The Clinton camp has a new talking point for responding to questions about how Hillary Clinton handled her email while she was secretary of state. This is how one Clintonista put it in The Hill:
"There was not one single accusation of wrongdoing alleged against Hillary Clinton and her use of email."
Let's translate that into regular English. What the Clinton camp is actually now saying is that there have been no formal criminal charges brought against Hillary. To that extent, they are correct, but it doesn't provide an answer to the issue.
First of all, let's remember that the Obama FBI is now investigating and demanded that Clinton and her lawyer turn over all copies of her emails as well as the computer server where they were kept. This is no political witch hunt, since it comes from fellow Democrats, not from any political opponents. The FBI does not spend its time investigating areas where there are no indicators of serious wrongdoing.
Second, the standard for bringing criminal charges against someone is much different from the issue of whether or not someone has been accused of wrongdoing. Most Americans understand that. Before Hillary would be charged, the FBI would need to find evidence that she kept classified material on her private and unsecured email server. Alternatively, they would have to find evidence that the classified information on the server was altered and that there is some proof that the alteration was done at Hillary's direction. They could also find that there are many emails related to Hillary's work as secretary of state that were deleted from the batch turned over to the State Department, thereby making Hillary's sworn statement false (which would be perjury).
Third, consider what this latest response boils down to. Hillary is now saying that all is okay because no one has indicted her yet. I don't think that will appeal to many of America's voters.
"There was not one single accusation of wrongdoing alleged against Hillary Clinton and her use of email."
Let's translate that into regular English. What the Clinton camp is actually now saying is that there have been no formal criminal charges brought against Hillary. To that extent, they are correct, but it doesn't provide an answer to the issue.
First of all, let's remember that the Obama FBI is now investigating and demanded that Clinton and her lawyer turn over all copies of her emails as well as the computer server where they were kept. This is no political witch hunt, since it comes from fellow Democrats, not from any political opponents. The FBI does not spend its time investigating areas where there are no indicators of serious wrongdoing.
Second, the standard for bringing criminal charges against someone is much different from the issue of whether or not someone has been accused of wrongdoing. Most Americans understand that. Before Hillary would be charged, the FBI would need to find evidence that she kept classified material on her private and unsecured email server. Alternatively, they would have to find evidence that the classified information on the server was altered and that there is some proof that the alteration was done at Hillary's direction. They could also find that there are many emails related to Hillary's work as secretary of state that were deleted from the batch turned over to the State Department, thereby making Hillary's sworn statement false (which would be perjury).
Third, consider what this latest response boils down to. Hillary is now saying that all is okay because no one has indicted her yet. I don't think that will appeal to many of America's voters.
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