Clinton and Her Aides Circulated Classified Info Using Non-Government Email
When she was asked at a recent “debate” if she was concerned about the FBI investigation into her email practices, Hillary Clinton told debate moderators she “is 100 percent confident” nothing will come of the investigation. Of course, what else could she say? “I’m almost certain nothing will come of the criminal investigation?”
When she was asked at a recent “debate” if she was concerned about the FBI investigation into her email practices, Hillary Clinton told debate moderators she “is 100 percent confident” nothing will come of the investigation. Of course, what else could she say? “I’m almost certain nothing will come of the criminal investigation?”
Here, at Judicial Watch we are not certain of what might happen. But we can talk to you about what we know and what the latest developments are in the ongoing scandal that now engulfs President Obama’s former secretary of state. We can show you why – at the least – Mrs. Clinton could and almost certainly should be indicted, tried, and convicted.
Let’s talk about Exhibit 999 in the case against Mrs. Clinton. Recently, we released nearly 70 pages of State Department records that show that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her top aides, Deputy Chiefs of Staff Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, received and sent classified information on their non-state.gov email accounts. The documents, also available on the State Department website, were obtained in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015, lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a March 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking:
- All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-“state.gov” email address.
The new documents show that Hillary Clinton used the clintonemail.com system to ask Huma Abedin (also on a non-state.gov email account) to print two March 2011 emails, which were sent from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (using the moniker “aclb”) to Jake Sullivan on Sullivan’s non-state.gov email account. The Obama State Department redacted the Blair emails under Exemption (b)(1), which allows the withholding of classified material. The material is marked as being classified as “Foreign government information” and “foreign relations or foreign activities of the US, including confidential sources.”
Another email shows that Clinton wanted to know how meetings in Washington, including a four-hour meeting concerning America’s war on Libya, would impacther Hampton vacation. Responding to an email that details the sensitive meetings in DC, Clinton emails Abedin on August 26, 2011: "Ok. What time would I get back to Hamptons?“ Again, this email discussion takes place on non-state.gov email accounts.
The documents also include advice to Clinton on Libya from Sidney Blumenthal, a Clinton Foundation employee who, according to a Judicial Watch investigative report, also had business interests in Libya. Clinton wanted Blumenthal’s March 9, 2011, Libya memo to be printed "without any identifiers.” Blumenthal is a despicable political operative and Clinton consigliere that even the Obama White House banned from working in the Clinton State Department. This explains why Hillary Clinton wanted to keep his compromised advice secret, “without any identifiers.”
The newly released Abedin emails include a lengthy exchange giving precise details of Clinton’s schedule using unsecured government emails. The email from Lona J. Valmoro, former Special Assistant to Secretary of State Clinton, to Abedin and Clinton reveals exact times (including driving times) and locations of all appointments throughout the day. Another itinerary email provides details about a meeting at the United Nations in New York at 3:00 on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, with the precise disclosure, “that would mean wheels up from Andrews at approximately 12:00pm/12:15pm." Heaven forbid that the bad guys got hold of this sensitive information. This email lawlessness by Clinton and her aides put themselves and other innocents at risk.
Various media outlets and blogs have picked up on what JW has brought to light. The Hot Air blog, for instance, took a deep dive into this latest batch of Clinton documentation:
The memo from Sid Blumenthal has "CONFIDENTIAL” at the top of the message, but that’s from Blumenthal, not a government classification. State released that memo without redactions. The need to strip “identifiers” off of it almost certainly reflected the need to keep Blumenthal’s involvement quiet in the face of intense dislike of him at the White House.
The Tony Blair e-mail will be much more difficult to explain….
These redactions are justified under 5 USC 552 (b)(1), which allows the government to block the release of classified information in the FOIA process. As Judicial Watch points out, the designations 1.4(B) and (D) refer to foreign government information; the (D) can also refer to “confidential sources,” which might describe Blair or perhaps someone else Blair discussed in the redacted message. Note too that both Jake Sullivan and Hillary got this from Blair, with Hillary getting it on her personal e-mail. She then forwards it to Huma Abedin with instructions to print it out. So much for never sending or receiving classified information. Note too that this time the classification notice comes from State, and not the IG from the intel community.
These emails show that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only Obama official who should be worried about being prosecuted for mishandling classified information. Her former top State Department aides (and current campaign advisers) Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan should be in the dock, as well. The Obama State Department has now confirmed that Clinton, Abedin, and Sullivan used unsecured, non-government email accounts to communicate information that should now be withheld from the American people “in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, and properly classified.”
We Americans should demand of the Obama Justice Department: when can we expect the indictments?