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Hillary Clinton ran her own email servers… from home?

Hillary Clinton ran her own email servers… from home?

[Insert “imagine if this was a Republican” here]

The plot thickens.

Monday, the New York Times broke the story about Hillary Clinton’s little email problem. The former Secretary of State used a personal email account the entire time she served as DOS’s top dog. As Professor Jacobson pointed out yesterday, use of personal email for state business appears to be in violation of record keeping rules.

This morning, the Associated Press reported that not only was Clinton using a personal email account, she was running the account from servers located in her home (emphasis added):

The computer server that transmitted and received Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails — on a private account she used exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state — traced back to an Internet service registered to her family’s home in Chappaqua, New York, according to Internet records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives. It also would distinguish Clinton’s secretive email practices as far more sophisticated than some politicians, including Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, who were caught conducting official business using free email services operated by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

The AP report suggests Clinton was using the server to navigate around transparency:

Operating her own server would have afforded Clinton additional legal opportunities to block government or private subpoenas in criminal, administrative or civil cases because her lawyers could object in court before being forced to turn over any emails. And since the Secret Service was guarding Clinton’s home, an email server there would have been well protected from theft or a physical hacking.

And then there’s this ghost that ran Clinton’s servers:

It was unclear whom Clinton hired to set up or maintain her private email server, which the AP traced to a mysterious identity, Eric Hoteham. That name does not appear in public records databases, campaign contribution records or Internet background searches. Hoteham was listed as the customer at Clinton’s $1.7 million home on Old House Lane in Chappaqua in records registering the Internet address for her email server since August 2010.

Created just days before she was sworn in as Secretary of State, the evolution of Clinton’s private email is also interesting. One might even say it’s telling.

In November 2012, without explanation, Clinton’s private email account was reconfigured to use Google’s servers as a backup in case her own personal email server failed, according to Internet records. That is significant because Clinton publicly supported Google’s accusations in June 2011 that China’s government had tried to break into the Google mail accounts of senior U.S. government officials. It was one of the first instances of a major American corporation openly accusing a foreign government of hacking.

Then, in July 2013, five months after she resigned as secretary of state, Clinton’s private email server was reconfigured again to use a Denver-based commercial email provider, MX Logic, which is now owned by McAfee Inc., a top Internet security company.

Things that happened in November 2012? President Obama and Secretary Clinton received letters from House members requesting responses for oversight questions that probed the Benghazi tragedy. The Senate turned up the heat when they began pushing for a Select Committee to investigate Benghazi. But I’m sure that’s just coincidence.

Clinton and the DOS have a nasty reputation for stonewalling FOIA requests (Freedom Of Information Act).

In theory but not in practice, Clinton’s official emails would be accessible to anyone who requested copies under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Under the law, citizens and foreigners can compel the government to turn over copies of federal records for zero or little cost. Since Clinton effectively retained control over emails in her private account even after she resigned in 2013, the government would have to negotiate with Clinton to turn over messages it can’t already retrieve from the inboxes of federal employees she emailed.

The AP has waited more than a year under the open records law for the State Department to turn over some emails covering Clinton’s tenure as the nation’s top diplomat, although the agency has never suggested that it didn’t possess all her emails.

The Free Beacon’s FOIA warrior, CJ Ciaramella, wrote about the Clinton transparency problem in December when a reporter from Vice News sued the State department for failure to release records from Clinton’s tenure.

Jason Leopold, an investigate reporter for Vice News, alleges in his FOIA lawsuit that the State Department failed to give a final response to his records request and also denied his request for expedited processing. Leopold filed the request, seeking all records on Clinton maintained by the department, in November 2014.

Many news agencies and advocacy groups have been trying to get State Department documents about Clinton with little success, leading to accusations that the stonewall is politically motivated.

The AP reported in December 2014 that it had several outstanding FOIA requests on Clinton’s schedule, calendar, and other records from her four years as secretary of state. One of those requests was over four years old. The state department also rejected the AP’s request for expedited processing—a fast-track for FOIA requests afforded to journalists working on newsworthy stories in the public interest.

Regarding both Leopold and AP’s requests, the State Department determined that records on a former secretary of state who is almost surely running for president in 2016 were not in the public interest.

…Bloomberg reported in July 2014 that the State Department had failed respond to requests on travel costs for senior officials. According to Bloomberg, one of its reporters filed a FOIA request in 2012 for information on gifts to and from foreign dignitaries. After the deadline for responding to the request passed, a State Department FOIA officer told the reporter over the phone to “Go ahead and sue” before hanging up.

