Why Hillary's Email Lies Don't Hold Water

This article first appeared in Eagle Rising.

Indications are the FBI case on Hillary Clinton is  getting closer to a completion, at least as far as the emails are concerned.  Immunity has been granted to Bryan Pagliano, the State Dept. employee who set up Clinton's private email server. Rumors are swirling that a grand jury has been empanelled and that agents are preparing to sit down and interview Mrs Clinton herself along with the other principles, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, and Jake Sullivan. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sullivan himself offered immunity, and if so, he would be crazy not to accept it and cooperate. Just from what we already know from the emails that the State Department has released, over 2,000 emails contained classified information, some at the highest levels of classification (Special Access). Meanwhile, the FBI is still trying to retrieve (if they haven't already) some 34,000 emails Clinton said she deleted because they were personal in nature. There is also the investigation into the questionable dealings of the Clinton Foundation and whether Hillary used her position to enrich her family and the foundation.

Given the fact that DOJ aggressively went after General David Petraeus over his careless handling of classified information with his biographer and girl friend, the Justice Department will be hard pressed to explain why Clinton should not be charged for a much more egregious violation that went on for four years. Before this is over, we may also be talking about perjury (before Congress), destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, Mrs Clinton continues blithely (at least on the surface) along with her presidential campaign insisting she did nothing wrong, it was all authorized, and that she never received or sent classified information- later changed to anything classified at the time it was received or sent. Here is why that does not hold water: I am basing this observation on my own experience. During my DEA career, I spent  three years stationed at the American Embassy in Bangkok (1975-78) and five years at the American Consulate in Milan (1982-87). All of our communications (cables at that time) were run through the State Department communication system with all of their pertinent classifications. I handled classified documents on a daily basis during those years.

Now imagine the secretary of state herself. First of all, we know that she never had a DOS system set up for herself, an astounding revelation. Virtually all of her daily business was conducted through her own email server without the required security controls. She insists that nothing she sent or received was classified in nature-at least at the time it was sent or received.

In other words, according to her story, she never handled anything that was classified, sent, received, or otherwise for her four-year tenure as secretary of state! It's impossible on its face.

Aside from intelligence agencies like the CIA and NSA, I can think of no other government agency that deals more in classified material than the State Department. Imagine all the world events that were going on during Mrs Clinton's tenure; relations with Russia, the Arab Spring, Egypt, Libya etc. not to mention the Benghazi attack. And this woman would have us believe that she spent four years sending emails about her yoga classes and Chelsea's wedding?

Thus far, all we have is what the State Department has (pursuant to a judge's order) gone through (55,000 documents) of which 2,000+ have been deemed classified. Those were from Hillary's private server-a violation in itself. Then we have some 34,000 that were deleted, which the FBI is working to retrieve. So where are the thousands upon thousands of classified communications that Clinton sent (or should have sent) through authorized and secure State Department channels? Any secretary of state would be sending or receiving dozens of such emails a day. The Italians have a saying for it: C'e qualcosa che non quadra." (There is something that doesn't square.)

Deducing from her protestations, Mrs Clinton would have us believe that she was nothing but a figurehead secretary of state merely traveling around the world for photo-ops with foreign leaders while her underlings made all the decisions. Maybe she thinks the American people are ready for a figurehead as president who goes out and plays golf 7 days a week.

The real treasure trove will come from the deleted emails if the FBI can retrieve them. I am betting they will contain communications about Benghazi, the fake video story line, and people doing business with the Clinton Foundation. That is what Hillary is truly desperate to hide. It appears they were not among the 55,000 that the State Department searched through. Where are they?

Hillary's lies are shining through and through for anybody with half a brain cell to see. I cannot believe that in four years as secretary of state, only 2,000 emails have emerged that were classified in nature, emails from her personal server no less. For her to say that she never received or sent material that was classified in nature -at the time or otherwise- while never utilizing the authorized State Department system of communication is to say she never served as secretary of state.

It just doesn't hold water.