Republicans hoping to discredit the presidential campaign of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton due to her use of private emails compare apples-to-oranges when talking about the case of former CIA Director David Petraeus. Petraeus resigned from the CIA in disgrace Nov. 8, 2012 for breaching confidentiality rules, sharing classified material with his personal biographer and lover, Army Reserve Officer Paula Broadwell. When you consider Broadwell’s relationship to Petraeus, both as his lover and personal biographer, you’d think the Pentagon would cut the former four-star general some slack. Government officials, committed to government confidentiality rules, typically get biographers clearance due to the nature of their work. Petraeus agreed to one misdemeanor count of mishandling classified information March 3, 2015 for sharing classified material with Broadwell.
Throwing the book at Petraeus destroyed America’s most decorated four-star general, for literally nothing. Petagon and Justice Department officials knew that Broadwell posed zero risk of mishandling classified information. Petreaus was railroaded March 3, 2015 accepting a plea deal, forcing him to accept one misdemeanor count of mishandling classified information. Sentenced to two years of probation and a $100,000 fine by a federal judge April 23, 2015, Petaeus showed how the U.S. government routinely shoots itself in the foot. Petraeus should have never resigned as CIA director for having an affair with his biographer. Losing America’s most decorated general over an affair is preposterous. House Select Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) routinely compares Petraeus to Hillary, insisting that the former Secretary of State did far worse than Petraeus..
Speaking to Fox News’ conservative talk show host Sean Hannity Sept. 30, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) admitted that the House Select Committee on Benghazi did its job of discrediting Hillary. McCarthy’s gaffe on national TV cost him from becoming House Speaker. Gowdy’s committee routinely touts any news item about finding classified material on Hillary’s private server as proof she broke government laws warranting prosecution. In the age of electronic communications, even Lead Intelligence Auditor Charles I. McCullough can’t decide on a coherent classification scheme. Whether McCullough found classified or top secret emails on Hillary’s private server, it doesn’t mean she transmitted protected material to unauthorized third parties. As far as the House Select Committee on Benghazi’s concerned, Hillary broke the law.
Because of the complexity of electronic communication and compliance with government rules related to classified material, the public can’t decipher what Hillary did wrong. Hillary admitted to ABC’s primetime news host David Muir Sept. 8, 2015 she made a mistake using her private server for government business. What Hillary also said consistently is that she didn’t knowingly receive or transmit any email marked “classified” on her private email. Reporting that he found 22 classified or top secret emails on Hillary’s private server, McCullough can’t say that Hillary violated any government law related to classified material. Having classified data on a private email server doesn’t mean that any rules related of classified information were broken. Assuming that Hillary’s server was hacked by foreign governments also doesn’t break any laws.
Classifying and reclassifying past emails isn’t enough to conclude that government rules were broken related to protecting classified material. Hillary’s campaign spokesman Brain Fallon doesn’t help his boss’s PR problems making sweeping statements about the email hubbub. “This appears to be over-classification run amok,” raising only one small part of the problem. Whether past emails were reclassified or not, the real issue has to do with Hillary deliberately transmitting classified or top secret material to someone without clearance. Whatever appears or doesn’t appear on Hillary’s private server in no way speaks to Hillary’s intent. When Petraeus shared classified material with Broadwell, someone without clearance, that was a more ironclad breach. As Petraeus’ authorized biographer, it’s questionable whether Petraeus did anything wrong other than have an affair.
Hillary and Petreaus have something in common related to managing classified or top secret information: Government officials have made a mountain-out-of-a-molehill. Petraeus should have never copped to any plea about mishandling government classified information. Plenty of current and past government officials have extended security clearance to their biographers. Petraeus was crucified because of his affair with Broadwell, not because he mishandled classified material. Hillary finds herself embroiled in a manufactured controversy over her private email server, designed, as McCarthy admitted to Hannity on national TV, to wreck her presidential ambitions. Government inspectors, like McCullough, need to figure out what’s the best way to handle classified or top secret electronic material. Hillary’s emails problems offer no proof of breaking any government classified rules.
