6 Clinton Contradictions Exposed by State Departments Audit

Colin Powell did not do the same thing and she did not have permission By Sarah Westwood Hillary Clintons email controversy was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday with the release of a State Department Inspector General report that revealed new details about the server she kept in her home. While the former Secretary of States campaign team was quick to downplay the results of the year-long audit its publication could force Clinton to confront a number of inconsistencies in her past statements that were laid bare by the 83-page report.    Her private email use remains under investigation by the FBI. 1. She had permission and everybody knew Since last spring Clinton has responded to concerns about her emails by assuring voters that everything she did was permitted. Her usage was widely known to the over 100 State Department and U.S. government colleagues she emailed consistent with the practice of prior Secretaries of State and permitted at the time says a statement on her campaign website. But the inspector general report indicated Clinton had never sought permission for her unusual email arrangement. Secretary Clinton had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business with State Department offices who in turn would have attempted to provide her with approved and secured means that met her business needs the report said noting that agency officials did not and would not approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business because of the restrictions ... and the security risks in doing so. A State Department spokesman said Wednesday that while people were aware of her use of personal email ... no one had a full and complete understanding of the extent to which Clinton used a private account. 2. She would cooperate with any investigation Clinton said earlier this month she is more than ready to talk to anybody anytime about her personal email use. In April she told MSNBCs Chuck Todd she was willing to address any lingering uncertainties regarding her record-keeping. Back in August we made clear that Im happy to answer any questions that anybody might have and I stand by that she said at the time. However the inspector general noted in its report that Clinton and her top aides refused to meet with the State Department watchdog to answer questions. Of 26 questionnaires sent to Clintons staff only five were ever returned. 3. Colin Powell did the same thing Clintons team has long defended the former secretarys decision to forego use of a State Department email address by arguing others in her position had done the same particularly Colin Powell. My predecessors did the same thing and many other people in the government Clinton said during a Democratic primary debate in March. The Clinton campaign seized on reports in February that Powell had been contacted by the FBI as part of its investigation into private emails that contained classified information. Powell had reportedly received two sensitive emails classified at the lowest level during his time at State. By contrast Clinton had more than 2000 classified emails on her server with dozens classified at the secret and top secret level. Clinton also set up and maintained her own email network hosted on a server in her basement while Powell simply used a commercial account. Unlike Clinton Powell agreed to be interviewed for the inspector generals report. He told the watchdog he sometimes used a personal account due to restrictions during his tenure on communicating via email with individuals outside the State Department using an official account. The inspector general noted policies governing email usage were very fluid at the time Powell worked at State. By Secretary Clintons tenure the Departments guidance was considerably more detailed and more sophisticated the inspector general wrote. 4. It wasnt against the rules In July of last year Clinton told CNN her private email use was not problematic because there was no law there was no regulation prohibiting her from using a personal account. She has repeatedly argued that her record-keeping practices were above board. However the inspector general concluded Clinton did indeed violate rules that were in place at the time she served as secretary of state. Secretary Clinton should have preserved any federal records she created and received on her personal account by printing and filing those records ... because she did not do so she did not comply with the departments policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act the report said. 5. She turned over all her emails Clinton said in a press conference in March of last year during which she addressed the email controversy for the first time that she provided all my emails that could possibly be work-related to the State Department. But the inspector general highlighted gaps in Clintons emails that suggested some official communications did not make it into the batch of 55000 pages of records Clinton gave the agency. According to the watchdog those pages included no email covering the first few months of Secretary Clintons tenure from January 21 2009 to March 17 2009 for received messages; and from January 21 2009 to April 12 2009 for sent messages. The inspector general discovered multiple instances in which Secretary Clintons personal email account sent and received official business email during this period. 6. Her server was safe from hackers Clinton and her allies have long argued her private email use did not put any government information at risk because her server was not vulnerable to attacks. During an October interview with 60 Minutes President Obama publicly dismissed the suggestion that Clinton jeopardized national security information.

We have no indication that the email was compromised the account was compromised or hacked in any way a State Department spokeswoman said in March 2015.

Were not aware of any evidence whatsoever that the server was hacked said Brian Fallon Clintons campaign spokesman a year later.

However the inspector general did provide evidence that at the very least attempts had been made to hack into Clintons server. Whether those hackers were ultimately successful fell outside the scope of the audit. The inspector general cited a March 2011 classified memo that was sent directly to Clinton warning of a dramatic increase since January 2011 in attempts by redacted cyber actors to compromise the private home e-mail accounts of senior Department officials. State Department technology officials noted Secretary Clinton never demonstrated to them that her private server or mobile device met minimum information security requirements. A State Department spokesman acknowledged Wednesday that hack attempts were made on Clintons server and could not conclude with certainty that those attempts were unsuccessful.