US Official: FBI Has Hillary Clinton Emails From Home Server

[Purveyor]

Source: Chicago Tribune


The FBI has taken possession of thumb drives containing Hillary Clinton's emails, some of which have been deemed to contain highly sensitive classified information, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter.

The official was not authorized to be quoted publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, turned over the emails after the FBI determined that he could not remain in possession of the classified information, the official said. The State Department previously had said it was comfortable with Kendall keeping the emails at his Washington law office.

The news came as Sen. Charles Grassley said two of the emails, which traversed Clinton's insecure home email server, were deemed "Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information," which is among the government's highest classifications.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-hillary-clinton-classified-emails-20150811-story.html

[magical thyme]

1. here we go again.

Those two emails were among four that had previously been determined by the inspector general of the intelligence community to have been classified at the time they were sent. The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at the time.

[former9thward]

7. You are not giving the full picture.

The Inspector General did a small sampling of 40 emails (out of tens of thousands) and found 4 that were classified. That is 10%. Apply that 10% figure to tens of thousands and you get a lot.

[magical thyme]

8. I pulled a quote from the linked article. The point is that this was highly

classified info at the time the emails were sent.

I'm aware of the math involved.

[Adrahil]

54. Was it marked that way? Who sent it?

It's clear to me that a lot of poeple here have never dealt with classified information before.

When information is created, it is not created with a "Top Secret" stamp on it. Someone has to evaluate it, and mark it. It is the originator's responsiblity to determine the classification of the data, and to mark it, and store it appropriately.

The real issue here is not that Clinton had unmarked classified information. The issue is that some folks (a lot of folks?) were not properly marking data and sending it via unauthorized means.

[MADem]

72. I was the subject of a (very brief and informal) investigation once regarding TS material.

I say "brief and informal" because I was able to shut it down in a hurry and prove the charges to be, essentially, bullshit.

I was called on the carpet in my (relatively) military youth for having access to, and conversing about, details of a foreign nation's weapon system that were not common knowledge in the world at the time (if I am sounding a bit oblique it is deliberate). My accuser believed that I had accessed and obtained information from a particular file in the SCIF and raced to screw me over by rashly accusing me of wrongdoing.

Fortunately for me, I was able to prove that I a) Did not access the file, b) Did not enter the SCIF and c) Was able to produce a foreign language newspaper discussing the very weapons system in enthused detail, with color drawings, no less. I got up on my high horse, essentially, and dropped the mic on my accuser, after calling the individual, in the most diplomatic language I could muster, the equivalent of a witch-hunting, clueless dumbfuck.

Had I not had that paper, though, and had not the tapes of SCIF access proven my point, I might have been fucked. My accuser--who was very plainly trying to cut me out of the herd with this move-- didn't have a good career after that--revenge is a dish served cold, I guess.

Not all "classified" information is really classified. Some of it you can read in the newspapers.

[OKNancy]

2. CBS site -

Hillary Clinton to hand her email server over to the FBI

Former Secretary of State Clinton has directed her staff to turn over her private email server to the Department of Justice, the spokesman for Clinton's presidential campaign, Nick Merrill, told CBS News Tuesday.

"This past spring, Hillary Clinton asked the Department of State to publish the 55,000 pages of the work emails she provided to the Department last fall. As she has said, it is her hope that State and the other agencies involved in the review process will sort out as quickly as possible which emails are appropriate to release to the public, and that the release will be as timely and transparent as possible," Merrill explained. "In the meantime, her team has worked with the State Department to ensure her emails are stored in a safe and secure manner. She directed her team to give her email server that was used during her tenure as Secretary to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her emails already provided to the State Department."

Clinton's lawyer, David Kendall, turned over the emails after the FBI determined that he could not remain in possession of the classified information, a U.S. official briefed on the matter told the Associated Press. The State Department previously had said it was comfortable with Kendall keeping the emails at his Washington law office.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clintons-lawyer-turns-her-emails-over-to-the-fbi/

------------------------------------

Some right-wing sites are spinning it like it was a raid or something and the FBI "seized" the servers.

[Qutzupalotl]

9. Thanks for the clarification.

Hopefully this will go away soon.

Granted, I am backing a different candidate at the moment, but I don't want to win by seeing Clinton get tripped up over this. She's handled it pretty well so far.

[jeff47]

16. TS/SCI means this will not go away soon.

The government is annoyed when SECRET leaks. Lots of seemingly trivial things are SECRET. SECRET would mean the email server is only fodder for some 30-second ads.

The government is really, really, really, really pissed when TS/SCI leaks.

Unless this report turns out to be wrong, this will be around for a long time. It's a big deal.

