Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her to use a personal email account, according to a new report.
The claim was included in notes given to Congress by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday, The New York Times reports. Powell confirmed he did write Clinton an email talking about how his use of a personal email account “vastly improved communications within the State Department.”
A book by left-leaning author Joe Conason on Bill Clinton’s post-presidency includes a claim that Powell had given similar advice to Clinton at a dinner party early in her tenure, hosted by another former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.
“Albright asked all of the former secretaries to offer one salient bit of counsel to the nation’s next top diplomat,” Conason writes according to the Times, which obtained an advanced copy of the book. “Powell told her to use her own email, as he had done, except for classified communications, which he had sent and received via a State Department computer.”
According to Reuters Powell did not recollect that dinner conversation:
Colin Powell's office in a statement said he could not recall the dinner conversation. He did recall describing the system he used to her, but the statement did not say he suggested Clinton do the same.
"He did write former Secretary Clinton an email memo describing his use of his personal AOL email account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department," the statement said. "At the time there was no equivalent system within the department."
Seriously? An AOL account?
Now the conservatives will jump on the fact that Powell told Hillary to use the State Department e-mails for classified information, but she must have done that because, also according to the FBI, she did not send ANY classified information through her private e-mail server, and only three of the thousands that she received had any markings which might have indicated that they had classified material in them, and THAT was only indicated by a small "c" in the body of the e-mail.
Gee I bet the Congress is really glad they asked for these FBI notes now.
Amoral behavior of all types is OKIYAR (actually, they project their nefarious behavior on the left, the right is holier than thou). If you are not a republican, republicans favor that even tiny lapses in judgement (often debatable) should be punished by being drawn and quartered. Barring that, a firing squad will do nicely. It gives them a sense of smug (and sometimes gleeful) superiority. Trump has these folks voting for him. They are numerous.
ReplyDeleteShe has my vote as POTUS! She will be outstanding!
ReplyDeleteCan hardly wait to cast my vote!
Me, too!
DeleteDoesn't anyone control the congress in any way? Why can they just start another investigation as they are planning? Is there no one in government who can say NO MORE MONEY WILL BE GIVEN FOR THIS. Enough is enough. Congress is supposed to make the laws that run the country, not persecute any Democrat they just don't like. And, I guess this means that the Republicans haven't learned a thing at all about their own actions and how they heavily contributed to the horror known as THEIR candidate for President. How dense and stupid can so many people be?
ReplyDeleteThe House does budget and allocates money.
DeleteThere is a Republican majority in the House, led by Paul Ryan.
'Nuff said.
Damn...that didn't take long. So how long before the FBI starts looking into who leaked the info? Umm..that would be never. Yup. Never.
ReplyDeleteI heard on the PBS news tonight that Powell is now saying that he said he told her about using her own email account but never said anything about setting up her own server.
ReplyDeleteInteresting since he was using AOL, he is pointing out the bit about the server again.
AOL is hacked all the time.
DeleteHere's what's different about Powell using personal email and why "Powell did it too" doesn't help. (Besides the fact that "He did it too" is never a helpful defense.
ReplyDelete- The State Dept didn't have an email system when Powell was Sec of State.
- Powell sent and received email from a desktop computer on a table in his office at the State Dept set up by State Dept staff. No portable device. No server outside the State Dept.
- On "Seriously? An AOL account?": Think back to 2001. What were our email choices outside of Microsoft Outlook or internal systems at work that personal use was a big no-no? AOL. Yahoo. Compuserve.
- On the FBI letter: it's dumb to link again to a letter that reiterates "Secretary Clinton and her colleagues were extremely careless in their handling of certain, very sensitive, extremely classified information." Dumb. The Republicans will use that phrase over and over in commercials.
There was no "extremely classified" information.
DeleteRead the FBI letter again.
And remember that the rules tightened up AFTER Hillary left the state department.
Oh right, oops "highly classified" not "extremely classified". Because you think it's not a problem if the FBI finds they were "extremely careless" with just "highly classified" information? Nonsense.
DeleteAnd bullshit about the rules tightening up after. That's another losing excuse like "But, but, but, Powell did it too." The FBI's assessment "extremely careless" wasn't based on what took effect after Clinton left State.
I'm *highly* frustrated that Clinton, her campaign, her loyalists aren't taking the perception of her being unethical seriously enough. In my view when you, they, try to dismiss the email/server issue like it's OK even though the FBI concluded "extremely careless" only adds the perception of arrogance and above-the-rules-ness to the other perception problems.
9:40 the rules changed for State and e-mails in 2014. Deal with it. HRC left in 2013. Can you please stick to facts with your never-ending HRC e-mail diatribes? Thanks. Have a great weekend.
Delete9:40 pm - I hear only condemnation from you, with no ideas of what she could have done differently. Hindsight is always 20/20. And where you see ethics issues I see an attitude of 'get the job done' using the best means possible.
DeleteI guess it can distill into my own personal style of fly by the seat of your pants. The Marines say it better - over under around or through, get it done.
10:36 - the FBI didn't conclude she and her staff were "extremely careless with sensitive, highly classified" information based on rules that went into effect after she left. That is an uninformed, losing excuse.
DeleteConnie 12:10 I don't have condemnation for her. I'm exasperated with the way she's handled this. Any time she's asked about it, she gets defensive, makes sarcastic remarks, dismisses the questioner, acts annoyed or tries to play it off like it's no big deal. Example: leaning her chin in her hand before Congress expressing boredom and contempt. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. She knew she was going to run for president. Why did she hand her enemies such a huge gift that they're using in commercials now? And she does stuff like that again and again.
What she could and should have done differently is so obvious: She should have used a state.gov email address for business and her personal email for personal messages. For anyone who works for a company that has its own email system this was a total no-brainer: you don't use company email for personal messages. It's not a difficult concept. Millions of people have this situation and handle it.
Every time it comes up she should repeat: "I should have kept the government and the business separate." And say it undefensively, unsarcastically, conciliatorily with no qualifiers. They tell you when you're being bullied to stop reacting in a way that entertains and feeds the bully. She needs to stop reacting in ways that the people who ask know will make headline news.
Of course meant "kept the government and the *personal* separate"
Delete8:22 - don't let the facts stop your ridiculous whining! Yes, the e-mail protocols changed in 2014. Fact. Yes, she left State in 2013. Fact. Go read the OIG report. You don't seem to know the basics. She was denied the cyber tools she requested, nor was she given the official oversight personnel for cybersecurity. The OIG report said she was no more to blame than any past SoS for e-mail usage.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is this: if after everything Trump said this week alone, you'd continue to obsess on the partisan red meat GOP line blurted out by Comey ("extremely careless") as having any significance reveals your judgement and values. Have a truly terrific weekend! And don't strangle yourself clutching your pearls!!!!