While Democratic Presidential front runner Hillary Clinton would like for the issue to become “old news”, the controversy around her use of a home-brew private email server will not be going away anytime soon. Former IT specialist Bryan Pagliano has become a “devastating witness” according to one source:
“Bryan Pagliano is a devastating witness and, as the webmaster, knows exactly who had access to [Clinton’s] computer and devices at specific times. His importance to this case cannot be over-emphasized,” the intelligence source said. “Don’t forget all those photos with her using various devices and it is easy to track the whereabouts of her phone. It is still boils down to a paper case. Did you email at this time from your home or elsewhere using this device? And here is a picture of you and your aides holding the devices.”
In a full accounting by the Washington Post it has been determined that Clinton wrote 104 emails which contained classified information — harkening back to the assertion months ago that emails written by Clinton contained information that would have been “born classified” — which would pit Clinton in direct violation of the 2009 NDA she signed upon assuming the role as Secretary of State and her oft-cited claim that no classified material passed through her server was marked classified.
If she failed to properly mark classified material that originated on her own server, this does not absolve her from her legal obligations and responsibilities in the proper handling of sensitive material. In fact, it could certainly complicate her position. Members of Clinton’s staff, including Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin and Jack Sullivan were also authors of emails which contained classified material that would end up on Clinton’s server.
Of potentially more concern for Team Hillary is a high level former IT staffer from the State Department, John Bentel, has refused to answer questions posed by the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees. The congressional investigation is trying to determine if Clinton purposefully used her email setup to sidestep Freedom of Information record-keeping requirements.
This concern is best highlighted in the fact Clinton erased over half of the emails on her server without any official oversight. Bentel joins Pagliano as the second person to refuse to testify for the congressional investigation.
[Fox News] [Washington Post] [Politico]
Originally published at The Hill Talk on March 15, 2016.