[candelista]

19. Yes it is a big deal. Here's a brief explanation of TS/SCI, aka "Above Top Secret"

For national security or intelligence jobs in the federal government, you usually need some level of security clearance. Among the highest levels is Top Secret, abbreviated TS. Additional clearances are required for TS-cleared personnel to work on certain highly sensitive programs, known as Special Access Programs. The most common of these is TS/SCI, which stands for TS/Sensitive Compartmented Information, also known as code-word information. You cannot apply for TS/SCI clearance yourself. Instead, you must be sponsored by a potential employer that wants to hire you for a job that requires you to have TS/SCI clearance

http://work.chron.com/obtain-ts-sci-security-clearance-10629.html

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. Been saying this is a big deal for awhile now and took a lot of crap for saying so. Hillary is now lawyering up in recognition that she is in deep trouble.

The bad news for Bernie is that this latest development may make it more likely that Joe Biden jumps into the race.

[Le Taz Hot]

47. Biden splits the Hillary vote.

Doesn't have any effect on Bernie.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

53. I agree, but I was assuming Hillary's indicted and, therefore, she's forced to drop out of the race. Biden is surely a bigger threat to Bernie...

than Hillary, as Biden is more attuned to the problems of the middle class and is far more affiable. I still say Bernie takes it in a close race, but his best bet is if Hillary does NOT get charged for maintaining top secret documents on an unsecured homebrew server and, though seriously wounded (self-inflicted), she stays in the race, which presumably keeps Biden out.

Of course, if Biden enters the race anyway, you're absolutely right, he splits the Hillary vote, and Bernie wins it goin away. That would be the best-case scenario; I just don't think that's likely going to happen.

But, I spose anything is possible, and either way, as long as we end up with President Sanders, I'm a happy camper.

Let's Bern this shit down!!

[ncjustice80]

57. No way she will be indicted, unless we get a rethuglican in the White House to manufacture "evidence

[Le Taz Hot]

59. Hillary will never be indicted just as the Banksters were never indicted.

Wall Street shills don't indict Wall Street shills.

[closeupready]

73. She's in the club, correct. We aren't.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

60. So have I

The FBI has taken possession of thumb drives containing Hillary Clinton's emails, some of which have been deemed to contain highly sensitive classified information, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter.

[candelista]

64. Now they can finally do a keyword search.

Before, all they had were paper copies--55,000 of them. Now why did Hillary give them paper copies, when she could have given them electronic ones?

[pnwmom]

3. Bottom line is still: anonymous source vs. Obama's State Department.

And the State Department says:

"The State Department disputes that the emails were classified at the time."

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

61. The bottom line is Hillary is in deep doo-doo.

Maybe not this very second, but very soon.

[pnwmom]

75. Why? Because she may or may not have received forwarded emails that the State Dept

disputes were classified?

[emulatorloo]

76. Because Chuck Grassley (R tool) says so

Chuck is a real truth teller. <sarcasm>

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

77. Of course not. I'm talking about when this all plays out to the repubs satisfaction.

[pnwmom]

83. It won't. n/t

[Divernan]

4. drip, drip, drip - she didn't use encryption

The inspector general for the Intelligence Committee told Congress that potentially hundreds of classified emails are among the cache that Clinton provided.

Former Secretary of State Clinton, a Democrat running for president, has faced criticism over her use of a private email address and home server for official business.

The FBI is looking into the security of the Clinton email arrangement. There is no evidence she used encryption to shield the emails from foreign intelligence services or other prying eyes.

[RufusTFirefly]

5. Oh come on! What harm could it do?

I mean, she was only the country's top diplomat. What's the big deal?

[jeff47]

6. Oh shit.

TS/SCI makes this a really big fucking deal.

[roguevalley]

10. its penny ante. its small time, her behavior. doing this is so below the

level of her office that it really rankles me and the people who say nothing to see her, its about someone and pay back piss me off. If any repug did this we would be boiling oil. I don't want someone with this little of judgment handling our business. its amateur hour.

[jeff47]

11. It was small time.

Lots of things most people would consider trivial are technically SECRET. The only real effect we could expect from SECRET is probably fodder for 30-second ads.

TS/SCI makes it big time.

[roguevalley]

13. scary, jeff47 considering as well the hacking that has compromised so many of our

agencies recently.

[jeff47]

14. Well, none of that was TS/SCI. (nt)

[blackspade]

12. Give it a fucking rest.

There are enough things that are a problem with Clinton without having to make shit up.
This is Bengazi Pt II electric boogaloo.

The M$M is pathetic.

