Hillary Clinton’s myriad statements explaining her exclusive use of personal email for official business while secretary of state are coming under heavy fire from all sides in the wake of a damaging inspector general report – and her campaign’s insistence the report proves her practices were nothing unusual is being met with similar criticism.
Top Republicans from presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump to House Speaker Paul Ryan slammed Clinton over the report, accusing her of breaking agency rules to “serve her own interests” and putting security at “risk” in the process. But aside from shows of support from Democratic allies on Capitol Hill, other prominent voices in Washington were similarly unsparing toward the Democratic presidential front-runner.
The headline on The Washington Post’s editorial Thursday blared, “Clinton’s Inexcusable, Willful Disregard For The Rules.”
The board wrote that the State Department inspector general audit makes clear her email use “was not a casual oversight,” and Clinton “ignored” repeated warnings to use official communications.
In March 2015, Clinton described her email set-up as a “matter of convenience,” and insisted, “It was allowed.”
But the report, which was formally released Thursday, said investigators found no evidence Clinton “requested or obtained guidance or approval” to conduct official business on her personal email account or server despite having an “obligation” to discuss this. The report said had she notified the appropriate offices, they would not have approved her “exclusive reliance” on a personal account.
The audit said employees also were instructed to use “approved, secure methods” to send information known as “sensitive but unclassified” – yet emails on Clinton’s account “regularly contained information marked as SBU.”
After details of the report first circulated on Wednesday, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon issued a statement pointing to “longstanding” problems with department recordkeeping and describing Clinton’s practices as “consistent” with those of her predecessors. The statement echoed Clinton’s claims throughout the campaign, holding up the IG audit as proof.
"While political opponents of Hillary Clinton are sure to misrepresent this report for their own partisan purposes, in reality, the Inspector General documents just how consistent her email practices were with those of other Secretaries and senior officials at the State Department who also used personal email,” he said. “… But as this report makes clear, Hillary Clinton's use of personal email was not unique, and she took steps that went much further than others to appropriately preserve and release her records."
Fallon later told Fox News that regulations did not bar using personal email for work purposes, again noting that other officials had done so going back years.
The report did say the department long has had issues with email records, and “email usage and preservation practices varied across the tenures of the five most recent Secretaries.”
But the report highlighted Clinton’s practices as out of the ordinary, especially for someone at her level – and coming into the job as new guidance was being issued. The IG found only three cases where officials used non-department accounts “on an exclusive basis for day-to-day operations.” Just two of those cases involved secretaries of state: Colin Powell and Clinton.
And the report noted that during Clinton’s tenure, the guidance was “considerably more detailed and more sophisticated” than in the past. Yet she still defied the guidelines.
Further, while Clinton has said she’s happy to talk to “anybody, anytime” about the issue, the report said she declined an OIG request for an interview, though her predecessors made themselves available. Aides Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills and Jake Sullivan also declined interviews with government investigators.
Regulations show they were essentially required to help the inspector general, who has broad powers to compel testimony.
On another front, Mills also reportedly has asked a federal judge to intervene and prevent any recordings of her scheduled deposition to a conservative group about the email system from being released.
The IG report also showed department staffers shielding Clinton’s set-up from scrutiny.
The report said two staffers said they discussed their concerns in 2010 with officials, but were told Clinton’s personal system had been approved “and the matter was not to be discussed any further.” One staffer said a top official with Information Resource Management “instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.”
Clinton, too, was personally involved in the decision-making. In November 2010, Clinton aide Abedin emailed Clinton about the possibility of getting her on an official email account. Clinton responded, “Let’s get separate address or device but I don't want any risk of the personal being accessible."
The report also raised questions about security risks, pointing to one message from an adviser that acknowledged her system was “attacked” in 2011, though it apparently failed.
But perhaps the most explicit violation pertained to recordkeeping rules.
The report said Clinton “should have preserved any Federal records she created and received on her personal account by printing and filing those records with the related files in the Office of the Secretary. At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department business before leaving government service.”
She did not, the report said, and therefore “did not comply with the Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said “she was in clear violation of the Federal Records Act.”
In this case, the inspector general report faulted Powell for the same violation.
Fox News’ Catherine Herridge and FoxNews.com’s Judson Berger contributed to this report.
电邮门,FBI问了希拉里三小时 下一步恐成大选震撼弹(图)
文章来源: 世界日报 于 2016-07-03 09:46:23 - 新闻取自各大新闻媒体,新闻内容并不代表本网立场!
