The State Department has re-opened an internal investigation focusing on whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a homebrew Chappaqua server fell outside of State Department rules and regulations.
The State Department had suspended their investigation pending the outcome of the separate Department of Justice and FBI investigations, which ended last week. The DOJ declined to press charges against Clinton for sharing thousands of classified emails, after the FBI said that “no reasonable prosecutor” would be able to convict Clinton for her actions.
If the State Department finds that Clinton broke the rules, she could face anything from a formal reprimand to loss of her security clearance — but she just might face that anyway. Members of the GOP have petitioned the State Department to revoke Clinton’s “Top Secret” credentials, as well as credentials issued to Clinton’s top aides, including Huma Abedin.
The State Department also may be less generous than the FBI. The State Department’s Inspector General raked Clinton and her team over the coals in a report released last month, accusing them of everything from ducking the rules to exposing state secrets to hackers and then hiding the evidence.
Clinton’s ongoing document troubles aren’t just with the federal government, either. A judge handling a case against the State Department pertaining to Clinton’s decision to continue to award contracts to a disgraced defense systems manufacturer has ordered State Department officials not to go on any summer vacations or leave the country. The case, filed by the Associated Press after the State Department declined their Freedom of Information Act requests, seeks documents and testimony from Clinton aides close to the decision.
One tidbit that might help Clinton has emerged, however: a hidden camera video from a luncheon Clinton had with Marvel Studios head Stan Lee in 2000, where she laid out her specific hatred of electronic mail:
She was almost prophetic. If only she’d listened to her own advice.
