Clinton can't shake email questions

Editorial: Clinton can't shake email questions

The Register's editorial

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Brian Powers/The Register

Hillary Clinton speaks during the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, IA on Friday, August 14, 2015.

Hillary Clinton has tried a number of strategies to fend off questions about her using a private email server when she was secretary of state. So far, none of them seem to be working.

Maybe that’s because she has failed to exhibit evidence that she appreciates the gravity of the matter. Instead, she waves off questions as the work of feverish reporters and politically motivated critics.

An example of Clinton’s dismissive approach occurred last week in Las Vegas when she was asked by reporters about the emails. “We turned over everything that was work-related,” she said. “Every. Single. Thing.”

Well, not quite everything: Clinton directed her staff to turn the email server’s hard drive over to the FBI, but that was only after 30,000 “personal” email messages had been deleted. When asked if she “scrubbed” the server, which means not just deleting but removing all traces of messages, she bristled, and said: “You mean with a cloth?” and protested that she doesn’t understand how such things work.

To reporters who continued to pepper her with questions about emails, she said, “Nobody talks to me about it other than you guys.”

That is demonstrably not so.

Indeed, the U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and the U.S. Inspector General for the Intelligence Communities are investigating the likelihood that Clinton’s emails contain considerable amounts of classified government information. Members of Congress — including Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley — have demanded answers from Clinton and her lawyer. And several independent government watchdog groups have been highly critical of Clinton’s practice.

As well they should be. Federal law and regulations are explicit that all official communications by government employees are government records. That includes every form of electronic communication, whether it be email, phone texts or other messaging programs.

Although government employees do occasionally use their personal email accounts for some official business, the practice is discouraged and those communications are still considered official government records. Government agencies must have access to communications that occur on private email accounts, in part to be open to the public though the Freedom of Information Act and in part to be saved for posterity in the National Archives.

That is impossible if a public official exclusively conducts government business on a private email account.

It appears Clinton was unique in setting up her own email server in the family home in Chappaqua, N.Y., which also raised questions about national security : It’s fair to say that a private server would likely be more vulnerable to hackers than a secure State Department email account. Security questions were also raised when it turned out Clinton’s personal lawyer had tens of thousands of her email messages on thumb drives kept in a safe in his Washington, D.C., law firm.

This much is certain: None of these questions will go away anytime soon. So, Clinton should drop the pretense that they are simply the exclusive concern of pesky reporters and her political enemies. She should be prepared to answer — again and again and again if necessary — questions that will inevitably come up on the campaign trail.

In answering those questions, she must be clear that she gets the need for accessibility of communications by public officials in the federal government. Finally, she should stress that, if elected president, she is prepared to run an administration that is open and transparent to the American people.