Experts contend that Hillary Clinton broke the law as Secretary of State, by using only personal email addresses during her entire tenure.
Brianna Keiler, CNN’s senior political correspondent at their Washington, D.C., bureau, and a former White House correspondent, spelled out the possible consequences:
“. . .A lot of experts say that she [may have broken the law] by using only a personal account while she was Secretary of State. …That means she and her aides have tremendous discretion when it comes to the preservation or handing over of documents for certain things, say Benghazi or other issues where documents may be needed.”
“This is a very big deal,” she added.
In fact, Clinton has already been criticized for using personal email addresses to derail investigations, like the one occuring over her actions during the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi on September 11, 2012–which left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.
Just two months ago, Clinton’s advisors–to comply with record-keeping practices from the State Department–sorted through tens of thousands of her emails. But, because of the personal nature of these accounts, they were able to choose which ones to send to the State Department, meaning that possibly incriminating emails could be being hidden intentionally.
The latest information on Clinton’s controversial tenure at the Department of State comes as one of her 2008 senior advisor’s email account was hacked by a hacker calling himself “Guccifer.”
The hacking revealed that Clinton sent confidential documents from a personal email at “clintonemail.com,” a domain name registered shortly after her confirmation as Secretary of State.
Hillary Clinton had no official government email address at any point during her four years in the State Department–which could cause major problems with safety and security, and, as Brianna Keiler noted, play a critical role in covering up possible scandals, like Benghazi.
Whether or not Clinton broke the rules or the law by not using a government email address, a developing scandal will hurt her carefully-orchestrated messaging in the short-term–and could even have lasting repercussions on her all-but-certain presidential campaign.
As Clinton becomes mired in possible scandal and her lock on the nomination becomes less certain, it becomes increasingly likely that another Democrat will challenge her in the presidential primaries in 2016.
