Sydney Booth unveils Hillary Clinton’s “Emailgate” scandal.
THE FOLLOWING IS AN OPINION ARTICLE AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE EATON SCHOOL DISTRICT, ADMINISTRATION OR ITS STAFF.
by Sydney Booth
Donald Trump is no angel, but Hillary Clinton is just as much of a liar as he is. Although some might say that Clinton’s email scandal is over-perpetuated by the media, it is a real issue concerning her fitness to be commander-in-chief. Throughout all the events involving the “Emailgate” scandal lie clues as to how she will act in her potential presidency–and they’re not pretty.
One of Clinton’s biggest lies so far in the Emailgate scandal is her statement that there was nothing classified in any emails she was sent or any that she received. “Let me repeat what I have repeated for many months now,” Clinton said on July 2, “I never received nor sent any material that was marked classified.” However, FBI director James Comey cleared things up in an interview with Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina congressman who had Clinton subpoenaed. Comey said that there was, in fact, “classified material emailed.” According to PolitiFact, two emails were marked classified when they were first sent, and 110 out of the 30,000 she turned over were “classified but unmarked”. Two of these were deemed “Top Secret.” According to the report from the U.S. Department of Justice, “the U.S. Intelligence Community determined that 81 email chains, which the FBI investigation determined were transmitted and stored on Clinton’s unclassified personal server systems, contained classified information ranging from confidential to Top Secret/Special Access Program levels”. Clinton also had another excuse: she was unaware of what the ‘C’ at the top of some of the emails meant. According to The Hill, “‘When asked what the parenthetical ‘C’ meant before a paragraph within the captioned email, [Clinton] stated she did not know and could only speculate it was referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order,’ read the FBI’s notes from the interview.” Although Comey said that it is possible that she was unaware of what the markings meant, the fact that the Secretary of State did not take the time to acquaint herself with these markings demonstrates her complete and utter negligence as it relates with her ability to handle potential situations she may encounter in the presidency.
But this lying presidential candidate took her deception to another level: she deleted 33,000 emails and lied once again to the FBI about the amount of emails she turned over. Clinton had these emails deleted by her lawyers because they were reportedly concerning her private life. But the dishonesty does not stop there. According to ABC, “the FBI recovered more than 17,000 emails that had been deleted or otherwise not turned over to the State Department, and many of them were work-related”.
Clinton’s excuse for the use of a private “server” was that it would be easiest and most convenient for her to carry one device. That, too, was a lie. At a news conference regarding the email scandal on March 10, 2015, Clinton said, “I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two.” However, Comey revealed that she used “numerous mobile devices” instead of just the one that she claimed to have used. According to the New York Post, “Clinton had 13 separate cell phones, including 11 smart phones linked to two different phone numbers – eight of which were used during her tenure at the State Department.” In no way was the use of a personal email allowed by the State Department, and in no way did Clinton use only one device as she so claimed. According to FactCheck.org, she also used many servers, even though she claimed to have only used one.
Yes, people might be tired of the media continuing to go back to the Emailgate scandal when referencing Clinton on the campaign trail, but even the media does not portray the true magnitude of the degree at which she lied to the American people. Donald Trump has been called out for every little lie that he has told thus far, and rightfully so, but the fact that the only thing the media continues to reference is her 33,000 plus missing emails instead of all of the other lies she has told is simply unacceptable, and a poor representation of all of her dishonesty. Why isn’t she up by 50 points, she might ask? Maybe because the American people who are informed about the lies that have ensued during Emailgate simply do not trust her. Among these are “the basket of deplorables” that she has called Trump supporters.
