Hillary Clinton demonstrated a disregard for rules when she discussed classified, government information on her personal email server.
Clinton used her own personal email system during her time as senator through her career as Secretary of State. A month after Clinton stepped down as Secretary of State, in March of 2013, Clinton’s primate email was exposed.
A hacker who accessed the emails of Sidney Blumenthal, journalist and confidant for Clinton, discovered communication with Clinton’s personal account regarding a multitude of sensitive topics and released his findings.
Following the hacker’s discovery and publication, Clinton’s private email server was disregarded. That was until the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound Benghazi, Libya was under investigation in the summer 2014.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi requested the documents regarding the Benghazi attack. When the State Department noticed there was no documentation of communication from an official State Department e-mail account registered to Clinton, the Clinton email scandal and investigation began.
Clinton relinquished more than 30,000 emails for review in December of 2014.
Because of all that had to happen before Clinton released her emails, I conclude that Clinton knew she was not supposed to be using a private server. That is why she did not hand over the emails on her own accord when she left office.
Clinton claimed repeatedly, “I did not send or receive any material marked classified.” Although they were not marked as such, a multitude of emails were discovered to contain classified material.
According to FBI Director James B. Comey’s statement on the investigation, 52 email chains, totaling 110 emails, contained “classified information at the time they were sent or received.”
Sophomore digital communication and social media major Rebecca Tompkins says that Clinton is acting suspicious by denying she did anything wrong. “She hasn’t addressed the issue. It’s shady, in a way. What else is she hiding?” Tompkins considers Clinton’s avoidance a clear sign that she is aware she broke the rules.
The Office of Inspector General reports in its Evaluation of Email Records Management and Cybersecurity Requirements that government employees are discouraged from using “personal email account to conduct official business” in most circumstances. The report also explains that regardless of circumstance, all emails must be preserved and handed over, as they are considered Federal records. Since “..sending emails from a personal account to other employees at their Department accounts is not an appropriate method of preserving any such emails,” Clinton blatantly disregarded the requirement to preserve Federal Records.
Clinton did not just fail to be compliant in using her own private server; she risked the safety of American Citizens. Sophomore pre-med major Filippo Mancuso believes that Clinton knew what she was doing was wrong but still chose to risk the lives of military and personnel.
“I just think that she had a very high position in office and took advantage of that position,” Mancuso said.
Hillary Clinton used her own private email server, risking the security of classified information as well as failing to meet the preservation requirements of Federal Records. While I still believe she cares about the American people and wants to do right by them, her actions suggest a disregard for basic rules.
