Hillary's Email Scandal: Law Broken With Bleach?

Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 prompted an FBI investigation into her handling of classified information. The FBI found that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of sensitive, classified information, but ultimately concluded that there was no evidence of intent to destroy evidence or obstruct justice.

Clinton's lawyers used a software program called BleachBit to delete emails from her personal server. BleachBit is a free program that wipes junk files and removes private information. Clinton's aides also used hammers to destroy some of her old mobile devices. However, it is important to note that the FBI did not find any evidence that Clinton herself used a hammer to destroy devices, and there was no evidence of intentional misconduct or intent to destroy evidence.

Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State

Clinton set up the email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York, shortly before she was sworn in as Secretary of State in 2009. She also reportedly set up email addresses on the server for her long-time aide, Huma Abedin, and State Department Chief of Staff, Cheryl Mills.

Clinton's use of a private email server became a national story in March 2015 when the New York Times ran a front-page article on the subject. The article stated that Clinton's system "may have violated federal requirements" and was "alarming" to current and former government archive officials.

Clinton defended her email use, saying that she preferred to carry only one smartphone with one email address, rather than have two devices—one for work and one for personal affairs. She also said that she had gone "above and beyond" what was required of her, and that she had turned over all relevant emails to the State Department.

However, critics argued that Clinton's real reason for setting up her own email system was because it gave her total control over her correspondence. They also questioned whether her convenience explanation was valid, given that as Secretary of State, she travelled with an extensive entourage capable of carrying additional phones.

Clinton's use of a private email server was also a cause for concern due to the potential security risk it posed. Independent cybersecurity analysts said that expert hackers can break into email servers without leaving any evidence, and that commercially available security systems are no match for government-protected systems.

The FBI investigation concluded that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of sensitive, classified information, but that there was no evidence that she had intentionally obstructed justice. The investigation found that Clinton had used numerous personal devices and several email servers during her time as Secretary of State. The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related emails that had not been turned over to the State Department, although it was concluded that these emails had been deleted prior to 2014 and were not intentionally removed "in an effort to conceal them".

Clinton's lawyers used a special tool called BleachBit to delete emails from her personal server. BleachBit is a free software program that wipes junk files and removes private information. However, the FBI found no evidence that Clinton or her aides had intentionally deleted work-related emails or obstructed justice. As a result, the FBI recommended that no charges be brought against Clinton, and the case was closed without criminal charges.

Clinton's use of a private email server was a major point of discussion during the 2016 presidential election, in which she was the Democratic nominee. Some have argued that the controversy contributed to her loss in the election.

The FBI's investigation into Clinton's handling of classified information

The FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information began as a referral from the Intelligence Community Inspector General. The investigation looked into whether there was evidence that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on Clinton's personal email server, in violation of federal statutes.

The FBI determined that Clinton's server did not contain any information or emails that were clearly marked classified. However, federal agencies retrospectively determined that 100 emails contained information that should have been deemed classified at the time they were sent, including 65 deemed "Secret" and 22 deemed "Top Secret".

The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related emails that were not among the 30,000 that were returned by Clinton to the State Department. They found these additional emails in a variety of ways, including on devices that supported or were connected to the private email domain, in the archived emails of government officials with whom Clinton corresponded, and in the slack space of a server decommissioned in 2013.

The FBI concluded that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of sensitive, highly classified information, but recommended that no charges be filed as they found no evidence that Clinton or her aides acted with criminal intent.

In October 2016, the FBI reopened the investigation after discovering additional emails pertinent to the case. However, they ultimately concluded that the newly discovered emails did not change their original findings.

The FBI's conclusion that Clinton was “extremely careless”

The FBI's conclusion that Clinton was "extremely careless" was based on the discovery of 110 emails that should have been regarded as classified at the time they were sent. A further 2,000 emails were retroactively classified, meaning they were not classified at the time they were sent but were deemed to contain sensitive information. Eight of those chains contained "top-secret" information, the highest level of government classification for material that could harm national security. A further 36 email chains contained "secret" information, and eight contained "confidential" information.

The FBI also found three classified emails among the thousands Clinton never returned to the State Department. However, the FBI did not find that Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate the law, and there was no "intentional misconduct" by her lawyers who sorted her emails.

Clinton's staff should have known that her private email was an improper place for classified information, but there was no evidence anyone had hacked Clinton's communications. The FBI did find, however, that "hostile actors" gained access to email accounts of people with whom Clinton corresponded regularly. The FBI also said she used email extensively while travelling "in territory of sophisticated adversaries."

Clinton's use of a private email server for official communications was a major point of discussion and contention during the 2016 presidential election, in which she was the Democratic nominee.

The use of BleachBit to wipe Clinton's email server

Hillary Clinton's use of BleachBit to wipe her private email server has been a highly controversial issue. Clinton used BleachBit, a free and open-source utility software, to scrub her emails. This was done after she had turned over around 30,000 work-related emails to the State Department and deleted the rest, citing personal reasons such as her daughter's wedding plans.

Clinton's actions have been criticised by many, including Republican Representative for South Carolina, Nancy Mace, who claimed that Clinton "used a hammer to destroy evidence of a private email server and classified information on that server and was never indicted". However, it is important to note that the FBI found no evidence that Clinton herself used a hammer to destroy electronic devices. Instead, it was discovered that Clinton's aides had destroyed her old mobile devices on at most two occasions.

The use of BleachBit by Clinton's team has been described as a "drastic cyber-measure" by South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy. He stated that such software is typically used when one really does not want something to be seen by others. Gowdy's comments were in response to the question of whether Clinton's emails were simply about "yoga and wedding plans".

The controversy surrounding Clinton's use of BleachBit was further fuelled by the discovery that her server was configured to allow users to connect openly from the Internet and control it remotely using Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services. This raised concerns about the security of the server and the potential risk of hacking and foreign surveillance.

While Clinton's actions have been scrutinised and debated, the FBI's investigation concluded that there was no evidence of intentional misconduct or intent to destroy evidence. However, Clinton and her aides were found to be "extremely careless" in their handling of classified information.

The destruction of Clinton's mobile devices with a hammer

Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 prompted an FBI investigation into her handling of classified information in those emails. The investigation concluded that Clinton had been ''extremely careless'' in her handling of sensitive, classified information, but ultimately found no evidence of intentional misconduct, and Clinton was not charged with any crime.

During the investigation, it was discovered that Clinton's aide, Justin Cooper, had destroyed two of Clinton's old mobile devices with a hammer. Cooper stated that this was done to avoid "putting it [the device] in the trash where someone could find it" and that it was "good practice" to destroy old devices after all data had been transferred and backed up. Cooper also said that he would obtain new BlackBerry devices for Clinton when the old ones malfunctioned and dispose of her old SIM cards.

In total, the FBI found 13 devices associated with Clinton's phone numbers and personal email addresses, eight of which were used during her time as Secretary of State. However, when the Justice Department requested that all devices be handed over, Clinton's attorneys said they were "unable to locate any of these devices".

While Clinton herself did not use a hammer to destroy the devices, the fact that her aides did so on at least one or two occasions raises questions about the potential destruction of evidence. This, along with the use of a software program called "BleachBit" to delete archived emails, has led to accusations of a double standard in the treatment of Clinton compared to former President Donald Trump, who was recently indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents.

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