Over the past week, the latest controversy has been revolving around Hillary Clinton and emails which were sent from her personal account. She has not disclosed these emails to Congress which has caused many issues, and lead to a few people attempting to make progress in recovering some of these documents. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz is planning on sending the State Department a letter requesting these emails, and could subpoena them if necessary. Even though Clinton has come forth stating that these emails are personal, the committee retains the authority to do so if necessary.
Chaffetz is not the only one trying to have these emails disclosed. Marcus Rogers, of Purdue University's Cyber Forensics and Security Program, commented on the issue, stating that emails are incredibly difficult to erase completely. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, said Wednesday that he wanted an independent review of the server. If the server, which these emails were sent from, was obtained, then the process of getting these files would be much more convenient. But, Clinton argued that she will not turn over the server that housed her personal email under any circumstances.
What makes this controversy even more suspicious than refusing to give out these emails, is that she deleted about half the 60,000 emails sent through her personal account and the rest, deemed to be official, were sent to the State Department. She also has begun to contradict herself by saying that she chose not to keep her personal emails, but in Silicon Valley about two weeks ago, she said, "I don't throw anything away, I'm like two steps short of a hoarder."
In my opinion, I believe that there are emails that she sent regarding the Benghazi scandal, or other governmental work, which is obviously not allowed. If she honestly did not have any emails that regarded any governmental work on her personal account, I don't understand why she just will not hand over the server to keep the good graces with the government. An issue like this hurts her chances for potentially running in 2016, and she should do whatever she needs to to keep her reputation clean. What do you think? Does Hillary have the right to keep these emails to herself? What move would be best for her public image?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/politics/hillary-clinton-emails-jason-chaffetz-subpoena/index.html
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hillary-clintons-emails-could-be-recovered-experts-believe-2015-03-12
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/unanswered-questioned-hillary-clinton-emails
13 comments:
Rachel,
I agree completely with you. I also believe that there are possible emails regarding Benghazi, which we need to look into. I get where Hilary is saying with not wanting people to see her personal life, but at the same time this is a serious issue that we are dealing with which resulted in the death of Americans. To add onto that, she brought all of this onto herself. She should have not been using her personal email in the first place. As well as, giving herself the power to decide which emails are business and which are personal. If she really wanted to use her personal email that badly, she should have had an advisor be the one who been the one to finalize whether or not the email was delete worthy or not. For all we know there could have been tons of emails with crucial information, that she did not want to pass on because it would hurt her image or the Democratic party. At this point she really needs to recover herself quick. I think the best solution would be to have the State Department look for the emails. If they're mostly personal emails, what is there to hide and this is going to be a random civilian, this is going to be a specialist, who will probably have to oath to not share any of the other news. As well as continue not using her personal email. If she doesn't do this it will hurt her reputation badly. Not doing it gives people more of an idea that she is trying to hide something and that she's a liar. By going through with the search it would show the public that she isn't hiding anything and she understands that she messed up and that she is taking an effort to fix it.
The fact that Clinton is so private about what content was in the emails is both concerning and suspicious. If what was being sent was legal and appropriate, I believe that she would not have any reason to hide the e-mails she sent. Also by contradicting herself, I think that it is evident that she had something to hide by deleting such a large amount of e-mails that were sent through her server. Although it could be confidential information regarding a current issue or event, she could have expressed this to the press. Additionally, it would be more understandable if she only deleted a few of her emails. However, the fact that she deleted so many of her emails in such a short period of time is indicative of some skeptical business.
Right now, I do not believe her public image is completely soiled due to the lack of information that has been released regarding the emails themselves and the content within them. However, if information gets released that sheds a negative light on Hilary, it could completely ruin the way the public perceives her and her approval ratings will completely fall. Even if she committed nothing illegal, she still committed a violation in leaving the State Department without turning over all records and emails.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/12/ex-doj-lawyer-says-clinton-may-have-broken-law-with-emails-cites-separation/
Rachel,
I believe that the Hillary Clinton email “scandal” has greatly been over exaggerated by the media. Frankly, this scandal probably would have been largely ignored by the public, if there were not theories circulating that Hillary will run for president in 2016 and if Hillary were not married to former President Bill Clinton, who was involved with a scandal of his own. To, illustrate, Clinton is not the only one who used their personal email for work purposes, while in office. In fact, former Secretary of State Colin Powell also used his own personal email, instead of the government email for work. Furthermore, when Powell was asked to hand over all of his emails from his time in office to the state department, he refused. This illustrates the media’s bias toward Clinton, as no one is attacking Powell for being in the same situation. Moreover, Jeb Bush, another potential presidential candidate, also used a personal email address to “conducted all of his communications on his private Jeb@jeb.org,” yet no one is criticizing him. This seems peculiar to me that Clinton would be so viciously attacked , when both Powell and Jeb behaved in same way, while in office.