[jeff47]

15. Actually, finding TS/SCI is a big deal.

It turns this from "fodder for some 30-second ads" into something that may be prosecuted. It also guarantees Congressional hearings.

Don't dismiss it lightly.

[peacebird]

24. Top Secret / SCI is a big deal. This is serious, if true.

You do not treat TS/ SCI info 'casually', having it stored in the clear is a HUGE effin No-No!

[Geronimoe]

17. Lets face facts

China knew everything long before anyone else. Hillary is incompetent and cannot be trusted to be President.

Back in 2008 everyone was saying Gov Sarah Palin of AK was an idiot for not using government email system and she resigned.

[ncjustice80]

18. My question is...

why is a democratic executive trying to undermine a democratic candidate? And a female one at that? Does the president not control the DOJ and FBI?

[Geronimoe]

20. Ask Bill Clinton, Nixon, Olie North, Scouter Liby

Interference of any on going investigation is obstruction of justice

[ncjustice80]

21. Clinton was the target of a right-wing conspiracy to try to remove him from office.

Trumped up bull*&^% charges. I just don't think an election year is the time to be eating our own.

[jeff47]

33. You rather she be indicted in office? (nt)

[ncjustice80]

56. I'd rather they admit this is a pretense to keep a woman out of the White House.

And drop the whole nonsense. I'd like to see who is REALLY behind it all.

[jeff47]

62. That was a tenable position before TS/SCI was found.

TS/SCI is things like "Here's the names of foreign citizens that are feeding us intelligence on their governments, who will be executed if this leaks".

It makes the situation far more serious.

[EL34x4]

22. President Obama is not a dictator

These institutions are not his personal tools to use or refrain from using at his whim.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

31. Obama is too smart to inject himself in the middle of this self-inflicted Hillary meltdown.

[ncjustice80]

55. I don't think it is a meltdown.

I think she is being targeted by people who don't want to see a woman as president.

[NYCButterfinger]

23. Good. I'm glad that Hillary gave up the server so this story can end once and for all

This is a problem that is in the news for the past five months. Hillary made the right decision to hand over the server. Now Sen. Grassley, Rep. Gowdy will stop playing political games and let Hillary campaign and introduce ideas for the American people.

[peacebird]

25. You do understand that storing TS/SCI info on an unsecured server in the clear is against the law?

Turning over the server is great, but having TS/SCI unencrypted on a private server? Yeah, not so much..... On edit - there are secure rooms where you can view most of these things, IF you have the need to know AND a clearance for the specific above TS compartment.... the vaults are impenetrable electronically so the data is secure. There are serious freaking rules about how to handle TS/SCI data.

[NYCButterfinger]

26. Yes, I know. Hillary will have to explain that

very soon before the American people find out. I hope that the situation is cleared before the first February 1, 2016 primaries.

[peacebird]

27. You do not understand. It is not for American people to forgive, it is a serious legal problem.

The rules around the handling of classified info are extremely clear. Those for TS/SCI are also.
If indeed TS/SCI was on her unencrypted private server...... Let's just say if anyone ELSE effed up this way you are talking serious jail time.

[NYCButterfinger]

29. Yeah, you're probably right. This is a big problem.

This is a big problem for the Clinton campaign. I hope it is not criminal, because if it is, the Democratic Party is going to have to find a Plan B. Bernie Sanders most likely, maybe O Malley? Gillibrand? Klobuchar? Vilsack?

[peacebird]

36. I think Biden most likely. The powers that be will feel safe then. I prefer Bernie, he works for us

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

41. My thoughts exactly. In the end, I think Bernie can beat out Joe, but it's gonna be a lot harder than besting Hillary.

Go Bernie!

[Purveyor]

42. Might explain the 'Biden in or out' noise this past week... Certainly this turnover was planned

well in advance as a courtesy.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

79. I'm an American, and I found out. 'Course, I'm a DUer, which is about .00005 of our population...

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

32. I believe improperly storing TS information that becomes disseminated is punishable as a felony.

[peacebird]

35. For us normal folks, yes. For people like Hillary (or rich connected people in general) not sure

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

39. True, but even if Hillary is prosecuted, no doubt Obama would pardon her, which maybe she deserves for all her years of govt service.

[peacebird]

40. No. Govt Service includes respecting classified info, TS/SCI is serious stuff.

If it is proven she disregarded the rules on the very highest classified material then she should suffer the consequences. And that is jail time

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

43. I agree it's serious - indeed, a potential felony - but I do think Hillary would deserve at least consideration for a pardon.

She clearly knew better than to compromise national security, but her apparent disregard of one of her primary duties as Secretary of State should be weighed against her years of public service. I say that without regard to the manner in which Hillary carried out that public service, much of which I disagree with politically, but she is deserving of consideration for a pardon none the less.

