Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, responded to the news that Hillary Clinton plans to turn over her email server to the Justice Department, in response to an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information by the former secretary of state. (VIDEO)
The move by the Bureau comes following the reports that the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General discovered four classified documents, to date, among those released by Clinton–two of which are “top secret,” the highest security classification.
As reported by Western Journalism, Clinton stated during a press conference in March: “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material.”
Clinton’s campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said that “She directed her team to give her e-mail server that was used during her tenure as secretary to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her e-mails already provided to the State Department.” Merrill added: “She pledged to cooperate with the government’s security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them.”
Fox News’ Bill Hemmer asked Gowdy on Wednesday morning if he expected full cooperation from Clinton now. “It’s hard not to laugh when I hear that,” Gowdy responded. “I know he’s in the business of being paid to say absurd things, but if that really was his intent and her intent, why did they set up this unprecedented email arrangement?”
“Why did she keep the emails for 20 months after she left the Department of State?” the congressman continued. “She did not turn them over then. Why did she delete emails after 20 months? Did all of the sudden she decide after 20 months, ‘This is too burdensome for me to keep a bunch of emails on my server, so let me not only delete them, but wipe the server clean.’
“If she were interested in cooperation, she would not have done any of the things she has done to date. This is not about cooperation. This is not about convenience. It’s about control. She wanted to control access to the public record. And she also got away with it, but she didn’t,” said Gowdy.
Hemmer asked Gowdy if Clinton’s alleged mishandling of classified information fit the same category as that for which Gen. David Petraeus was prosecuted and convicted.
“The same rules ought to apply irrespective of their station in life. So I am going to have to count on the [FBI] and [its director] Jim Comey, who has a reputation for evenhandedness and fairness. The same folks who investigated and prosecuted Gen. Petraeus are looking into the current allegations with respect to classified information. If the facts are the same, I would expect the result to be the same,” he replied.
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano believes Clinton’s breach is far more serious than Petraeus’. He said: “In his case it was ‘confidential’ materials, which is the lowest level of classification. In her case it is ‘top secret’, which is the highest level of classification.” In the case of Petraeus, the documents were in his home, while Clinton’s were on her personal server, making them vulnerable to hacking.
Gowdy released a statement Tuesday highlighting the severity of the former secretary of state’s actions.“This is a serious national security issue, and the seriousness of it should transcend normal, partisan politics.”
No comments:
Post a Comment