Wikileaks' Clinton Email Release: Lawful Or Not?

In 2016, WikiLeaks released a trove of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss, John Podesta. The emails, which were hacked by the Russian cyber-espionage group Fancy Bear, revealed infighting among Clinton's aides, her controversial dealings with the Clinton Foundation, and her controversial use of a private email server while Secretary of State. The release of the emails by WikiLeaks occurred during Clinton's presidential campaign against Donald Trump and may have contributed to her loss.

Clinton's private email server

During her tenure as United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton used a private email server for official communications instead of using official State Department email accounts. This decision sparked controversy and a years-long FBI investigation.

Clinton's use of a private email server was first publicly revealed in March 2013 when a hacker broke into the AOL account of former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal. However, it was not known that Clinton used her private email account exclusively for government business until a New York Times article broke the story in March 2015.

Clinton's use of a private email server was a major point of discussion and contention during the 2016 presidential election, in which she was the Democratic nominee. The controversy received more media coverage than any other topic during the presidential campaign.

The Findings

After a years-long FBI investigation, it was determined that Clinton's server did not contain any information or emails that were clearly marked as 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 emails deemed "Secret" and 22 deemed "Top Secret". An additional 2,093 emails were retroactively designated confidential by the State Department.

The FBI investigation found that Clinton had been extremely careless in her handling of sensitive, highly classified information, but recommended that no charges be filed as Clinton did not act with criminal intent. The historical standard for pursuing prosecution requires criminal intent.

Clinton's use of a private email server did not break the law, but it did violate department policies that were in place at the time.

Clinton's Wall Street speeches

In 2016, WikiLeaks published transcripts of three of Clinton's speeches to Goldman Sachs and an 80-page internal campaign document cataloguing potentially problematic portions of over 50 paid speeches. During the Democratic primary campaign, Bernie Sanders had criticised Clinton for refusing to release transcripts of speeches given to financial firms, portraying her as too close to Wall Street.

In one of the speeches, Clinton said:

> I represented all of you for eight years. I had great relations and worked so close together after 9/11 to rebuild downtown, and a lot of respect for the work you do and the people who do it, but I do — I think that when we talk about the regulators and the politicians, the economic consequences of bad decisions back in '08, you know, were devastating, and they had repercussions throughout the world.

Clinton also said:

> I think that there has to be an understanding of how what happens here on Wall Street has such broad consequences not just for the domestic but the global economy, so more thought has to be given to the process and transactions and regulations so that we don't kill or maim what works, but we concentrate on the most effective way of moving forward with the brainpower and the financial power that exists here.

In another speech, Clinton said:

> I mean, right now, there are so many places in our country where the banks are not doing what they need to do because they're scared of regulations, they're scared of the other shoe dropping, they're just plain scared, so credit is not flowing the way it needs to to restart economic growth. So people are, you know, a little — they're still uncertain, and they're uncertain both because they don't know what might come next in terms of regulations, but they're also uncertain because of changes in a global economy that we're only beginning to take hold of.

Clinton also said:

> I mean, if we're going to be an effective, efficient economy, we need to have all part of that engine running well, and that includes Wall Street and Main Street. And there's a big disconnect and a lot of confusion right now. So I'm not interested in, you know, turning the clock back or pointing fingers, but I am interested in trying to figure out how we come together to chart a better way forward and one that will restore confidence in, you know, small and medium-size businesses and consumers and begin to chip away at the unemployment rate. So it's something that I, you know, if you're a realist, you know that people have different roles to play in politics, economics, and this is an important role, but I do think that there has to be an understanding of how what happens here on Wall Street has such broad consequences not just for the domestic but the global economy, so more thought has to be given to the process and transactions and regulations so that we don't kill or maim what works, but we concentrate on the most effective way of moving forward with the brainpower and the financial power that exists here.

Clinton's 'open trade and open borders' comment

Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State sparked controversy and was a major point of discussion during the 2016 presidential election. While an FBI investigation concluded that Clinton had been "extremely careless", no charges were filed as she did not act with criminal intent.

