It has now been revealed that the "e-mails" which the former Secretary of State deigned to give to the State Department were turned over on 50,000 pages of paper. Even if the e-mails returned were the complete record, . . . DonDiego has a teensy-weensy suspicion that some may have been left out, . . . they cannot be searched except by hand !
Why would someone do this?
A brief summary of the e-mails which the former Secretary of State
chose to turn over to the State department.
******quote***
Beginning in August, senior
State Department officials held negotiations with Mrs. Clinton’s lawyers and advisers to gain access to her personal email records. At one point, her advisers met face-to-face with department officials in Washington.In October, the State Department sent a letter to Mrs. Clinton and all former secretaries of state back to Madeleine K. Albright, seeking emails and other documents in their possession that related to their government work.
Finally, in December, dozens of boxes filled with 50,000 pages of printed emails from Mrs. Clinton’s personal account were delivered to the State Department. Those documents were then examined by department lawyers, who found roughly 900 pages pertaining to the Benghazi attacks.
***endquote***
[boldface added - DD]
Ref: New York Times
******quote***
If you were following the revelations about Hillary Clinton’s private State Department IT operation last week, you probably heard that, as the initial New York Times story put it, “55,000 pages of emails were given to the department” in December after being selected by a private aide to the former secretary. You might have wondered: What does that mean, 55,000 “pages”? Or maybe you just read it, as the crack fact-check team over at PolitiFact did just last night, as 55,000 emails.
It turns out the reference is to literal physical pages. From Friday’s Times: “Finally, in December, dozens of boxes filled with 50,000 pages of printed emails from Mrs. Clinton’s personal account were delivered to the State Department.”
Why did Mrs. Clinton have her staff go through the trouble of printing out, boxing and shipping 50,000 or 55,000 pages instead of just sending a copy of the electronic record? One can only speculate, but there is an obvious advantage:
Printed files are less informative and far harder to search than the electronic originals."
***endquote***
[boldface added - DD]
Ref: Wall Street Journal
Luckily Ms. Clinton is scheduled to have a press conference today, . . . at an unannounced time with unidentified participants.
And the The Washington Post has even gone so far as to suggest what Ms. Clinton should say:
******quote***
Say this: "I believe deeply in transparency for our elected officials. I will release every e-mail I sent during my four years as secretary of state from my 'clintonemail' address. They will be put on a Web site that will allow anyone who would like to see them to do so. I hope to complete this by June 1."
Or, because some of the e-mails are, undoubtedly, strictly personal and others are likely to contain potentially sensitive information, appoint someone -- not affiliated with the Clintons -- to sort through the trove and decide which e-mails should be held back and which should be released.
Or, she could take this suggestion made by The Post's editorial board this morning: "If she wants to demonstrate the strength of character and judgment required to be president, Ms. Clinton should hold a news conference and answer all the unanswered questions about her e-mails."
***endquote***
DonDiego opines the idea that an honest person, . . . if one is to be found, . . . not affiliated with the Clintons should decide what e-mails belong to the State Department and what e-mails do not is appropriate. Of course this should be preceded by an examination of the server by someone qualified to do so, . . . if such a person is to be found, . . . to assure the data-base has not been tampered with.
For the record DonDiego expects none of the Washington Post suggestions are likely to be embraced.
___Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man