Fox and Friends has the run down:

An interesting tidbit buried in the AP report is Clinton’s email address itself. Despite the domain (clintonemail.com), Clinton used her maiden name. Immaterial? Probably. Interesting? Yes.

Clinton has not described her motivation for using a private email account — [email protected], which traced back to her own private email server registered under an apparent pseudonym — for official State Department business.

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Comments

Henry Hawkins | March 4, 2015 at 12:24 pm

I can’t believe there is any evidence of malfeasance, corruption, or illegalities within these emails Hillary Clinton went to extraordinary lengths to hide away from public / FOIA eyes. That would be unethical, and you don’t get to Hillary’s level being unethical.

    Humphrey's Executor in reply to Henry Hawkins. | March 4, 2015 at 12:39 pm

    and then the cow jumped over the moon.

    userpen in reply to Henry Hawkins. | March 4, 2015 at 1:17 pm

    Doesn’t matter. All the people who would’ve voted for Hillary before would vote for her now. The only ones concerned about this are people who would not have voted for anyway. That would be us and a few others scattered here and there. Our country is doomed.

    Not A Member of Any Organized Political in reply to Henry Hawkins. | March 5, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    What a Wonderful Way to SHARE with Terrorists and Iranians, and let them share their warm fuzzy feelings and big bank accounts back to you – Hillary!

Have the folks who published Palin’s emails to the world so they could be picked over up-loaded Ol’ Walleye’s emails yet?

(Yes. I’m being facetious here…)

    cbenoistd in reply to Ragspierre. | March 4, 2015 at 12:55 pm

    We’ll get to see Hillary’s Letter from God. (“Sorry, Andre 3000 in OutKast had dibs on the sweet b—h…”)

heh sort of funny, I run exchange 2013 on top of server 2012r2 here. however I am not under any obligation to provide any mails to archivists.

So, this is different from Nixon’s missing audio minutes….how?

    Anonamom in reply to iconotastic. | March 4, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    Because she’s one of the anointed ones. Duh.

    Ragspierre in reply to iconotastic. | March 4, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Scale.

    This is IMMENSE. These guys are KGB-level criminals. They actually DO what Nixon MIGHT have dreamed of doing.

    Oh, and remember that Ol’ Walleyes was kicked off her Watergate job because she was quite prepared to lie, cheat and steal to get Nixon.

    AND note the admiring tone of the AP piece quoted above. “Impressive control” and “far more sophisticated than some politicians”.

    guyjones in reply to iconotastic. | March 4, 2015 at 1:32 pm

    “Tricky Hill” Clinton? Just doesn’t have the same ring to it, LOL.

Yaknow, I think it MAY be time to revisit FOIA laws.

We could maybe graft in some teeth.

Also, we could make a few tweeks to the laws respecting record-keeping by ALLLLLLLL government employees. Like making them effective. With…you know…real penalties. I’m open to capital punishment as a matter of consideration…

Hillary had heard that the government’s (e.g., IRS) email backup process was faulty. So, she created her own home-made email backup, a decision based on ‘truthful’ Senate testimony made under oath. That’s all it is folks, nothing to see here.

Hillary: Hey, Bill, email’s down. Will you hit the ‘reset’ button? In the basement, next to the washing machine.

Bill: Can’t right now. I’m on a plane with Jeffrey Epstein.

Leona Helmsley meets Marie Antoinette. What a piece of work this vile old crone is.

    Arby in reply to guyjones. | March 4, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    Fun factoid: Leona was sent to prison for owing a lot less in back taxes than al sharpton…

      guyjones in reply to Arby. | March 5, 2015 at 12:06 am

      Plus, Leona didn’t have the distinction of being a race agitator with bloody hands and a self-anointed black “leader.” Which, these days, merit one’s being granted repeated access to the President, as well as being deemed a confidante on racial matters.

Midwest Rhino | March 4, 2015 at 1:29 pm

So the FBI will be surrounding Billary House and confiscating all data any second now, since the records of government business emails belong to we the people, and Hillary has instead hidden them in her house. And what is the British Virgin Island connection? Was her service registered there or something? Obstruct and obfuscate … the Clinton Way.

J William Leonard, former director of the body that keeps watch over executive branch secrets, the Information Security Oversight Office … “There is no such thing as personal copies of classified information. All classified information belongs to the US government and it should never leave the control of the government.”

