On September 11, 2012, four Americans in Libya were killed in a terrorist attack at the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi.
Republicans accused Clinton of putting politics over the protection of American personnel which led them to pry into her emails.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi asked for all of the State Department’s Benghazi-related emails, but State only turned over eight from Clinton. That seemed weird, so people began asking questions.
Throughout 2014, House Republicans complained that the State Department was stonewalling them for the emails. In March 2015, the New York Times revealed why: The State Department didn’t have Clinton’s emails. It turned out Clinton had used a private email server and private account exclusively throughout the duration of her tenure as secretary of state.
Since then, there’s been something of a mad scramble for Clinton’s emails involving basically everyone and their mother. Each of the email hunters has had different incentives for trying to uncover Clinton’s emails.
- The FBI opened its investigation to learn if Clinton broke classification laws.
- Republicans in Congress, at least theoretically, want to learn more about her handling of Benghazi.
- The conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch has filed more than 20 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits over Clinton’s emails, in a move that’s hard to interpret as anything but baldly partisan.
- News outlets like Gawker, Vice News, and the Associated Press also all filed their own legal cases for Clinton’s emails in search of a better understanding of her time in the State Department.
I thought Hillary's violation of the Federal Records Act of 1950 was a big deal. Turns out it is, but it's not. For starters the head of each agency is responsible for setting up, maintaining and ensuring records are retained and stored. She was the head of the agency which is pretty funny since she was likely the worst violator. The Federal Records Act of only applies to government employees while employed by the government with the maximum punishment being termination of employment.
Because these different investigations and lawsuits are all slowly unfolding over the same time period, they’ve led to the slow drip of emails being released. Colin Powell was spot on. As soon as folks started asking about her server she should have turned it over to the FBI and said... You guys got it all and I want someone put in charge to make sure personal information is not released to the public. But instead she cherry picked what she wanted released and deleted and scrubbed the server... Three months after the courts ordered the emails be preserved.
So now I understand why the emails became an issue and why this crap has just gone on and on. Part of it is Hillary the other part is there are so many people, so many cases, etc... It's going to take years before this is over. Meaning even if she wins she is going to be weighed down by this. Toss in likely medical issues and I got one word for you:
BERNIE