[peacebird]

44. In that case, if we are pardoning people who expose classified info for their 'public service'

Then Edward Snowden should be pardonned.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

46. I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to that either.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

80. Even if she isn't prosecuted - the republicans will make it 24/7 Fox News, and the rest of the MSM

will feel the need to follow.

[jeff47]

34. This guarantees the story will not end soon.

Unless the story is blatantly false, TS/SCI means this story will be around for a long time. There will be Congressional hearings and a serious investigation.

This is no longer a political game where we only have to worry about 30-second ads.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

81. Nice post - welcome to the funhouse!

[candelista]

28. The cull was too crude.

Hillary probably told her staff to preserve emails to and from government accounts, and delete all the others. It's a simple algorithm that deletes personal stuff.

More importantly, any emails to and from foreign governments and businesses that might possibly become embarrassing would disappear. Uranium One and UBS come to mind.

What the Hillary team didn't think of was the classified documents. Limiting the cull to government accounts still left some super top secret stuff in the cull, and this is now presenting a big problem.

The fact that neither Hillary nor anyone on her staff thought of this is something to consider in evaluating the entire Hillary campaign.

[restorefreedom]

37. it certainly seems to speak to judgement

i hate to be on the same side as republicans on, well, anything, but this is non partisan imo. and it involves info and communications that should not be compromised.

sounds like it could be an issue going forward.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

82. If this was the only account she used, predominately...

Then she had to know people would be sending her emails with classified information in them. Hell, have her job was classified. Not looking good for Hill.

[Truprogressive85]

38. I'm puzzled

Why not give everything from the beginning?

People are going to start ask why did she have thumb drives of highly sensitive emails ?

Those polls numbers are going to start to take a dip soon

[MannyGoldstein]

45. This continues to be the craziest thing I ever heard of

Hillary used an unsecure, then lightly-secure, personal email account from a server in her basement so she wouldn't have to use two phones. But other cabinet members had secure work and personal accounts on the same phone, so Hillary's excuse seems odd.

Jeopardizing national security to what end?

As to the State Department email sucking... perhaps she could have rung up the person in charge of the State Department and got them to fix it.

[joshcryer]

49. Her obsessively private nature.

To the point of paranoia. Watch Clintons: American Experience. Read articles on Diane Blair's (Hillary Clinton's close confidant and friend) diary.

I understand why she did it but she'll never admit to that. She'll probably claim that since she was using a private server she didn't even get hacked like the White House and like the Pentagon did.

[joshcryer]

48. I knew she didn't "delete them."

There were always going to be copies. She pulled the "we deleted them" gambit to avoid a subpena of her personal correspondence.

[candelista]

65. These aren't the ones she deleted.

These are electronic versions of the paper copies she already turned over. The other 30,000 were the ones she wiped.

[vadermike]

50. Ugh

We are fucked .. Go Bernie ! I suppose... The DNC better have a plan b c and d

[napi21]

51. So, were these "classified emails" included in those already turned over to the State Dept?

ALL the emails still remain on her server. Since she already turned over 50,000 of them deemed State Dept. business, the concentration should be on any that were NOT and still deemed confidential. This sounds like another witch hunt to me.

[dgibby]

52. If I'm reading this correctly,

the emails in question here were on thumbdrives in her lawyer's office. I don't think they were among the 50,000 she'd already turned over.

I support Bernie, but I sincerely hope this is just a tempest in a teapot, and nothing else. I do know from my 22 years in the Navy that breach of security, esp. at this level, can land you in Fed prison. My security clearance was issued on a need to know basis, and was dropped whenever I wasn't actively working on a project requiring clearance.

[candelista]

66. Yes.

But the rest of your post is problematic. All the emails DO NOT still remain on her server. She did not turn in 50,000 of them. She turned in 55,000 paper pages (hard copies) of about 30,000 emails. The other 30,000 "personal" ones are gone. She deleted them from the server.

[napi21]

71. Aren't they still recoverable?

I'm sure no guru, but I've read many times that when you delete something, it's NOT really gone and can still be recovered from the hard drive.

[candelista]

90. I'm sure they are not recoverable.

You're right about the normal "delete" function. It just moves the data to another part of the drive where it will eventually be overwritten.

But if she used a program such as Gutmann, which overwrites the data 39 times with random characters, it is next to impossible to recover the original data.

If next-to-impossible was not enough, the original disk may have been destroyed and replaced with a new one.

That's the route I would go if I were Hillary. But thank God I am not in her shoes.

She's a tragic character, and her tragic flaw--her need for power and control--is leading to a tragic outcome.

