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Criminal Inquiry Sought Over Hillary Clinton's Personal Email Server

cold fjord writes: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Inspectors General from the State Department and intelligence agencies have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server while she was U.S. Secretary of State. At issue is the possible mishandling of sensitive government information. Dozens of the emails provided by Hillary Clinton have been retroactively classified as part of the review of her emails as they are screened for public release. So far 3,000 of 55,000 emails have been released. The inspectors general found hundreds of potentially classified emails. "The Justice Department has not decided if it will open an investigation, senior officials said. ... The inspectors general also criticized the State Department for its handling of sensitive information, particularly its reliance on retired senior Foreign Service officers to decide if information should be classified, and for not consulting with the intelligence agencies about its determinations."

41 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Felons by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Felons are barred from running for the office of President, correct?

    You can be a lawyer who has been disbarred, though.

    1. Re:Felons by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hilary's team has been running the latest DOD Wipe algorithms on that server non-stop for months now.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:Felons by Talderas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Attorney and lawyer are oftentimes used interchangeably but there is a difference. A lawyer is someone who has studied law. An attorney is someone who practices law. You're allowed to practice law in any jurisdiction in which you've passed the bar exam.

      As a lawyer you are qualified to give legal advice but you need to be an attorney to represent others.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    3. Re:Felons by DaHat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Correct, but there are other prohibitions against holding such an office depending on the crime. Most people have forgotten about USC Title 18, Part 1 Chapter 101, Section 2071, specifically paragraph b which says:

      (b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.

      In theory, Hillary has already committed an act which if convicted for would disqualify her for any future public office... now actually prosecuting her for that is a separate and rather unlikely matter.

  2. Obama's Justice Dept. will get right on it by jjo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We can expect a zealous investigation of these allegations against Hillary by the Obama Justice Department. Not.

    1. Re:Obama's Justice Dept. will get right on it by Feyshtey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's less a comment about effectiveness, and more about integrity.

      Hell, even if the Obama administration were to prosecute or less likely convict Clinton, Obama would probably pardon her. I dont know if that's more or less sad that that the media would dismiss it, and that millions of intellectually lazy would still be happy to vote for her.

      --
      "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
  3. Oh boy by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    This one is going to generate a thoughtful, nuanced discussion.

  4. What bothers me by Snotnose · · Score: 5, Insightful

    is she was ordered to give up her email to investigators. She gave them some of the mail and deleted the rest.

    Whether we'd actually done anything wrong or not, if one of us little people had pulled such a stunt we'd be rotting in jail awaiting trial for destroying evidence, not running for president.

    1. Re:What bothers me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      She has already been caught deleting emails relevant to State Department. One of her friends (Sydney Blumenthal) turned over emails in another investigation from Hillary and they were not in what she disclosed to Congress. She claimed deleted emails had to do with a wedding or yoga class.

      So she illegally ran a private email server.
      Deleted requested emails after a subpoena for them.
      Emailed classified information from an unsecure server to Sydney.
      Lied to Congress about it.

      Those above have been proven and no one is questioning that they happened. What they are questioning is if doing the above is wrong/illegal and if something should be done about it.

    2. Re:What bothers me by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Funny

      and possibly purgery

      While many would no doubt like to purge her, I suspect they really would prefer she get nailed for perjury....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  5. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ask yourself: "What would happen if I were employed in the federal government and mishandled government data in this same manner?"

    I have a feeling the answer would be much harsher than what Hillary will get.

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  6. I work in this field. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I personally process and load emails for law firms to review.

    I can tell you the following:

    Hillary's actions were legal at the time and followed all the rules.

    They were also unethical.

    The rules have now been changed, so that what she did would now be against the rules.

    Her emails almost certainly contain nothing incriminating. She is a smart women that has a lot of experience dealing with scandals and knows exactly what not to do.

    They probably contain something personally embarrassing - at least a little bit. Anyone that's ever looked over people's emails know you see stuff - dirty jokes, inappropriate websites, angry emails with profanity, etc. Remember it's not just what she wrote but what other people's wrote to her.

    It's obvious why she did what she did. But it's also obvious that if she were of stronger moral character, she would not have done it. She would have taken the slight chance that someone would find something embarrassing and accepted it as part of being a political figure. Because the coverup is always worse than the crime - even when no crime was committed. By giving her enemies this opportunity - where she ACTUALLY did something unethical - she has taken more damage than anything they were likely to have done by uncovering whatever they could find.

    1. Re: I work in this field. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      With regard to her Husband: He would have been convicted and jailed as a sexual predator if he had been the executive of a private corporation. The rules regarding sexual practices with subordinates are well defined. Unless you are the head Democrat. Then, the feminists will have your back.

