrorists in Libya who were tasked with mopping up the rest of Ghaddafi’s forces as well as shipping those weapons to terrorists operating in Syria.
With that in mind, one must wonder whether or not the whole email affair is itself – while a real enough issue- a red herring designed to cover up the fact that the Ambassador was tasked with acting as an agent of terrorism and a Sherpa of weapons and funds to terrorists. After all, the entire investigation is premised on the idea that what happened at the US embassy in Benghazi was either a random act of terrorist violence or a random act of terrorist violence made possible and more potent by incompetency in Washington.
Webster Tarpley disagrees with the premise of the investigation, arguing that the killing of Stevens was actually a bonapartist coup designed to produce an October surprise in September. Tarpley writes in his article, “Benghazi Attacks Linked To CIA Mormon Mafia,”
As the London Daily Mail reported on September 19, 2012, all signs suggest that the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi and the murder of Ambassador Stevens were carried out by forces under the command of Sufyan Ben Qumu (or Kumu), a notorious terrorist leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. Qumu, who once worked as Bin Laden’s chauffeur, is a native of Derna, Libya, the city which US Army files suggest has produced more violent terrorists per capita than any other in the world. The US government knows everything about Qumu, who spent about five years as a prisoner in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Qumu was then sent back to Libya in September 2007, where he was set free by Gaddafi in an amnesty in 2010. Qumu currently heads the Ansar al-Sharia brigade, also an al-Qaeda affiliate.
Clearly, the likely way somebody like Qumu could be released from Guantanamo would be if he had become a double agent working for the CIA in the overthrow of Qaddafi. We therefore have a situation in which a reputed CIA asset has carried out the assassination of the US ambassador.[9]
Nevertheless, Clinton’s role must be investigated and punished to the fullest extent. Emails, while an important issue in regards to national security and the rule of law, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this aspect of the story. The entire incident must be investigated fully, encompassing all aspects and following all leads. Any individual either so treacherous or incompetent to act so recklessly with sensitive information is clearly incapable of serving in the position of the Presidency.
Brandon Turbeville – article archive here – is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 andvolume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, and The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President. Turbeville has published over 650 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST atUCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
Notes:
[1] Napolitano, Andrew. “Hillary Lies Again.” Washington Times. July 29, 2015.http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/29/andrew-napolitano-hillary-clinton-lies-about-email/ Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[2] Napolitano, Andrew. “Hillary Lies Again.” Washington Times. July 29, 2015.http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/29/andrew-napolitano-hillary-clinton-lies-about-email/ Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[3] Tyler, Taylor. “Hillary Clinton Sent Unsecured Emails Revealing Location Of Ambassador Chris Stevens And NATO Fighter Jets, Reveals Judge Napolitano.” HNGN. August 6, 2015.http://www.hngn.com/articles/116807/20150806/judge-napolitano-clinton-sent-emails-revealing-location-of-ambassador-chris-stevens-nato-fighter-jets.htm Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[4] Solomon, Jon. “Number Of Hillary Clinton’s Emails Flagged For Classified Data Grows To 60 As Review Continues.” The Washington Times. August 16, 2015. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/aug/16/number-of-hillary-clintons-emails-flagged-for-clas/ Accessed September 7, 2015.
[5]Dinan, Stephen. “Hillary Clinton Wiped Email Server Clean, Refuses To Turn It Over.” Washington Times. March 27, 2015. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/27/hillary-clinton-wiped-email-server-clean-refuses-t/Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[6] Schmidt, Michael S. “Hillary Clinton Directs Aides To Give Email Server And Thumb Drive To The Justice Department.” New York Times. August 11, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/us/politics/hillary-clinton-directs-aides-to-give-email-server-and-thumb-drive-to-the-justice-department.html?_r=0 Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[7] Powell, Sidney. “The Countless Crimes Of Hillary Clinton: Special Prosecutor Needed Now.” Observer. August 13, 2015. http://observer.com/2015/08/the-countless-crimes-of-hillary-clinton-special-prosecutor-needed-now/ Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[8] Dinan, Stephen. “Hillary Clinton Wiped Email Server Clean, Refuses To Turn It Over.” Washington Times. March 27, 2015. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/27/hillary-clinton-wiped-email-server-clean-refuses-t/Accessed on September 7, 2015.
[9] Tarpley, Webster Griffin. “Benghazi Attacks Linked To CIA Mormon Mafia.” Press TV.http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/14/266560/benghazi-attack-cia-mafia-in-action (link broken) Article reproduced here http://www.boxingasylum.com/showthread.php?t=47451&s=de5eb660458f23d197f8431939586521#.Ve44lRFVikp Accessed on September 7, 2015.
