Hillary and the classified emails

[BigRedBuster]

 

We have enough problems with the rich and powerful getting away with stuff that average citizens would get skewered from.

Which is exactly what you're saying should happen with Rice & Powell. They're getting away with this, right?

 

I'm not saying Hillary shouldn't be prosecuted. She should, just like everyone else. But pretending that we're looking into this to help the country is absurd. We're looking into this because her political opponents want to smear her name during her presidential campaign. There's no noble purpose of defending 'Merca! going on here.

 

I think comparing this to Condi or Powell is apples and oranges since they aren't running for anything.

A more apt comparison is if we should be investigating Trump's business dealings and donations. And....yes....I would support both Hillary and Trump being investigated.

[knapplc]

Rice & Powell have admitted to doing exactly the same thing as Clinton. The fact that Clinton is running for office and they aren't is my point.

[Saunders]

 

We have enough problems with the rich and powerful getting away with stuff that average citizens would get skewered from.

Which is exactly what you're saying should happen with Rice & Powell. They're getting away with this, right?

 

I'm not saying Hillary shouldn't be prosecuted. She should, just like everyone else. But pretending that we're looking into this to help the country is absurd. We're looking into this because her political opponents want to smear her name during her presidential campaign. There's no noble purpose of defending 'Merca! going on here.

 

The investigation started long before she began her campaign. I've said that Rice and Powell should be investigated, so it's a bit red herring in regards to Hillary at this point.

[knapplc]

Now we're pretending we didn't know Clinton was going to run for president in 2016? We knew she would before she was ever Sec of State. C'mon.

[Saunders]

Rice & Powell have admitted to doing exactly the same thing as Clinton. The fact that Clinton is running for office and they aren't is my point.

No, not exactly. The issue with Hillary's investigation is that it appears she may have instructed staffers to strip the headers off of classified emails and send it anyway, and deleted 30k emails before handing her server over to the feds.

 

I could be wrong, but I haven't seen anything that says Powell or Rice did that. But, if they did, then they should be thrown in jail too.

[knapplc]

Rice & Powell don't deserve jail only if they instructed staffers to strip headers, they deserve jail for sending classified information on unsecure emails. Let's not heap on the necessity for crimes here - it's a pretty basic assessment, and they've both admitted they fail the test.

[Saunders]

Now we're pretending we didn't know Clinton was going to run for president in 2016? We knew she would before she was ever Sec of State. C'mon.

Who cares if she there was a chance she would run? This was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the DOJ. This wasn't some Newt Gingrich/Ken Starr witchhunt.

[Saunders]

Rice & Powell don't deserve jail only if they instructed staffers to strip headers, they deserve jail for sending classified information on unsecure emails. Let's not heap on the necessity for crimes here - it's a pretty basic assessment, and they've both admitted they fail the test.

I didn't say "if only." You said they did the exact same thing as Hillary is alleged, which is incorrect, both in scale and egregiousness of the crime.

 

Regardless, it's becoming a tangent. Rice & Powell should be prosecuted. I'd like to keep this topic related to Hillary.

[knapplc]

 

Now we're pretending we didn't know Clinton was going to run for president in 2016? We knew she would before she was ever Sec of State. C'mon.

Who cares if she there was a chance she would run? This was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the DOJ. This wasn't some Newt Gingrich/Ken Starr witchhunt.

 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee & the House Foreign Affairs Committee are both chaired by Republicans.

 

I'm sure that's a coincidence.

 

Who cares if there's a chance she would run? The Republicans care.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, since neither Rice nor Powell are being investigated, the only thing we know they've done is to send unsecured emails. We don't know if they've asked people to strip headers, or anything equally nefarious, because nobody's asked them. I'd hold off on making a pronouncement that they haven't done the same exact thing(s) as Clinton until an investigation is conducted.

[Saunders]

 

 

Now we're pretending we didn't know Clinton was going to run for president in 2016? We knew she would before she was ever Sec of State. C'mon.

Who cares if she there was a chance she would run? This was the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the DOJ. This wasn't some Newt Gingrich/Ken Starr witchhunt.

 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee & the House Foreign Affairs Committee are both chaired by Republicans.

 

I'm sure that's a coincidence.

 

Who cares if there's a chance she would run? The Republicans care.

 

 

Also, since neither Rice nor Powell are being investigated, the only thing we know they've done is to send unsecured emails. We don't know if they've asked people to strip headers, or anything equally nefarious, because nobody's asked them. I'd hold off on making a pronouncement that they haven't done the same exact thing(s) as Clinton until an investigation is conducted.

It would be weird coincidence because the investigation started when John Kerry was head of the SFRC (followed by Bob Menendez, another Democrat), and only since 2015 was a Republican the chairman. Kerry was also one of the people sending/receiving classified info with Hillary...

 

But, the HFAC Chairman was a Republican.

[knapplc]

John Kerry's term as Chair ended in 2013. The investigation into the emails didn't start until after March, 2015.

[Saunders]

John Kerry's term as Chair ended in 2013. The investigation into the emails didn't start until after March, 2015.

You're right. She went before both committees in 2013 (post Benghazi), which was before the email investigation actually began, but was what lead to the actual start of the email investigation that wasn't until late 2014. It was Menendez, not Kerry, as chairman.

 

My bad.

[knapplc]

No worries. This story (and the focus of the investigation) has changed so much from both the prosecutors and from Clinton that it's hard to keep track. The whole thing is a disaster.

 

But the email revelation came out in March, 2015, after Menendez' term ended. Not that it really matters that much - Congress was controlled by the Republicans at that point anyway.

[Danny Bateman]

Wow, way to fight the good fight Knapp. I think people get very easily politicized around this topic and can sometimes throw objective and perspective out the window.

 

The fact that we're having this conversation about multiple former SoS's seems to indicate that the classification system makes it damn hard for them to do their job correctly. The fact that they classified a New York Times article because it was about the drone program ought to tell you what you need to know about the goofy classification system right now.

I agree that we need to just wait to see what happens with the FBI. I very much agree this is only talked about so much because she's running for President.

[Saunders]

Wow, way to fight the good fight Knapp.

 

The fact that we're having this conversation about multiple former SoS's seems to indicate that the classification system makes it damn hard for them to do their job correctly.

 

Eh, not really. A buddy and I talked about it with a former SOCOM guy that worked at MacDill here in Tampa. Regarding classified materials, he said that at every level, it's drilled into you so that there's not really much room for error. From what I gather, classified info is classified, regardless of if has a special header on it. If you know that you're discussing a classified topic, even if the relevant document doesn't say it's classified, then you make damn sure that you CYA. Ignorance isn't a defense.