  7. Re:The Slashdot crowd rises up and says by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Uh-huh. And - you don't understand the difference? See - Hillary is covering up her own crimes. Snowden was exposing other people's crimes. Do you see even the slightest difference between the two circumstances?

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  8. Re:Confidential Information via email???? by Arnold+Reinhold · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Given that the entire corpus of State Department cables classified up to Secret was leaked by Private Manning and that the State Department's unclassified email system was so badly hacked they struggled to get it cleared (if they have) and that other sensitive government systems, like the OPM database of security clearance records, have been completely compromised, there is reason to think Clinton's use of her own server may have provided better protection for sensitive information than official government channels. It could hardly have been worse.

  9. Re:Yep, keep searching by Vermonter · · Score: 5, Informative

    I enjoy the irony of your statement. You realize the birth certificate controversy was started by Hillary supporters during the 2008 presidential primaries, right? Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  10. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Feyshtey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure that destroying data that has been subpoenaed by Congress is not a misdemeanor.

    --
    "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
  11. Re:The Slashdot crowd rises up and says by blue9steel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Snowden definitely deserves jail time.

    Well, he's guilty of crimes that are usually punished by jail time. In this case I think what he deserves is a pardon and a presidential medal of freedom.

  12. Re: It depends on who is in charge by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    What about Al Haig? I thought he was in charge

    He thought he was in charge, too. And he said so.

    But he wasn't.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  13. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, Richard Armitage outed Plame.

  14. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wrongs have been done before no doubt but the scale of this one was much larger than anything previously done that I've heard about. Rather than justifying the present with the past how about we tighten the rules, not loosen then. I'm 100% sure if any of us had done this we would be in jail forever. When a political elite does it it's fine. This shouldn't be a D vs R type debate where my guy is bad but not as bad as your guy (or gal in this case). How about we make this about anyone breaking rules, D or R, gets punished.

  15. Re:The Slashdot crowd rises up and says by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Irony. If you say so. People who want to see other people punished for their sins see little irony in it though. You will note, please, that I said "sins", not "crimes". Although, there are plenty who would be willing to use both terms. Most of Hillary's sins are also crimes. Most of her crimes are also sins. Immoral, unethical, cheating, conniving, manipulative - and those are her best virtues!

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  16. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anything she gets will likely be harsher than Karl Rove managed to get for outing Valerie Plame.

    All of this has been done before. Complete BS if she gets harsher treatment than the previous administration. I agree that we need to clamp down on the problem, but some retro activity would be nice as well.

    So basically what you're saying is that you'd like to see the Obama Administration sink the same level as the Bush Administration when administering justice? Wouldn't it be better if Obama's Justice Department did the right thing and set the bar high for future administrations? Or is this just a case of "Their team got the kid gloves treatment, so mine should get it as well?"

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  17. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by sycodon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I work for a defense company subject to ITAR regulations.

    If I did what she did, I'd be fired...escorted out by security.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  18. WSJ is incorrect in title, implication by dlapine · · Score: 4, Informative
    From Daily Kos:

    "Late Thursday night, the Times published a story claiming that the Justice Department had been asked "to open a criminal investigation into whether Hillary Rodham Clinton mishandled sensitive government information on a private email account," only to quietly change the story to say that the Justice Department had been asked "to open a criminal investigation into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used." As in, the story changed from being about a potential criminal investigation into Clinton's conduct to being about a potential criminal investigation into the mishandling of sensitive information by ... someone not named. "

    So, haven't you guys learned yet to ignore mass media reporting when it involves a Clinton? It's almost like someone with billions of dollars has been trying to smear the leading Democratic candidate for a few years now.

    --
    The Internet has no garbage collection
    1. Re:WSJ is incorrect in title, implication by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 3, Funny

      "It's almost like someone with billions of dollars has been trying to smear the leading Democratic candidate for a few years now."

      That Bill! He's quite the prankster.

    2. Re:WSJ is incorrect in title, implication by doom · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can't expect to have a clue about what's going on in the United States if you don't follow the British press. (Here in the Land of the Free, we've got the best media that money can buy.):
      http://www.theguardian.com/us-...

      Hillary Clinton email inquiry not linked to criminal wrongdoing, official says
      Despite reports to the contrary earlier on Friday, investigation isnâ(TM)t criminal Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill criticizes New York Timesâ(TM) âfalseâ(TM) claim

  19. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by sycodon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Such a parade of ignorance.

    Go figure the AC was the one to get it right.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  20. Re:Yep, keep searching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a republican I really dont care *what* is in those emails. It does show however a total disregard for the laws of our country. Those things apply to other people not her. What I said is also true. Nothing will happen to her other than maybe a bit of a dip in the polls. People will justify what she did as 'ok'. She has a long history of it.

  21. Re:pulp and rubbish by Straif · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One problem is that for any information that was classified at the time (I"m not sure how this whole retroactive classification things works) it was and is a federal offense to even have that information on a private email server.