Additionally, I think the situation that Clinton is in is incredibly complicated. I believe that she wants to cooperate with the State Department (as if she appears to be uncooperative it could significantly impact her run for president), yet she wants to maintain her privacy. At this point in time, it might be hard for Clinton to separate her personal emails from her work related emails, and therefore, it is expected that Clinton would have some sort of hesitation in turning over such potentially personal emails to the States Department to be archived.
Source:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/11/two-names-the-press-omits-from-email-coverage-c/202847
Rachel, I agree that Clinton's actions and refusing to turn over the emails is suspicious, if you have nothing to hide then why hide it? But at the same time, I cannot forget that this seems very unconstitutional. In my opinion, the government should never be able to access an individual's private/personal accounts. The only way that such an action would be justifiable is if the entire nation is at risk, due to a security threat or something of that nature. For a scandal, that could just be over-dramatized, it's not really fair to demand that Clinton turn over the emails. I agree that the situation is skeptical, but deleting emails isn't a valid reason to demand that she turn the server over. Everyone deletes emails and even if she is guilty, it's unconstitutional for the government to infringe on her privacy like this.
It is also unsettling that the government is so willing to use this power where they can go into private accounts for something that's really not that big of an issue. When else has the government gone into privet accounts and maybe we don't know about it. I find the whole situation a little unnerving.
With this being said, this situation will probably tarnish Clinton's image. I think she has a right to not comply with the government, as the government really doesn't have a right to invade her privacy like this, but the way she's hiding things and frantically deleting makes her suspicious. I think the public will see this and even if they think the government didn't have a place infringing on her privacy, they will be unable to ignore the way she responded. I think there is a large chance that this will be reflected in the polls come election day.
Rachel,
I think Clinton needs to release the emails if she wants to keep her reputation in tact. As Sophia said the media has given this issue a great deal of attention over the past few days and I think if she ever wants to resolve the issue she has to address it. By deleting the emails she has piqued the public's interest. There has been much speculation about what information is contained within those emails, as many others I believe there is information about Benghazi and other government issues which should be disclosed. It is possible that the emails were purely personal, either way though I think she needs to release them because people are not going to let this issue go until she does. Keeping this big of a secret could severely damage her chances if she runs for president in 2016. The best move for her right now is to release the emails, because it looks like she is hiding something and until she releases them people are just going to assume the worst.
I agree wholeheartedly with Rachel and Mariana on this issue. As a government official, Clinton’s primary allegiance is to the American people. Therefore, any communications she has had over her email are subject to scrutiny. Any multitude of key facts about the Benghazi attacks and other national security issues could be out of reach due to Clinton’s refusal to disclose these emails. Moreover, by not using a secure server, she lays open many classified communications to anybody with the means to breach her email account. Even if Mrs. Clinton is not guilty of trying to purposefully withhold information from the nation, she is at the very least guilty of gross negligence. I think that by continually refusing to cooperate, Clinton is tarnishing not only her trustworthiness, but also her chances of winning the 2016 Election. After all, nobody wants to elect an official who cannot be trusted to uphold the truth.
Rachel, I definitely agree with you on this issue. By refusing to turn over these emails Clinton is painting herself in a suspicious and paranoid light. If there was no reason to hide or nothing illegal going on, Clinton should have handed over the emails immediately to ensure the government and public viewed her as a someone who follows rules and listens to orders. This would have put her in a much more amicable position if she planned to run for president. By not giving over the emails right away, and contradicting herself, I agree that Clinton made herself look a little bit shady. However, I do have to agree with Grace in that it could be deemed unconstitutional for the government to insist on Clinton handing over her personal emails. She does have a right to privacy, and especially during this time where she is under scrutiny by the public eye as election season approaches, she may just be trying to preserve her privacy and set boundaries. We must respect the fact that living life so publicly as she has been for years and will continue to do, cannot be easy for Clinton, and she may just be trying to remain cautious and protect herself. The media blowing the scandal out of proportion only adds to the speculation form outside sources as well as the overstepping of Clinton's privacy. While I do feel as though it may have been more beneficial and simpler for Clinton to just hand over the emails, if she did in fact have nothing to hide, I can also see where she is coming from in terms of trying to preserve her privacy.
