Byron York wrote a very interesting article today about former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The most important thing to note in this article is the fact that she did not once volunteer the emails. Then State Dept. Spox Marie Harf can only answer that Hillary said “this is what she had”
What exactly does that mean? Byron York breaks it down in an easy to understand post on exactly what it means. He implies there are signs of doubt in the trust of Hillary Clinton’s emails being sent to the State Department.
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer took to Twitter to voice his opinions on the matter:
Hill asks State to vet emails 4 security purposes, acknowledging they may b sensitive. Then why were they on a personal account 2begin with?
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) March 5, 2015
Hillary could release her emails now, by herself. (Assuming none are destroyed or withheld). Why vet them, unless she fears something? — Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) March 5, 2015
Instead of asking State to release her emails, Mrs. Clinton could have asked China, Russia or Iran. I bet they have them too.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) March 5, 2015
Continue the full post by Byron York for The Washington Examiner:
A number of Hillary Clinton defenders cite the talking point that she has turned over 55,000 pages of emails to the State Department and has therefore satisfied the requirement that she turn over all email from her private account to government archivists. But the State Department itself is being more cautious. Indeed, a look at Department spokeswoman Marie Harf’s statements from the last two days suggests the Obama administration is not ready to vouch for its former secretary of state.
On Tuesday, Harf said, “We reached out to all of the former secretaries of state to ask them to provide any records they had. Secretary Clinton sent back 55,000 pages of documents to the State Department very shortly after we sent the letter to her. She was the only former secretary of state who sent documents back in to this request. These 55,000 pages covered her time, the breadth of her time at the State Department.”
First note: Clinton did not volunteer the emails; she turned them over at the request of the State Department. And Harf did not say that the 55,000 pages were all of Clinton’s emails. “Are you confident that all of those are in the records now?” asked one reporter.
“Well, again, as soon as we reached out to the former secretary, Secretary Clinton provided the emails covering the breadth of her time at the State Department on a wide variety of issues,” Harf said. “It’s my understanding that those were provided in that way.” Harf also noted that official State Department accounts preserved emails Clinton sent to them, which Harf claimed accounted for the “vast majority” of Clinton’s emails.
“So that’s everything?” asked the reporter. “We’re talking about the Retention Act. It doesn’t say ‘vast majority.’ It basically is about all of them.”
“Right,” said Harf. “We reached out and asked her to provide them. She provided a large amount, those 55,000.”
“But just say it’s everything if you think — ” said the reporter.
“Well how can I — I mean, I’m not in her email,” Harf said.
“Did she say it was everything when she sent it back?”
“When she responded, she said this was what she had — is my understanding — that was pertinent here. Those aren’t exact words, but that’s my understanding.”
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE:
Does State Dept trust Hillary Clinton in email flap