    Your personal level of access does not give you permission to store classified information wherever you want to.

    I still haven't seen anything confirming that she in fact did have classified information on her server (at least not classified at the time) but as has been mentioned above, there has already been proven verified instances of emails to and from other people about State related work that was not handed over by Clinton but found through subpenas of the other persons email.

    --
    Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  22. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Similar to sibling, I have previously worked for a defense contractor, subject to similar regulations... and among my duties, I was the primary sysadmin on the email MTAs (both the company and the DoD/DLA-owned ones).

    If I would have merely seen someone in the company do what the Clintons did, and had not reported it? I would have immediately lost my IT-1 clearance, gotten fired on the spot, my employer would have probably been kicked off the contract, then we'd both be blacklisted from any further DoD consideration.

    If I had done it myself? Getting fired would have been the least of my worries.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  23. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Bartles · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hilarious. The lack of knowledge present here is remarkable.

  24. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Coren22 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nor is blatantly ignoring records retention laws.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  25. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by Bartles · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This post would mean a lot more if the OP had gotten his their facts correct. Karl Rove didn't get kid gloves treatment. He didn't break the law or out anybody.

  26. Re:Mailbox by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Try that at a company when you first get hired and see how well that defense works out for you. A normal (ie not above the law) person might have asked about the oversight rather than saying "oh well, I guess I'll have to make an email server for myself". The "I wasn't given one" is an amazingly poor defense. It takes a lot of chutzpah to use that with a straight face.

  27. Why not ask the administrator of the server? by zeugma-amp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since we know that none of the Clintons have the skills to run their own email server, we need to get the administrator of the email server in to testify. He needs to publicly admit before the world that he was so incredibly incompetent that there are no backups of the server.

    Congresscritter: Just to clarify, you're the person who managed the Clinton's email server?

    Admin: Yes.

    Congresscritter: Could you please supply the committee with backups of the email server?

    Admin: There aren't any.

    Congresscritter: Again, just to clarify... You're actually an IT professional?

    Admin: Yes

    Congresscritter: And you're going to go on record, to say that this email server was not backed up?

    Admin: Yes.

    Congresscritter: You realize Mrs. Clinton was a senior administration official whose duties involve, among other things, negotiations with foreign governments?

    Admin: uh....yes

    Congresscritter: And what would you have done if, during negotiations, the hard disk on this computer had crashed, completely wiping out her email?

    Admin: uh....

    Congresscritter: So you're going to state, for the record before the world that as an IT professional, you're completely and utterly incompetent?

    Admin: I'm not incompetent

    Congresscritter: Then provide us with the backups.

    --
    This is an ex-parrot!
  28. Re:Likely misdemeanor mishandling of classified in by rickb928 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Scooter Libby got 30 months in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and two years of supervised release, including 400 hours of community service.

    Fair? Will Hillary face the statutory minimums for her transgressions?

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  29. Re:It depends on who is in charge by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm trying to determine relevance. You've demonstrated that an agency of the government has the authority to unilaterally decide eligibility for employment, and you've further demonstrated that this decision may not be appealed in certain cases.

    You have not, however, demonstrated that one individual can unilaterally establish policy, procedure, or much of anything else.

    Every officer of the US military is bound by custom, tradition, and law. Each and every officer is limited in what he may or may not do. That INCLUDES the Commander in Chief.

    Even a lowly private/seaman/airman/fireman can disobey the Commander in Chief if that CinC issues an unlawful order. CinC is not synonymous with "God".

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  30. Re:Mishandling Sensitive Material? by Coren22 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since no one was allowed to audit the email server, we will never know if it was in fact hacked as Hillary is hardly an IT expert.

    http://politics.slashdot.org/s...

    Also, the server apparently was horribly misconfigured.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  31. The Worst Thing Is... by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That we have a choice of either Hillary Clinton OR a rag-tag group of nincompoop Republicans for president?

    What a joke.

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
  32. Re:The Slashdot crowd rises up and says by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you even ask that? What does Trump have to do with recognizing that Clinton is pure evil? How does Trump figure into any discussion of Clinton? I could even ask, "WTF is Trump?" But, I'll be serious. Trump is a puffed up, egotistical, pompous ass - but he's more qualified to be president than Shrillary ever could be. I'd love to punch Trump in the nose. But, I'd love even more to never hear Shrillary's name again. Would I support Trump over Hillary? Yes - but I'd support damned near anyone over Hillary.

    Is your mom considering running for president? You could tell me a lot of bad things about your mom, and I'd STILL vote for her before I voted for Hillary.

    Go on, tell Mom to run. Compared to the turkeys in the field right now, I can see that your mom raised at least one semi-literate child. Yes, she's more qualified than most of them!

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br