[itcfish]

58. So What?

I am getting tired of this non-scandal.

[jeff47]

63. TS/SCI is things like

"Here's the foreign citizens feeding us intelligence. Btw, they'll be tortured and executed if this list leaks".

Or "Here's how our nuclear weapons work".
Or "This is exactly how we will invade _____ if we have to".

It's the serious stuff. We don't know what specific stuff is in the emails, but nothing in TS/SCI is trivial. Trivial is what SECRET is for.

Assuming this story is true, it turns this "scandal" from something that only feeds 30-second TV ads into something that could actually land Clinton in prison.

[Turin_C3PO]

67. I hope this turns out to be nothing.

I mean it. I support Sanders but in the greater likelihood that Clinton ends up the nominee, I don't want the Republicans to have any ammunition.

[jmowreader]

74. This is bigger than Hillary

Someone misclassified this material and sent it to her basement server, so there are a BUNCH of people whose heads should be on the anvil.

[cosmicone]

78. I feel like I'm on Free Republic

watching supporters of a certain candidate having a continuous orgasm over this non-information put out by RW groups.

She is a DEMOCRAT who has served this country for decades damnit ... have some decorum.

[Metric System]

86. Wasn't the information in the emails classified as TS after the fact?

[madville]

89. Doesn't matter

Even if it was classified after it was sent or received, she and her lawyer as far as we know were still in possession of copies of it and improperly storing them without the necessary security clearance.

This could get ugly and it will really depend how much the DOJ under the President's authority either wants to protect her or not.

[cosmicone]

88. Dear holier than thou low post count poster

You seem to be the prosecutor, jury, judge and executioner; handing out a sentence even before any investigation has even started.

Here are the basics: Like other Secretaries of State who served before her, Hillary used a personal email address, and the rules of the State Department permitted it. She's already acknowledged that, in hindsight, it would have been better just to use separate work and personal email accounts. No one disputes that.

The State Department's request: Last year, as part of a review of its records, the State Department asked the last four former Secretaries of State to provide any work-related emails they had. Hillary was the only former Secretary of State to provide any materials -- more than 30,000 emails. In fact, she handed over too many -- the Department said it will be returning over 1,200 messages to her because, in their and the National Archives' judgment, these messages were completely personal in nature.

Hillary didn't send any classified materials over email: Hillary only used her personal account for unclassified email. No information in her emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them. She viewed classified materials in hard copy in her office or via other secure means while traveling, not on email.

What makes it complicated: It's common for information previously considered unclassified to be upgraded to classified before being publicly released. Some emails that weren't secret at the time she sent or received them might be secret now. And sometimes government agencies disagree about what should be classified, so it isn't surprising that another agency might want to conduct its own review, even though the State Department has repeatedly confirmed that Hillary's emails contained no classified information at the time she sent or received them.

To be clear, there is absolutely no criminal inquiry into Hillary's email or email server. Any and all reports to that effect have been widely debunked. Hillary directed her team to provide her email server and a thumb drive in order to cooperate with the review process and to ensure these materials were stored in a safe and secure manner.

You need to show some level of decorum and decency here.

What about the Benghazi committee? While you may hear from the Republican-led Benghazi committee about Hillary's emails, it is important to remember that the committee was formed to focus on learning lessons from Benghazi to help prevent future tragedies at our embassies and consulates around the globe. Instead, the committee, led by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, is spending nearly $6 million in taxpayer money to conduct a partisan witch-hunt designed to do political damage to Hillary in the run-up to the election.

Hillary has remained absolutely committed to cooperating. That's why, just as she gave her email server to the government, she's also testifying before the Benghazi committee in October and is actively working with the Justice Department to make sure they have what they need. She hopes that her emails will continue to be released in a timely fashion.

It's worth noting: Many of the Republican candidates for president have done the same things for which they're now criticizing Hillary. As governor, Jeb Bush owned his own private server and his staff decided which emails he turned over as work-related from his private account. Bobby Jindal went a step further, using private email to communicate with his immediate staff but refusing to release his work-related emails. Scott Walker and Rick Perry had email issues themselves.

The bottom line: Look, this kind of nonsense comes with the territory of running for president. We know it, Hillary knows it, and we expect it to continue from now until Election Day.

[Beacool]

85. That's why I don't come here very often anymore.

I have repeatedly said over the years that this place is the mirror image of Free Republic, the extremes of either party. They treat the Clintons as evil incarnate and believe that a "Democratic Socialist" (as he calls himself) in his mid 70s has an actual chance to win the general election.

So, to avoid getting stressed, I check this site perfunctorily and respond to the occasional post. It helps me keep calm.