The Washington Examiner reports: Reince Priebus, chairman
of the Republican National Committee, said Thursday Hillary Clinton's defense
of her private email use is "crumbling" thanks to a finding from the
State Department inspector general that suggested Clinton withheld work-related
emails from the government.
"The fact
Hillary Clinton failed to turn over multiple work-related emails directly
related to the setup of her secret server is the latest indication she is
trying to hide the truth from voters," Priebus said in a statement.
"Even now, Clinton continues to repeat falsehoods discredited by
Wednesday's damning Inspector General’s report, confirming she did not comply
with federal law."
At least three emails belonging to Hillary Clinton that were
directly related to the se-up of her secret server were never turned over.
The Associated Press reports: Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton was supposed to have turned over all work-related
emails to the State Department to be released to the public.
But an agency audit found at least three emails never
seen before — including Clinton's own explanation of why she wanted her emails
kept private.
After 14 months of public scrutiny and skepticism over
Clinton's motives in keeping her State Department emails secret, new questions
emerged Thursday.
They centered on her apparent failure to turn over a
November 2010 email in which she worried that her personal messages could
become accessible to outsiders, along with two other messages from 2011 that
divulged possible security weaknesses in the private email system she used
throughout her term as secretary of state.
The Clinton campaign has previously denied that her home
server was breached, but newly revealed emails show aides worried it could have
been compromised.
The existence of these previously unreleased messages —
which appear to have been found among electronic files of four former top
Clinton State Department aides — renews concerns that Clinton was not
completely forthcoming when she turned over a trove of 55,000 pages of work-related
emails. "I have turned over all my emails," Clinton said late
Wednesday in an interview with Univision's Los Angeles affiliate. "No one
else can say that."
NYT ON OIG REPORT: “Hillary Clinton, Drowning In Email.”
The New York Times editorializes: Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency
just got harder with the release of the State Department inspector general’s
finding that “significant security risks” were posed by her decision to use a
private email server for personal and official business while she was secretary
of state.
Contrary to Mrs. Clinton’s claims that the department had
“allowed” the arrangement, the inspector general also found that she had not
sought or received approval to use the server.
But above and beyond security questions, the inspector
general’s report is certain to fuel doubts about Mrs. Clinton’s
trustworthiness, lately measured as a significant problem for her in public
polls.
This defensive posture seems at play in the email
controversy, as well as her refusal, for that matter, to release the lucrative
speeches she made to Wall Street audiences.
The reflex she is revealing again now — to hunker down
when challenged — is likely to make her seem less personable to many voters,
and it will surely inflame critics’ charges of an underlying arrogance.
In New Hampshire, the state’s largest newspaper is
blasting Hillary Clinton over the recent OIG report that exposed her lies about
her use of a secret email server to conduct government business.
The Union Leader editorializes: This week’s report from
the State Department Office of Inspector General will make it harder for
apologists to explain away the Clinton email fiasco, but they’ll keep trying.
The internal investigation shows that Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton never bothered to get approval to conduct official business
using a personal email address, and that staffers felt pressured to shut up
about their security concerns.
Clinton’s defenders point out that past secretaries also
used personal email addresses, and the OIG report finds “longstanding,
systematic weaknesses” with State’s handling of electronic records.
But that does not excuse Clinton’s unprecedented decision
to set up her own server, her failure to seek approval for her email chicanery,
or her refusal to cooperate with the State Department’s investigation.
