WashPost: WH Aide Email Use No Comparison to Clinton's, Yet
https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/private-email-server-email-white-house/2017/09/26/id/815923/
The Trump administration's use of private emails is not comparable to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, according to The Washington Post.
The New York Times on Monday reported at least six White House administration officials communicated about government business through private emails, news Clinton said was, "the height of hypocrisy" since Trump during the campaign took jabs at the Democratic presidential nominee over her use of the private server and said in a debate she would be in jail if he was in charge.
But Clinton, per the Post, was discussing potentially sensitive national security matters on her private server and could have jeopardized national security. She also exclusively used a private email account. The FBI's investigation into Clinton's email use and whether she "intentionally or grossly" mishandled classified information found 110 of the emails contained classified information, including eight that were top secret. But the FBI director at the time, James Comey, recommended no charges against Clinton.
The White House aides who used private email accounts, according to the Times, were Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, and a White House senior adviser, former chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon, former chief of staff Reince Priebus, advisers Gary Cohn and Stephen Miller, and the president's eldest daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
White House officials can use private email accounts as long as they forward work-related messages to their work accounts. And the Times reported the aides' use of private emails was "sporadic," and there was no evidence any of the information sent or received might have compromised classified information.
"The Trump team's use of private email is still worth a full airing and lots of questions; it has more than a whiff of hypocrisy," the Post wrote. "Reasonable people can disagree about whether Clinton's email was overplayed as an issue in the 2016 election. But we have a long way to go before we're talking apples-to-apples."
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ALSO SEE
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/business/article175488546.html
BUSINESS
How email practices of Clinton and Trump advisers differ
SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 12:36 PM
Differences between Hillary Clinton’s email practices while secretary of state and Revelations that officials in the Trump administration have used private email accounts for White House business have prompted charges of hypocrisy after Donald Trump made a campaign issue of the email practices by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Despite the uproar over the practice during the campaign, key Trump officials began using their own private email accounts just weeks after the election that they concede were sometimes used for official communication.
How email practices of Clinton and Trump advisers differ
Hillary Clinton's email practices while secretary of state differed from the reported use of private email accounts by several officials in the Trump administration. Based on what we know so far, here are the key differences.
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HILLARY CLINTON
As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton maintained multiple private servers, including one stored at her home in New York state, for email that she used for most of her official communication. An FBI investigation of the practice found that some of the tens of thousands of emails handled by the private account included classified material.
A probe led by then-FBI Director James Comey found no evidence of intentional transmission of classified material and cleared Clinton and some of her aides of potential criminal charges. Comey called the practice "extremely careless." During the campaign, Trump repeatedly called for Clinton to be prosecuted and cited Comey's decision as evidence that the U.S. justice system was "rigged." Moreover, Clinton deleted more than 33,000 of her emails that she said were not related to her government work.
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TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
Despite the uproar over the practice during the campaign, key Trump officials began using their own private email accounts just weeks after the election and concede they were sometimes used for official communication. The New York Times reports that at least six Trump advisers, including Jared Kushner and former aides Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, used private email to discuss White House matters.
There is no evidence so far that any classified material was transmitted through private email accounts, and the White House says the accounts were used only sporadically. A congressional panel has demanded information on the practice.
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No, the Trump White House’s private emails aren’t on-par with Hillary Clinton’s
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/09/26/the-trump-teams-private-emails-are-problematic-so-is-comparing-them-to-hillary-clintons/?utm_term=.9297d8f9c413
This post has been updated.
Private email accounts are reportedly alive and well in the Trump White House. Stories in recent days have linked the use of private accounts to many top staffers, with the New York Times naming six Monday evening: Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Stephen Miller, Gary Cohn and former top aides Reince Priebus and Stephen K. Bannon.
This, for obvious reasons, has Hillary Clinton supporters apoplectic. Donald Trump made Clinton's private emails a centerpiece of his campaign, even suggesting she should be jailed for it. What could be more hypocritical than this?
But let's take a step back. Clinton's private email issue is often vastly oversimplified, and the two situations just aren't analogous at this point.
That's not to say what the Trump administration is doing is okay. At the very least, it lacks transparency — in contrast with the pledges by the candidate to “drain the swamp.” If aides are using their private accounts for official business without forwarding the emails to their official accounts for preservation, then they are violating the rules.
But even that isn't why Clinton's emails were such a big issue. As the Times's Matt Apuzzo and Maggie Haberman noted in their story, her private emails were problematic 1) because she set up her own server and used private email exclusively, and 2) because she was discussing potentially sensitive national security matters on that private server. That latter one was the big one — and the focus of the FBI investigation — because it meant classified information could potentially have been jeopardized.
Here's what FBI Director James B. Comey said in recommending no charges against Clinton in July 2016:
Our investigation looked at whether there is evidence that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on that personal system in violation of a federal statute that makes it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way.
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From the group of 30,000 emails returned to the State Department in 2014, 110 emails in 52 email chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was top secret at the time they were sent; 36 of those chains contained secret information at the time; and eight contained confidential information at the time.
These findings were significant, because Clinton had maintained that she never sent or received classified email on the server. She later amended that statement to clarify that she never “knowingly” did. So this added credibility issues to her email issues. (The Post's Fact Checker has a great piece on the classification process, and it notes that much of this information wasn't classified until it was released publicly.)
Comey added that there was “evidence that [Clinton and her colleagues] were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” He added that “we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal email account.” They just had no proof.
If this issue were just about Clinton flouting transparency and record-keeping rules, that would be one thing. But what really got her in trouble was the possibility that this could have jeopardized national security (not to mention her handling of the matter, which even aides admitted she botched). Even in letting her off the hook, Comey said it was possible she did just that.
Given her position as secretary of state and the extent of her private server use, Clinton's private server was inherently problematic. The Times reports that Trump administration sources say their use of private email, meanwhile, has been “sporadic,” and there's no evidence that it may have compromised classified information.
The named aides probably don't deal in classified and national security information nearly as much as Clinton did, though its possible someone like Kushner -- with a portfolio that includes Middle East peace and other foreign policy matters -- could be dealing with such information. But we have no indication yet that he talked about those issues while using private email.
The Trump team's use of private email is still worth a full airing and lots of questions; it has more than a whiff of hypocrisy. Reasonable people can disagree about whether Clinton's email was overplayed as an issue in the 2016 election. But we have a long way to go before we're talking apples-to-apples.
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http://www.zdnet.com/article/are-jared-kushner-and-ivanka-trump-violating-white-house-email-rules-a-guide-for-journalists/
Are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump violating White House email rules? A guide for journalists
In an era where #FAKENEWS is tweeted from the highest office in the land, it's more important than ever that reporters and journalists get their facts right. When it comes to White House email, here are the facts.
https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/private-email-server-email-white-house/2017/09/26/id/815923/
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