A Timeline of Lies in a Timeline of "Lies": Fact Checking the Independent Journal's Cl
- Markie Anderle
- Jul 6, 2016
- 4 min read
The FBI Director made a statement yesterday explaining to the public the result of the FBI investigation into the private email server of presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. If you didn't read the remarks, picking and choosing certain statements to triumph could appear quite damning; however, it's important to note that context is relevant.
An article in the Independent Journal came out utilizing the statement to point out five "lies" by Mrs. Clinton regarding testimony she had given about said emails. Unfortunately, as often happens when people try to utilize comments such as given by FBI Director Comey for partisan hackery, the article monumentally misconstrued the statement. Below, is a timeline of each lie in "A Timeline of Every Lie Hillary Clinton Has Told About Her Emails".
#1.
FAKE LIE: “First, when I got to work as Secretary of State, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two.”
FAKE TRUTH: The Director pointed out that Hillary Clinton used “numerous mobile devices to view and send email on that personal domain.”
ACTUAL TRUTH: I'm not sure if the people at the Independent Journal have ever used email before, but using more than one mobile device does not mean that Clinton used more than one email domain. Additionally, changing servers for convenience does not necessarily change the domain. That means that Mrs. Clinton could use one domain and change servers several times, but ultimately be utilizing the same email address. Wow, technology is cool!
#2.
FAKE LIE: “It [her email system] was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches.” (Independent Journal)
FAKE TRUTH: It turns out, however, there might have been a successful security breach on Secretary Clinton’s email. While the FBI Director that this is “unlikely,” he states that “it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account.” (Independent Journal)
ACTUAL TRUTH: This is not as much untrue as it is a serious overstatement. The FBI Director said there was a possibility that there was maybe infiltration of her system, but that there was no evidence to support that. Additionally, if there were infiltration, he noted at the end that he would have been much more likely to recommend charges against her, but he didn't. I will give them the first half of the statement though, she did use it not on State Department property.
#3:
FAKE LIE: “While I do not know what information may be ‘responsive’ for purposes of this lawsuit, I have directed that all my e-mails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or potentially were federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.” (Independent Journal)
FAKE TRUTH: According to FBI Director James Comey’s statement today, “several thousand work-related e-mails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014.” (Independent Journal)
ACTUAL TRUTH: This one is arguably the worst lie, and really makes me question whether they actually listened to or read the statement. Mrs. Clinton did turn over all work related emails. I guess the people at the Independent Journal weren't listening to the portion that discussed that SURPRISE, people occasionally delete or archive emails. The emails they had to uncover were those that had been deleted prior to the investigation and for reasons that the FBI determined were not malicious or intended to conceal. "The several thousand work related emails" were those that they found in other people's inboxes or in the complicated slack server which the FBI Director explained, but was probably deemed too complicated to note and didn't serve the Independent Journals sound bite article format.
#4:
FAKE LIE: “What I did was allowed. It was allowed by the State Department. The State Department has confirmed that.” (Independent Journal)
FAKE TRUTH: According to an official report released in May by the State Department Office of the Inspector General, the department “found no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server.” (Independent Journal)
ACTUAL TRUTH: Am I really supposed to believe that if the email server wasn't allowed by The State Department they would've been like, "Hmm this isn't allowed, but let's just not say anything?" People knew about the email server. Asking for approval and having something be allowed is different. She said it was allowed. It clearly was. Was it a mistake? Yes. But, ultimately it isn't just the fault of Mrs. Clinton, it's the fault of the people that did allow it, and I'm sure it's much more attractive for them to point blame and say that Mrs. Clinton didn't ask for approval, but if they suspected something remiss they could've indicated that much sooner.
Context is relevant. Facts are relevant. Informing the public is relevant. If I hadn't read the actual remarks, the Independent Journal article would seem particularly damning. In fact, it's not. It's a sad attempt at drumming up more noise about something that I do not disagree was an instance of malfeasance, but wasn't illegal. The Independent Journal is clearly "independent" for a reason: they are independent from the truth.
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