In October 2016, WikiLeaks released a batch of emails from Clinton's private server, including one sent to Banco Itau in 2013. In this email, Clinton stated:

> "My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere."

During the third 2016 presidential debate, Clinton was questioned about this statement by moderator Chris Wallace, who asked if her "dream" was to have "open borders". Clinton responded by clarifying that she was referring to energy, and that she wanted to see the implementation of "an electric grid, an energy system that crosses borders".

The statement drew criticism from the political right, with the Republican National Committee tagging Clinton and stating:

> "The truth that has been exposed here is that the persona Hillary Clinton has adopted for her campaign is a complete and utter fraud. How can Bernie Sanders and many like-minded Democrats continue to support her candidacy in light of these revelations?"

Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, argued that the leak increased the pressure on Clinton to uphold her campaign promises and appoint individuals with a track record of challenging corporate power to key positions.

Clinton's 'public and private position' comment

Hillary Clinton's public and private positions have been a source of controversy, especially during the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton's use of a private email server for official communications as Secretary of State drew criticism and sparked an FBI investigation. While no charges were filed, the investigation revealed instances of classified information being sent through her private email, raising concerns about national security.

In 2016, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails obtained from a hack of Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta's, personal email account. These emails offered a glimpse into Clinton's private positions on various issues. Notably, she expressed the need for both a "public and private position", suggesting an awareness of the disconnect between her public image and her true beliefs.

In her private speeches, Clinton admitted to being "kind of far removed" from the middle-class upbringing she often touted on the campaign trail. She also acknowledged the importance of having both public and private positions on policy matters, stating that if everyone was aware of the backroom discussions, "people get a little nervous".

Clinton's private comments also revealed her support for open trade and open borders, a stance that contradicted her public image as a centrist. She expressed her dream of a "hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders", a position that would be anathema to mainstream American politics.

Additionally, Clinton's private speeches showed sympathy towards Wall Street and financial institutions, a far cry from her public image as a political moderate. She emphasised the need for partnerships between the government and financial industries and acknowledged the importance of their contributions to the economy.

Clinton's private positions, as revealed by the WikiLeaks emails, highlighted a disconnect between her public image and her true beliefs. This fuelled criticisms of dishonesty and reinforced the perception of her as untrustworthy, potentially impacting her presidential campaign.

Clinton's 'covert' Syrian action

In 2016, WikiLeaks released a searchable archive of over 30,000 emails sent to and from Hillary Clinton's private email server while she was Secretary of State. The emails span from June 30, 2010, to August 12, 2014, and 7,570 of them were sent by Clinton herself.

One of the emails in the leak was a forwarded document from former diplomat James P. Rubin to Clinton, offering guidance on handling the situation in Syria. Rubin's email included the line: "The best way to help Israel deal with Iran's growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad." This was misrepresented in a hoax article by Your News Wire, which claimed that Clinton had written the email and that she had ordered the war in Syria to benefit Israel. PolitiFact rated this claim as false, noting that Clinton did not write the email and that her actual policy proposals called for the establishment of a no-fly zone and "safe zones" for Syrian nationals.

In 2017, Clinton called for the United States to bomb Syrian air fields. She also said that she favoured more aggressive action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that she had advocated for a no-fly zone in Syria after leaving government.

In 2014, an email chain from August 2014 was leaked, in which Hillary Clinton's advisor, Sidney Blumenthal, wrote about Saudi Arabia and Qatar providing "clandestine", "financial and logistic" aid to ISIS and other "radical Sunni groups". The email urged putting pressure on Saudi Arabia and Qatar to end their alleged support for these groups.

In 2016, WikiLeaks obtained emails from John Podesta, chair of Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, and published over 20,000 pages of them. One of the leaked emails was from Clinton's advisor, Sandy Newman, who wrote about the need to "plant the seeds of the revolution" within the Catholic Church and to create progressive Catholic organisations to push for changes to the faith "from the bottom up". Newman's email was criticised by Raymond Arroyo, who said: "It makes it seem like you're creating organisations to change the core beliefs of the church." Professor Robert P. George added that these organisations were "political operations constructed to masquerade as [groups] devoted to the Catholic faith".

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