“Thanks, Dennis. Can you talk this morning?” that’s all Clinton wrote in one of the classified-as-Secret emails that she sent from her server. Don’t believe me? See for yourself here on Wikileaks. Here’s how that works:

Dennis Ross, an old foreign policy hand, who started out in the Pentagon under Pres. Carter and then served under George H.W. Bush, sent Hillary an email on Sept 23, 2012 from his unclassified server. He did not mark it Classified in any way. It arrived on Clinton’s unclassified server and she read it. She hit “reply,” typed the question above and hit “send.”

Of course hitting “reply” attached Ross’s email to her one-liner and sent the combined email back to Ross. Then on Jan 29, 2016 the State Dept decided Ross’s email contained Secret information. So that meant that her 2012 reply also contained his Secret information.

Five Facts from the FBI that Debunk the Fake Email “Scandal”

1. Every single classified email sent to Clinton was sent from, and stored on, an unclassified server.
2. These came from the CIA, NSA, Defense Dept, State Dept and even the FBI.
3. Clinton contributed to only 11 of 81 classified email chains the FBI found.
4. The FBI does not mention a single example of Clinton adding any classified info to any email.
5. Not one of the 81 classified emails was marked classified in any way.

I’m still shocked by all this myself. So it’s all documented in the longer version, and I’ve highlighted & bookmarked all the key quotes in the FBI report here. But as an example, take a look at how we know #1 is true. On page 20 of the FBI Report, you’ll find:

“FBI and USIC classification reviews identified 81 e-mail chains … that were classified from the CONFIDENTIAL to TOP SECRET levels at the time the e-mails were drafted on UNCLASSIFIED systems and sent to or from Clinton’s personal server.”

So ALL 81 classified emails were drafted on unclassified systems. And, obviously, after you write the email, you hit send and your unclassified email system saves a copy of it on your unclassified email server. This and Fact #2 tells us that at least 70 out of 81 emails (and more likely all of them) broke the rule the FBI went after Clinton for BEFORE they got to Clinton’s server. 

The FBI was upset enough about this to question a bunch of the authors about why they were sending classified emails from unclassified systems. None of them denied sending from unclassified systems.

So Why Did All These Security Experts Cheat on the Rules?

They had a choice. Clinton had all the normal classified channels. She had classified emails (“cables”), classified phones and a classified fax in her office. They could have sent their information by any of these classified channels, but they specifically chose to send to her personal unclassified email account.

And they knew it was an unclassified private email account because her email address was HR22@­ClintonEmail.com. Even the stupidest spook knows government emails end with .GOV. So they all knew she was using an unclassified private server.

Susan Rice and Barack Obama in a SCIF after the 22 March 2016 Brussels attack.
(click photo to enlarge)

Why did they all choose to break the same rule (not law) that Clinton broke? One told the FBI, “because of the need to quickly elevate information at times when the intended recipients did not all have immediate access to classified e-mail accounts.” Another “stated the right method of communication was whichever method allowed for the fastest possible dissemination of the message [p.23].”

The answer: They broke the rule to get their info to Clinton faster, because it was important.

The story behind the answer: To use the classified systems you need to find a “Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility” (SCIF). There aren’t many SCIFs around, and people don’t check into their local SCIF nearly as often as they check their regular unclassified email. Especially on weekends and holidays.

As one top Justice Dept official said: “It’s common knowledge that the classified commun­ications system is impossible and isn’t used.”

But why didn’t they mark them as classified? When sending by unclassified email, you should really warn the recipient—especially since the sender knows best. But out of 81 emails not one did. (The “(C)” emails, that were partially marked, were not part of the 81 because the State Dept did not confirm they were Confidential.)

Here’s why. When you break a rule you don’t want to advertise that you know you’re breaking it. That’s why zero out of 81 were marked. They did not just slip up 81 times.

Why No One Is Going to Jail

FBI Director Comey explained it perfectly: “It takes mishandling it and criminal intent” to break the law. None of those who sent the classified information onto Clinton’s server had criminal intent. And Comey’s FBI team unanimously decided Clinton didn’t either. Not even the Republicans have dared to claim she was some kind of secret agent working for a foreign government.

Putting it All Together

Hillary Clinton is a policy wonk, but she is not a techie. She doesn’t even use a computer. She had all the cumbersome classified channels. But she wanted her UNCLASSIFIED communication to be quick and easy. With the most hectic job in the world, she needed that. And she never dreamed intelligence professionals, especially from the CIA, would be deliberately sending her unmarked Top Secret emails when they knew they were sending from their unclassified server to her unclassified server.

Clinton told the FBI, “she relied on career foreign service professionals to appropriately mark and handle classified information.” And why wouldn’t she?

Not hacked. And even though her server was only meant for unclassified information, it still seems to have withstood any hacking attempts, unlike the State Dept’s email system. That was hacked from before Nov 2014 until after Mar 2015—and it lasted over a year. It was the worst hack of any government agency. (And Clinton’s emails were in that system.)

And even the State Dept’s classified system was breached resulting in the public disclosure on Wikileaks of 251,287 classified emails starting in Nov 2010. Clinton spent much time dealing with this damage. She knows better than any FBI agent the trouble this caused, which may be why she never put classified info onto her server, while the CIA, NSA and FBI did.

Not secretive. Finally, she did not try to keep her work emails secret. Almost all of them came to her through government emails systems and so they were stored on government servers. And when they did not, like the Ross email, she made sure her staff was copied in so they would be preserved. Unfortunately the State Dept lost many of these. Were it not for her private server, we would have many fewer of her emails.

Conclusions

• Her email server was intended for unclassified communication.
• That’s how she used it.
• The CIA, NSA, FBI etc., knowingly put unmarked, classified emails onto it.
• Clinton trusted them and didn’t realize this.
• The FBI finds no evidence that she lost any of the 81 classified emails or any of the 30,000 others.
• The State Dept lost 251,287 classified emails.

There’s a new Vox.com article (11/5/16) calling “bullshit” on this whole “scandal.” It misses most of these point and it’s very long, but well worth a read.

The whole email “scandal” is just a witch hunt cooked up by Republicans to defeat Clinton. Please help debunk this. It really does matter.

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