I confess I’m deeply ambivalent about the whole Clinton emails/classified info story. On the one hand, I’ve long felt that we have a profound over-classification problem in this country and at least 95% of the stuff that’s classified shouldn't be. On the other hand, there’s also a serious problem of unequal justice in our government — with high-level political folks getting away with stuff that destroys the careers and sometimes costs the freedom of low-level employees.
So I’ve watched the Clinton email story with mixed skepticism and dismay. Skepticism that she really did anything that in a sane world would be a serious transgression. Dismay at the hypocrisy of minimizing things that in this very administration have cost careers and prosecutions.
Enter the latest item: it appears that in a June 17, 2011 email, Clinton ordered Jacob Sullivan to send classified information via insecure email, if a problem with the secure fax system could not be quickly corrected. Here’s The Hill:
In an email marked June 17, 2011, that was released by the State Department on Friday, Clinton informs aide Jake Sullivan that she has not yet received a set of talking points.
“They say they’ve had issues sending secure fax,” Sullivan says. “They’re working on it.”
“If they can’t, turn into nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure,” Clinton responds.
It is not clear what the contents of the email were, whether information sent was classified or secure or whether the order was carried out.
As they note, we as yet have no direct evidence the material was classified — only the circumstantial evidence that they were struggling to use the secure fax system to transmit the talking points, as well as that the subject matter of the talking points is redacted in the released email chain.
The right-wing blogosphere is already jumping all over this as direct evidence of a felony. I don’t think it’s that yet. But it might be. And I really don’t know what happens if that’s the case.
It may be hard for anyone to believe this, but I’m genuinely not writing this from a primary-partisan point of view. Clinton is my solid second choice and I’m not into tearing down my solid second choice. But if there’s some sbstance here we can’t just ignore it or wish it away.