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联邦调查局对喜莱莉「电邮门」进行的调查,不论结果如何,都可能伤害她竞选总统的大计。图为喜莱莉于6月28日在洛杉矶出席会议。(路透)
联邦调查局探员2前往喜莱莉在华府的家裡调查电邮门事件。图为安全人员在喜莱莉住家外值勤。(美联社)
喜莱莉?柯林顿接受联邦调查局探员问话,使她使用私人电邮伺服器的做法受到的调查更接近终结。调查人员将把问话结果,与他们掌握的资料加以比对,在未来数周结束调查作业。如喜莱莉受到联邦起诉,可能对大选造成空前震撼。
司法部长林奇为了避嫌保证接受调查团队的建议,使负责调查的司法部职业检察官以及共和党籍的联调局长柯梅的态度更受注意。
联调局必须对正式的起诉建议做决定,而关键问题在于喜莱莉的伺服器和她的做法是否违反处理机密的法定标准。
一些观察家把本案与前中央情报局长裴卓斯处理机密不当事件拿来比较。据悉联调局原来要求对裴卓斯控以可能判处徒刑的更严重罪名,可是当时的司法部长霍尔德将其减为行为不检轻罪。
喜莱莉若被起诉,起诉本身在技术上并不会使喜莱莉失去参选、获得党提名或当选总统资格,可是她不论是在接受党提名之前或之后受到起诉,都会受到极大的退选压力。
如在党代会前提出起诉,而喜莱莉因此退选,党代表将能摆脱既有承诺和约束,另外支持别的人选。这并不表示桑德斯能够自动取而代之,民主党也可能推出别的人选。
在党代会后才出现起诉行动则发展难料,民主党可能另推人选,而观察家表示喜莱莉挑选的副总统人选可能顺势扶正。
不论调查结果如何,喜莱莉一直到11月大选都无法摆脱其阴影,甚至到大选过后都还无法高枕无忧。
喜莱莉有可能自己不会面对大陪审团,可是她的一些亲信助理却可能为主子扛罪。
联调局也有可能建议起诉,而林奇儘管保证不干预,到时候却拒绝提出起诉或减轻罪名。
鑑于本案涉及浓厚政治意味,这种情况可能导致办案人员高调辞职。
喜莱莉于去年3月在纽约联合国总部的记者会上承认,当初任国务卿时,为图方便而未使用官方的电邮帐号。(Getty Images)
正竞选总统的喜莱莉?柯林顿,2日就她担任国务卿时私设伺服器和完全使用私人电邮帐户的问题,接受联邦调查局长达三个半小时的问话,显示联调局对电邮门持续将近一年的刑事调查,可能已进入最后阶段,即将做出决定。
联调局找喜莱莉问话是预料之事,并不表示她或任何人可能受到起诉。喜莱莉的竞选阵营说,喜莱莉在华府联调局总部志愿接受问话。「志愿」一词显示她并非受到传讯。
喜莱莉2009年至2013年担任美国最高阶外交官期间使用私人电邮及伺服器引发的诸多质疑,更已纠缠她的总统竞选活动长达一年多,并助长选民认为她不值得信赖的疑虑。
喜莱莉使用私人电邮帐户处理公务往来的做法,在共和党主持的国会小组去年调查她处理班加西事件的情况时被揭发。喜莱莉曾为此道歉,可是批评者宣称,这种做法违反保护机密文件法规,并可能构成罪行。
国务院督察长5月间提出调查报告,严厉批评喜莱莉使用私人电邮帐户,并将伺服器设在自宅并未寻求许可,她的团队也不理会国务院官员对她的电邮做法违反联邦标准,并可能使骇客得以窃取敏感资料的一再警告。
喜莱莉接受联调局问话,也赶上她的丈夫前总统柯林顿本周在凤凰城机场,与主管联调局的司法部长林奇会面,因此引发政治风暴,使电邮门调查作业的公正性更加受到质疑。
一些法律专家认为就本案提出刑事起诉极不可能,不过在民主党四周后就要正式提名喜莱莉为其总统候选人之时,电邮门案悬而不决有如附骨之蛆,也给予对手攻击把柄。
不论联调局的调查结果如何,都可能伤到喜莱莉的总统梦。如果她受到起诉,她的诚信会更受质疑,甚至要求她退选。如果她没受到起诉,批评者也会指控欧巴马政府为一党之私枉顾法纪。
数十名共和党国会议员一直敦促林奇指派不受白宫影响的独立检察官,决定喜莱莉的做法是否违反任何法律。但是,儘管欧巴马一再公开支持喜莱莉,还发生机场私会事件,林奇一直抗拒这些要求。