Richard Ben-Veniste: Hillary's emails are a non-scandal

[pnwmom]

Richard Ben-Veniste was a member of the Bipartisan 911 Commission. Mr. Ben-Veniste was chief of the Watergate Task Force of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office from 1973 to 1975 and Special Outside Counsel Senate Committee on Government Operations from 1976 to 1977.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/16/hillary-clinton-email-non-scandal-column/85718386/

The pseudo-scandal over Hillary Clinton’s emails bubbled up again with the recent release of the State Department Inspector General’s report. Notwithstanding the usual hype, a close reading of the 42-page report (plus timely recommendations and appendices) reveals that the State Department system was susceptible to cyberattacks both before and after Secretary Clinton’s tenure. Some experts have suggested that Clinton’s server was as secure, and maybe even more secure, than the department’s system.

SNIP

The report notes that former Secretary of State Colin Powell used a personal email, and staff of both Secretaries Powell and Condoleezza Rice periodically used personal accounts. Tellingly, the report makes no recommendation that Secretary Clinton or any other former Secretaries be investigated or punished.

Moreover, as a senior State Department official admitted, the department did not do a good job of making sure employees understood or implemented proper regulations. In fact, some of the most useful guidance was not issued until 2013, four years after Clinton became secretary.

SNIP

The IG reported that “longstanding, systemic weaknesses related to electronic records and communications have existed within the Office of the Secretary that go well beyond the tenure of any one Secretary of State.” Given that finding, can it be considered anything other than a rational decision by Secretary Clinton to continue the use of a system for unclassified emails that had proved secure and functionally sound during her service as a United States senator, rather than risk using the State Department system?

The popular appetite for branding every controversy or disagreement as a scandal — and accepting the notion of “equivalency” as precept of objective journalism — enables partisan mischief-makers to ply their trade. Those interested in truth and fairness will take the time to examine the facts. Or, as Bernie Sanders succinctly put it eight long months ago, “Enough of the emails!”

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I have always respected Mr Ben-Veniste.

A decent gentleman.

[niyad]

2. shhh, we cannot have any sanity about the emails here!!

[Thinkingabout]

3. The emails is not an indictment issue, she made her statement, time to move along.

[NWCorona]

4. Where's the link?

[pnwmom]

5. ...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/16/hillary-clinton-email-non-scandal-column/85718386/

[NWCorona]

12. Thanks! There's a bunch of holes that are glossed over in that article.

"It is no wonder that Secretary Clinton was not the first to choose to use a personal email account instead of the sub-optimal State Department option."

Hillary's inherited a vastly improved technical infrastructure at State that wasn't improved on and in fact was in worse shape when Kerry took over.

"Also clear is that the secretary’s use of her private email account and server was no secret to department officials. "
The best evidence against this statement is the email between Huma and Clinton where Abedin suggests that the best course of action against Hillary emails from ending up in the junk folder when they are sent to others at State was to release it network wide as a known sender. They didn't do that.

"The IG reported that “longstanding, systemic weaknesses related to electronic records and communications have existed within the Office of the Secretary that go well beyond the tenure of any one Secretary of State.” "

Which deteriorated sharply under Clinton.

That said, analyst of the OIG report isn't what Hillary should be worried about.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. If this was to be a Scandal,then why

are we not looking for the 20 million E-Mails of Bush-Cheney-Rove and others have hidden. This is nothing more than the Continuation of the Arkansas Project. If Collin Powell use a RNC Server,well need we say more.

Let's get to the real issues,the American People's Needs..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Did she break the rules in having a private server?

Saying others did is a piss poor excuse. Kinda like John Dillinger saying that "A lot of other guys rob banks."

[pnwmom]

9. She followed the customary practice because no Secretary of State

had found the .gov system workable -- and neither did many of the other State employees.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Did she break the rules?

[pnwmom]

15. She didn't break any rule that had an actual penalty. She broke the same "rule"

that her predecessors had broken. Except that Colin Powell, unlike Hillary, simply deleted all his emails when he left State.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Apparantly, the rules only apply to the "little people".

[pnwmom]

17. They didn't apply to many people in State. If you arrived at a new workplace

and found there were "rules" that hardly anyone followed (and your own predecessors hadn't), and that had no penalties, and that made it difficult to do your job, would you not consider breaking those rules?

Suppose you did break them, openly and repeatedly, in a way that your boss could clearly see, and he never objected. Would you assume he had given his implied assent?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. I tried the "everybody does it" tactic a number of times.

