Clinton's New Email Fuss is No Scandal
WASHINGTON -- The latest controversy over Hillary Clinton's emails -- the allegation that classified information was improperly transmitted on her private email server -- is, or should be, a non-scandal.
Clinton has only herself to blame for a lot of the email mess. She should have behaved like other government officials and used an official account, however cumbersome the multiple device consequences might have been.
If she insisted on using a private server, she should have been exceedingly careful to make certain that information was properly designated for archiving at the time -- not long after the fact.
When she finally turned over thousands of emails to the State Department, she should not have then taken the provocative step of deleting thousands more from the server, a move guaranteed to fan conspiracy theories, not quiet them.
When the matter became public, she should have tried to quell the predictable firestorm by turning over the server. She should have stopped insisting, as she did on CNN earlier this month, that she was not only blameless but praiseworthy.
"I went above and beyond what anybody could have expected in making sure that if the State Department didn't capture something, I made a real effort to get it to them," Clinton said. A real effort -- two years after leaving office. Come on.
Nonetheless, the classification kerfuffle is a non-scandal blown out of proportion by a toxic combination of sloppy reporting, official miscommunication and partisan positioning.
First, the original version of The New York Times story -- swiftly revised -- falsely suggested that Clinton herself was the subject of a criminal probe.
Then, the Justice Department added to the confusion by confirming a "criminal" referral -- only to reverse itself and withdraw that bombshell adjective.
Not that any of this stopped Clinton's Republican critics and competitors for the presidency from capitalizing on the reports. "The fact is that what she has done is criminal," blared Donald Trump. "I don't see how she can run."
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Copyright 2015 Washington Post Writers Group
