Newly released emails conflict with former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's 11-hour testimony before the Benghazi Select Committee,
according to a review of the transcripts and public records.
One of the conflicts involves the role played by Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal.
Regarding the dozens of emails from him, which in many cases were
forwarded to her State Department team, Clinton testified: "He's a
friend of mine. He sent me information he thought might be of interest.
Some of it was, some of it wasn't, some of it I forwarded to be followed
up on. He had no official position in the government. And he was not at
all my adviser on Libya."
But a newly released email from February 2011 shows Blumenthal
advocated for a no-fly zone over Libya, writing, "U.S. might consider
advancing tomorrow. Libyan helicopters and planes are raining terror on
cities." The email was forwarded by Clinton to her deputy chief of staff
Jake Sullivan with the question, "What do you think of this idea?"
A second email from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in March
2011 also advocated for a no-fly zone, with Blair stating, "Please work
on the non-fly zone, or the other options I mentioned. Oil prices are
rising, markets are down. We have to be decisive."
In the end, Clinton advocated for the no-fly zone and was able to
gather support within the Obama administration to implement it.
In another email from March 5, 2012, Clinton appears to use
Blumenthal as what is known in intelligence circles as a "cut out," a
type of intermediary to gather information, allowing the policymaker
plausible deniability. In this case, the emails focused on the
increasingly chaotic and fragmenting political landscape in Libya after
dictator Muammar Qaddafi was removed from power.
In the one-page document, Blumenthal writes that Jonathan Powell, a
former senior British government adviser to Blair, is "trying to
replicate what we did in Northern Ireland by setting up secret channels
between insurgents and government, and then, where appropriate,
developing these negotiations." This type of backchannel discussion
helped bring about the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement in Northern
Ireland.
Clinton responded two hours later. "I'd like to see Powell when he's
in the building," with her staff responding, "Will follow up." In both
instances, Clinton's actions further undercut sworn testimony to the
Select Committee that Blumenthal was “not at all my adviser on Libya.”
Another area of conflict involves security and aid requests. In an
exchange with Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Clinton told the
House committee none of the requests for diplomatic security reached
her. "That's over 600 requests," Pompeo said. "You've testified here
this morning that you had none of those reach your desk; is that correct
also?"
Clinton responded, "That's correct."
However, the State Department website,
under a section on embassy security,
states that the secretary has overall responsibility for the well-being
of personnel on assignment. The buck does not stop with “security
professionals” as Clinton has testified.
It states: “The Secretary of State, and by extension, the Chief of
Mission (COM), are responsible for developing and implementing security
policies and programs that provide for the protection of all U.S.
Government personnel (including accompanying dependents) on official
duty abroad.”
Yet, the new emails show a request for humanitarian aid sent by the
late Ambassador Chris Stevens did reach her desk. The Aug. 22, 2011
email from Stevens was circulated among Clinton staff and delegated for
action in under an hour.
With the overthrow of Qadaffi, Stevens wrote that the Libyan
opposition, known as the TNC, would soon release a statement saying it
would "insure the delivery of essential services and commodities (esp.
addressing the acute shortages of fuel, children's milk, and medication
for blood pressure and diabetes)."
Seventeen minutes later, Clinton responded, "Can we arrange shipments of what's requested?”
While the request for humanitarian aid from Stevens did reach her
office, during her testimony, Clinton emphasized, "Chris Stevens
communicated regularly with the members of my staff. He did not raise
security with the members of my staff. I communicated with him about
certain issues. He did not raise security with me. He raised security
with the security professionals."
The emails also further depict Clinton’s treatment of sensitive
material. A February 2012 email shows Clinton sent an urgent message to
an office manager that a white briefing book, used for sensitive and
classified information, was left on her desk. The office manager
confirmed when it was correctly stored in the State Department safe.
The 7,000 pages released Friday leave no doubt that Clinton's
personal account mingled information now considered classified with the
mundane such as social media requests and the taping of a television
period drama. On Feb. 1, 2011, Clinton sent a "Linkedin" request from a
"Susan Kennedy" to a State Department IT specialist asking, "How does
this work?"
An email from Feb. 23, 2012, from the State Department's senior
official on Near Eastern Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, called "Bingo!" is
fully redacted, citing the B1 exception which is classified information.
And in January that same year, Clinton wrote to an aide, "I'm
addicted to Downton Abbey which runs on Sunday night and reruns on
Thursday at 8pmb. Since I missed it Sunday and will again tomorrow so
wondering if we could tape a DVD for me."
President Obama, meanwhile, is now under scrutiny after having told
CBS’ “60 Minutes” he was not aware of Clinton's personal account – even
though the White House said Friday there are emails between the two,
only they will not be available under FOIA requests until after Obama
leaves office.
In the “60 Minutes” interview, when asked if he knew about Clinton’s use of a private email server, Obama twice said, “No.”
At this point, between 600 and 700 emails have been identified
containing classified information. An intelligence official familiar
with the review says there is no such thing as "retroactive
classification," the information is born classified, and the State
Department only has the right to declassify information it produced.
While Clinton testified that 90-95 percent of her emails were
captured by the State Department system, and nothing she sent or
received was "marked classified," the State Department said that
estimate represents the campaign’s data and not their own.