I still got the spanking, the detention, and busted down a rank.

Didn't work with my parents, the school principle, or the military.

Actually, I couldn't care less about Hillary's email escapades. What I do care about, and the main reason I won't vote for her, is her performance and views in foreign affairs.

[pnwmom]

19. Thanks for the clarification. Objecting to her foreign views

is a valid reason for opposing her.

Based on all the information we have now, her use of emails isn't.

[kstewart33]

30. Stop it right now, pnwmom!

You're making too much sense!

[LoverOfLiberty]

20. Then move along

honestly, what is the point of going to a Democratic board to justify your position that you won't vote for the Democratic nominee?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. I'm a Democrat.

I've been one since 1965.

You?

[LoverOfLiberty]

38. I am a Democrat

who will vote for the Democrat at the top of the ticket.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

39. To each his own. You should vote for the candidate you prefer.

So will I.

[PoliticAverse]

8. Note that Ben-Veniste was Terry McAuliffe's lawyer and McAuliffe and Bill Clinton were very close

(Clinton campaigned with McAuliffe when McAuliffe was campaigning for governor).

Ben-Veniste also was Democratic counsel during the Whitewater Hearings.

[pnwmom]

10. So now people are connected through their lawyers?

[TwilightZone]

11. Well, Hillary is personally responsible for her son-in-law's decisions, so why not?

"My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Let your interlocutor believe what he or she wants.

It will make the disappointment all the more poignant.

[kstewart33]

32. And he is the second uncle removed of the third son of the sister of Chelsea's husband.

That certainly should count for something.

[choie]

21. It's not the emails, it's the server

But keep on trying to obfuscate..

[pnwmom]

24. Legally and policy-wise, it makes no difference whether she used the private

server at her house or a private commercial server like Colin Powell did.

The issue was that she didn't use the .gov server. But no Secretary of State had ever used that, and they were subject to the same rules as Hillary Clinton.

[whistler162]

26. Simpler than that.....

it is the stupidity of the whole situation on her part!

Like if Willie Sutton walked into a bank with a trench coat, slouched hat, and sunglasses with no plans to rob it.

Not illegal but dang stupid.

[Lord Magus]

27. You're the one obfuscating.

The goalpost-moving nonsense that somehow having a private server was what's problematic is just silly.

[kstewart33]

33. What do you mean?

That server served my family last night at the Cracker Barrel and we gave him a big tip!

[randome]

34. He wasn't a government-approved server, though! So your meal is now suspect. Enjoy.

[mcar]

22. K&R

[Hekate]

25. Kick and Rec

[politicaljunkie41910]

28. Has anyone at the State Dept filed away all those boxes of thousands of emails that employees had

photocopy for filing away in conjunction with the FOIA that Rachal Maddow alluded to a couple of months ago. She said that the employees at the State Dept had to make a photocopy of every email they sent and they then stuck them in a box for future identification, sorting and filing. There are now hundreds of those boxes. Someone needs to bring the State Dept into the 21st Century.

[pnwmom]

29. Hillary shipped her boxes with all her emails to the State Department,

in compliance with the rules. I haven't heard about anyone else doing that.

Colin Powell said he didn't have any to send because he deleted them all when he left office.

[randome]

31. No! This is EXACTLY LIKE WATERGATE! We've been told this and it must be true!

[840high]

35. I'll wait for the FBI to make a statement.

[Rex]

36. Shit usually sticks within 24 business hours.

Nothing has stuck, so it must be very frustrating to those that want to play dirty.

[Gothmog]

37. There will be no indictment

[Orsino]

40. Experts agree: everything is fine!

It's a scandal, all right, and unfortunately for the party, law enforcement is still dithering and/or investigating, making wild speculation inevitable. Ben-Veniste can't wish it away. If there's anything to it, we'll know when the FBI deigns to inform us.

[pnwmom]

41. Yeah, it's right up there with the Christmas card list scandal. And all the other

scandals Inspector Javert-Starr failed to prove even after several years and $70 million.

[Orsino]

42. I'm not going to dismiss it completely yet...

...but I find it hard to believe that the Obama Administration would prosecute a candidate that the president has endorsed. If there should even be a prosecution.

Choosing a fall guy is more likely, if it comes to that.

[pnwmom]

43. Obama knows the contents of the questionable emails.

If he was worried about them he wouldn't have endorsed her.

[Orsino]

44. He also knows the guy who appointed the AG.

I'm sure he's well aware of all angles.