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Politics and Activism

Why They're More Than 'Just Emails'

I'm not #WithHer and you shouldn't be either

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Why They're More Than 'Just Emails'
Business Insider

“There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton.”

These are words spoken by President Obama to a crowd in North Carolina this past Tuesday. The idea of Hillary Clinton being the most qualified person in the current presidential race is in fact nothing new. Many look to Clinton's background as Secretary of State and former First Lady as evidence that she would indeed make a great Commander in Chief and lead us into a new era of progression and progress. In fact, many well known people have come out in support of her candidacy for the Presidency, chanting Hillary's famous "I'm With Her" slogan, including most recently Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who is now also favorited as a top VP pick for Ms. Clinton.

But outside of President Obama's endorsement, Tuesday also marked another major change in the Clinton campaign - Tuesday was the day that FBI Director James Comey stated, in no uncertain terms, that Hillary Clinton and her staff were "extremely careless" in her use of a private server during her time as Secretary of State. However, he also made clear that no criminal charges would be taken against the Democratic presidential hopeful.

Now let me make something extremely clear because this caveat has been vastly ignored by the people championing on Facebook that these are "just emails" and that we should be investigating people like Colin Powelland Condoleezza Rice, the Secretaries of State during the G.W. Bush era: neither Colin Powell nor Condoleezza Rice used private servers during their time in office.

While Colin Powell does admit to using private email address for government business and the current Secretary of State, John Kerry, admits "he 'infrequently' used a personal email account for government business “when responding to a sender who emailed him on his personal account,” this is not the issue we are dealing with regarding the Hilary Clinton case. It is the server and her inability to acknowledge what she did was wrong, not only in using the private server, but in deleting over 30,000 emails before allowing a formal investigation to take place.

Here are the facts: of the 30,000 or so Clinton emails provided by the State Department, 110 messages in 52 email chains were determined to have contained classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those email chains contained information that was top secret at the time they were sent or received, the FBI reported; 36 of the email chains contained secret information at the time; and eight contained lesser confidential information.

But Hillary Clinton denied on multiple occasions that any of the emails sent from the private server held classified information. This would mean that either she was ill informed or unaware of the issue, or more cynically, that she simply lied to the American people because she thought she was above prosecution. To make this entire situation sound even more like America's favorite couple, Frank and Claire Underwood from the Netflix drama House of Cards, Bill Clinton had a secret unplanned meeting on an airport tarmac in Phoenix with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, someone who has said she would accept the suggestion of FBI Director regarding the Clinton case, whatever that may be.

Now, at some point, it doesn't matter if their meeting was about Hillary or not, because it looks bad. It is another example of the extreme carelessness that is evident among both Clinton's political history.

If I haven't made my point by now, let me spell it out: these are more than just emails. Hillary Clinton is running for the highest office in this land, and has lied to the American people repeatedly about her behavior during her career, which many hold as the evidence of what makes her so 'presidential.' And we're not even touching on Benghazi yet. Her oversight is not something that we can just brush away like sending a text meant for your ex to your current boyfriend.

Many are quick to point out Donald Trump's flaws - his sexism, racism, general rhetoric that many find worrisome or offensive. But Donald Trump has always been one thing - honest. He has never wavered in his true beliefs and regardless if you agree with them or not, he has always been transparent with the American public, something Hillary Clinton can simply not say.

I cannot trust Hillary Clinton and I do not believe that anyone could. That's what I'm not #withher and why I truly believe you should not be either.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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