Slashdot Mirror
Comey, Who Investigated Hillary Clinton For Using Personal Email For Official Business, Used His Personal Email For Official Business (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Former FBI Director James Comey, who led the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of personal email while secretary of state, also used his personal email to conduct official business, according to a report from the Justice Department on Thursday. The report also found that while Comey was "insubordinate" in his handling of the email investigation, political bias did not play a role in the FBI's decision to clear Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing.
The report from the office of the inspector general "identified numerous instances in which Comey used a personal email account (a Gmail account) to conduct FBI business." In three of the five examples, investigators said Comey sent drafts he had written from his FBI email to his personal account. In one instance, he sent a "proposed post-election message for all FBI employees that was entitled 'Midyear thoughts,'" the report states. In another instance, Comey again "sent multiple drafts of a proposed year-end message to FBI employees" from his FBI account to his personal email account.
The report from the office of the inspector general "identified numerous instances in which Comey used a personal email account (a Gmail account) to conduct FBI business." In three of the five examples, investigators said Comey sent drafts he had written from his FBI email to his personal account. In one instance, he sent a "proposed post-election message for all FBI employees that was entitled 'Midyear thoughts,'" the report states. In another instance, Comey again "sent multiple drafts of a proposed year-end message to FBI employees" from his FBI account to his personal email account.
I've long suspected that use of personal email accounts is so rampant in government that if the FBI did prosecute, half of congress would be torn between destroying their own emails and trying to dig up anything the other party sent them from a person address. It's only a big deal with it can be turned into a political weapon.
Go back to the Bush administration and Colin Powell had a personal server too... and he too used it for business... .. but, but, but, but, but ..... HILLARY!!!!
1,2,3 the righties scream
Meanwhile the IG report drops and results in no new indictments, no firings... a big nothing burger... yawn.
No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws. That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place - so she could decide which emails would be preserved.
But he's still subject to the same records retention laws that Clinton was willfully subverting.
And how would sending an email from his official FBI account to a personal Gmail account subvert any record retention laws? In one case there are no records retained in government servers, in the other case there are. This does not sound like the same thing. Possible leaking of secure information is another matter, but that is not the main problem from my understanding.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
That wasn't illegal in 2010. That was made illegal following Clinton leaving secertary of state position.
It is currently illegal and yet Trump has not just one but multiple private data channels sitting on top of classified data daily. My favorite was a photo with the media that showed classified docents sitting underneath an unsecured phone in the room with reporters.
That makes Clinton look sane. And that takes quite a bit
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
You jest. But the discussion is already filled with ACs who'd just as soon see someone dead than be civil about their political opponents.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
(U) Comey was investigated former Secretary of State Clinton for her handling of classified materials.
(U) Unclassified materials were found on an insecure personal server that she had set up to work from home
(U) She claimed that she had no knowledge that any of the documents on that server were classified -- meaning some variety of confidential (C), secret (S), or (most likely at her level) top secret (TS). She believed it was all unclassified (U)
(U) Her claim is fucking ridiculous, because in classified documents every page, heading, sentence, and bullet point, and source reference is preceded by note just like this: (U) (FOUO) (C) (S) (TS)
(U) Is this painful to read? This is the sort of thing that she claims was missing from her documents.
(U) You can't get such documents off of the secure network. To get such documents on her private server, she or a lackey uploaded them.
(U) For her story to carry water, she would need someone with clearance level similar to hers to print, re-type, scan, and emailed her such documents, all while lying to her about doing so.
(U) She fucked up. Badly. It may have hurt her chance to become the de facto ruler of the world.
(U) Most people who get caught for lesser fuck-ups end up going to jail.
The rhetoric about this issue is highly partisan, including your post. However, I don't think this is a liberal/conservative issue, really.
As a state employee, I'm allowed to use my personal email address for official business. Once in awhile I do so, if I want to have a particular discussion outside of work hours while not checking my work email for other business. Nothing I'm doing is sensitive, and I'm allowed to do it provided the emails are sent to an official state email address reasonably soon.
If Comey is using a personal email address to send himself drafts of agency-wide letters, that doesn't seem problematic. Comey isn't going to be sending sensitive information to the entire FBI.
Comey did completely mishandle investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Neither liberals nor conservatives approve of how Comey handled that investigation, so I don't think that's a controversial statement. Clinton was also incredibly reckless, to say the least, in using a personal email server for handling sensitive information. That is, indeed, problematic. As for there being a political bias, Mike Pence also used a personal email account to conduct official business while he was the Governor of Indiana. That email account was hacked, exposing sensitive information. Mike Pence didn't break Indiana law, and I'm not aware of him ever being investigated over the matter.
While both Clinton and Pence have been heavily criticized for using personal email for conducting work-related business, neither has faced serious consequences for doing so. I don't see a political bias here, for or against conservatives.
As for Comey, using a personal email address for a few emails that don't appear sensitive doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Comey's credibility is gone, but it doesn't have anything to do with this. This seems like a non-issue to me, especially compared with all of the other issues surrounding Comey.
What? Comey undermined Clinton _twice_. First when he publicly excoriated her for her personal email server use in June and then when he announced a new investigation just two weeks before the election.
If anything, he was Trump's tool.
What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.
It's easy to understand. Comey and the rest of the beltway didn't even suspect Trump might get elected. The purpose of that farcical reopen/close stunt was to clean the slate; Clinton would win the election and enter office with no outstanding investigative hangups.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Plenty of people holding clearances and many whose careers were ended (or put in jail) for far less cared about that shit.
Then how did those darn Russians get her emails? The alternative to badly secured server hacked by Russians is the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. Pick your poison carefully.
"Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
Top Secret is a classification, as are Secret and Confidential. 'Classified' itself is not a classification at all.
This is what a smear campaign looks like.
Sigh. Political games are not headlines, but I guess the morning show folks need something to cluck about.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Record unemployment. Greatest personal and business tax breaks in years. Manufacturing is coming back to the USA in record numbers. Lowest black unemployment ever. Republicans are doing a great job. I'm getting raises at work. Best foreign policy we've had since Reagan. I like how the country is moving right now. If Trump runs in 2020 he has my vote.
HRC used a personal server exclusively for 100% of her work-related emails while Secretary of State - she never, in her entire tenure as Secretary logged into a state Department email account.
Comey sent (3x) drafts of mass departmental emails he planned to send to everyone in the FBI to his private gmail account, presumably to work on them at home gonvieniently.
These are in no way comparable 'offenses'.
I find it hard to believe HRC's private server more secure than the state department email server she should have used - it is simply non-sensical, State had a full-time staff working round-clock to secure their servers, HRC bounced her server from part-time contractor to a web hosting firm.
The IG report clearly states that HRC's email server was accessed by foreign agents - is it only a problem if the Russians hacked her server? Is it OK if it was the Chinese or North Koreans?
Ken
In all the news about Hillary Clinton's email servers, I never saw ANYTHING that would indicate Hillary Clinton has any technical knowledge.
Maybe it's because how flippant she was about it? "Wipe the server" "You mean with a cloth?"
Maybe it's because she deleted so many emails before granting access to the FBI?
Maybe it's because she was head of the Department of State and should have asked somebody if she honestly had no technical knowledge?
Maybe it's because she has almost no credibility and the only ones voting for her were doing it of party reasons, anti-trump reasons, or for gender reasons>