Rachel, I am going to have to disagree with you on your opinion that Clinton has emails about the Benghazi attacks on her email which she deleted. As a high ranking government official with countless years of experience I highly doubt Clinton would really use the email for extremely classified information. However, I do agree that as a political figure there will be people who are suspicious of her for not fully disclosing all her emails. I think Clinton should show all the deleted emails, however she did say that many of the emails she deleted were strictly personal between her and her family members. Isn't this what a personal email was meant for? She deserves her privacy, but at the same time I think she needs to be more transparent. She is really under the microscope because she is the Democratic front runner for a presidential nominee, any mishap such as thins could tarnish her image in the public eye. Overall, I believe there is defiantly some overreaction from certain political figures to her emails, and I believe it is simply a way for them to point out flaws about Clinton because they dont agree with her policies, but in order to be a trusted public official Clinton should disclose all emails and make it apparent that she is not hiding anything.
I agree that Clinton's actions in this situation make many feel very suspicious. After being a political figure for so long she should understand why many feel so on edge about the emails she is refusing to disclose. This highlights her poorly because many just assume that she is clearly hiding something, why else would she not be turning over the emails? Perception is reality, and in this case one can easily say that if she had nothing to hide she would have handed over the emails right away. However, on the other hand there is a fine line regarding an individual's privacy and many can argue that asking her to disclose her emails is crossing this line. But I think that when someone is always in the public spotlight as Clinton is the rules sometimes may differ. Clinton still has her right to privacy but especially due to the fact that she is a Democratic front runner for a presidential nominee she needs to be focusing on her image and a scandal such as this could easily destroy her chances. If she really wasn't hiding anything then there would be no harm from disclosing the emails. I believe that if she is really this defensive regarding the emails there is clearly something that she doesn't want to be seen.
Rachel,
I think that the situation that Hilary Clinton is in right now will either make or break her future for running in 2016. There is a lot of national media attention on her right now and because she is in the spotlight the entire country is looking at what she is about to do. I agree with you on your stand. I am skeptical of why she is not handing over her personal emails to the government. If she is innocent I do not see why she is making such a big deal about her personal account, so I am inclined to believe that she did use her personal email for government work. Since we do not know for sure, and there is reason to suggest that she did use her personal email for government work, I think that Hillary does not have the right to keep her emails to herself. The government should know so that it can move on. The unnecessary tension that Hilary Clinton is creating over this is the problem. And because she is creating this problem it makes her look more guilty I have a feeling that a majority of the people feel this way too. Her reputation is not clean anymore and after being in the negative spotlight she will have much to do in order to increase her approval ratings before she runs in 2016.
I agree with Gurumeher's stance although I do not think this situation will break her campaign. Although there is a lot of negative media attention on her, I think the average voter is smart enough to realize that this example does not really reflect her major views. I would go as far as to say that if Ms. Clinton plays her cards correctly, she can actually turn this negative media attention into a positive one. It would be a great opportunity to gain a low of supporters now that the world is looking at what she has to say. All things considered, I do not see this personal email snafoo being a major topic of debate in the coming months. Personally, I think this will fade out. I think Hillary has the right to a private email. What is important is that there is still plenty of time to better her approval rating.
I agree with Gurumeher's stance although I do not think this situation will break her campaign. Although there is a lot of negative media attention on her, I think the average voter is smart enough to realize that this example does not really reflect her major views. I would go as far as to say that if Ms. Clinton plays her cards correctly, she can actually turn this negative media attention into a positive one. It would be a great opportunity to gain a low of supporters now that the world is looking at what she has to say. All things considered, I do not see this personal email snafoo being a major topic of debate in the coming months. Personally, I think this will fade out. I think Hillary has the right to a private email. What is important is that there is still plenty of time to better her approval rating.
Rachel, I have to disagree with you when you say that handing over the emails would be the best idea for Hillary Clinton; per contra, I think she is completely entitled to have a personal email which she does not have to share with the government or the people. I think Chaffetz’s idea to request these email, and to go as far as to subpoena them if Clinton refuses to have them over, is taking this whole issue to a level that it does not need to be on. Sure, some people may not like the fact that Clinton doesn’t want to hand over her emails, but I do not think it will harm her campaign extremely because she refused to hand them over. I personally commend her for standing up for her right to privacy, and I think she is totally allowed to have her own personal email, even if she is going to be running for president.
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