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/03/hillary-clinton-email-revelations-why-it-matters

All her SOS business, nothing classified? Of course Hillary would prefer to release selected emails, and trash the smoking guns, if she got FOIA requests or a subpoena. The law was changed (2013?) to require business be copied to government servers, but did it ever allow her to be in sole control of what gets released, with no verification the request was fully met?

One place I read she had gone through McAfee for security at some point. John McAfee has had his own strange adventures.
life becomes an odyssey of drugs, guns, young women, corruption, the promise of a miracle antibiotic, a secret laboratory, a government raid, a murder, a manhunt, and a healthy dose of paranoia.”

Good grief, was he ever at orgy Island with Bill Clinton I wonder … just networking perhaps?

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/john-mcafee-lives-to-fight-another-day

She belongs to the party of hate, what else would one expect?

And, Chief “Dropping Bull” Fauxcahontas, aka, the demagogue and self-styled champion of the proleteriat, Elizabeth Warren, is no better. “I don’t own stock; I own mutual funds.” Thus spake Warren, attempting to assert her middle-class bona fides, but, in actuality, only demonstrating her fiscal illiteracy and pandering nature.

I’m subject to criminal penalties and potential jail time for failing to keep medical records secure, ironically thanks to hubby Bill’s HIPAA/HITECH shackles.

But she doesn’t need to prove her Official State Department emails were secure on Mr. Hoteham’s server.

Laws & rules are for the little people. Duh.

pablo panadero | March 4, 2015 at 2:01 pm

Here is the one point that stands out to me on this. No one in the White House, or State Department thought that it was prudent to remind Hillary Clinton of the need to follow the letter and spirit of the law. Thus, she surrounded herself with nothing but “yes, maam” people. This says a lot about the people she will surround herself with in the cabinet.

Bruce Hayden | March 4, 2015 at 2:40 pm

Making things even better – some of those protecting her have suggested that any relevant State department emails would show up in the emails of other State department employees, if their database of emails is searched. BUT, some of her closest advisors at State, including Mrs. Weiner, had their own clintonemail.com email accounts.

What is the motive behind the NYT and AP reporting this so aggressively? Who is the candidate they want to see rise to the top after Hillary has been ousted? If a Dem they favor has been embarrassed or accused of malfeasance, the normal pattern is to simply ignore it.

    walls in reply to gasper. | March 4, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    Hint … she makes a to-die-for Okie crab dish.

    Ragspierre in reply to gasper. | March 4, 2015 at 4:38 pm

    “Who is the candidate they want to see rise to the top after Hillary…”

    Please, in the name of gawd, WATCH those visuals…!!!

    YEEEEEeeeeuck…

I think the AP is very ticked off that they have been foiled by Clinton in their FOIL requests and now they smell blood.

Hillary has honed her skills of lawlessness just like her would be predecessor El Fiato.

Henry Hawkins | March 4, 2015 at 4:02 pm

I’m confused. Hillary Clinton used to be Secretary of State – and a senator before that. And before that she was First Lady! People with that sort of resume just don’t do these things. They’re like heroes or something and would never risk disappointing children and.. and puppies. I’m not sure I’m buying this email “scandal”. Feels like an immense starboard-aileron connivance to me.

    gasper in reply to Henry Hawkins. | March 4, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    Henry, I have to confess these old eyes read the line, “They’re like heroes . . .” as “They’re like herpes. . .” then took a closer look. The latter sounded believable, since, well, since you wrote this.

Lina Inverse | March 4, 2015 at 7:36 pm

An interesting tidbit buried in the AP report is Clinton’s email address itself. Despite the domain (clintonemail.com), Clinton used her maiden name. Immaterial? Probably. Interesting? Yes.

Depends. In the first term when Bill was governor of Arkansas, she used her maiden name and otherwise looked and it was reported acted like she was a product of the ’60s, which she was.

That term didn’t end so well, with a Republican defeating Bill, or more like both of them. After that she started putting on a mask, which eventually became pathological.

It’s just a vast right wing conspiracy.

Sammy Finkelman | March 4, 2015 at 8:42 pm

>> Eric Hoteham

The spelling Mafia strikes again!

His name actually is Eric Hothem. But they spelled it wrong to evade discovery. And so researchers won’t be certain, or even realize they are the same person. And they can still claim it is not on purpose.

Important Hint: Whenever you find somebody’s name spelled wrong, who is important enough so that his name should not be spelled wrong, it is somebody very important in deducing what happened.

They really tried to hide his connection to the Clintons.
Notice here: TWO spelling mistakes.