WikiLeaks emails show Clinton's allies unaware over 'insane' private server

It's good to know that some of Hillary Clinton's top advisers weren't aware that she was using a private [illegal] server as secretary of state. It gives one hope that if she becomes POTUS (heaven forfend) that one or two of her top aides may actually be concerned over national security, not that it will change the open borders that Clinton wants.

Some of her top advisers had no clue as to the depth and scope of her email system when the scandal broke in March 2015. Even her current campaign manager had no idea about the bathroom server according to the Thursday WikiLeaks release of emails.

A close ally ('You go girlfriend') of Hillary's, Neera Tanden, the head of the Center for American Progress, was still p'd off months after the scandal broke. She pressed John Podesta over who gave Hillary permission to use the private system.

"Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email? And has that person been drawn and quartered?" Tanden wrote in July. "Like whole thing is f***ing insane."

But some of Clinton's closest aides, especially those who worked with her at the State Department (like Cheryl Mills and Huma Weiner Abedin) were very likely aware and on board with the illegal email setup, while others were in the dark.

On March 2nd, Podesta wrote to campaign manager Robby Mook asking if he had "any idea of the depth of this story?"

March 3rd, 1:32 a. m. Mook wrote back: "Nope. We brought up the existence of emails in research this summer but were told that everything was taken care of."

March 2nd, John Podesta also wrote to Tanden about his worries the day the email scandal broke. "Speaking of transparency, our friends [attorney David] Kendall, Cheryl and Phillipe [Reines] sure weren't forthcoming on the facts here."

Tanden's reply implied that keeping the [illegal] email setup a secret was probably Cheryl Mills' doing: "This is a Cheryl special," she wrote. "Know you love her, but this stuff is like her Achilles heel. Or kryptonite. She just can't say no to this s**t. Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy. I guess I know the answer they wanted to get away with it."

Six months afterward, Tanden was still angry, and in a September 4th interview said Clinton still owed the American people an apology.

Actually, the American people are owed more than an apology. We are owed an FBI director who upholds the law and is apolitical. We are owed an Attorney General who wears the blindfold of fairness and justice. 

We are owed true transparency, not just words.

And we are owed a prison sentence for Hillary Clinton who clearly broke the law simply by having a private server and a real investigation into the Clinton Foundation with questionable practices.

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Former U.S. Attorney sees a "red flag" with Hillary's email scandal

Eh, what's up, doc?

Beth Wilkinson is an attorney representing four main figures in the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's email malpractice. This is what Matthew Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney and now running a government watchdog group calls a "red flag."

Wilkinson is representing former chief of staff Cheryl Mills; media gatekeeper Philippe Reines; Jake Sullivan policy adviser, and former aide Heather Samuelson, the person who helped Hillary decide which Clinton emails were the most damaging and therefore had to be destroyed before turning over to the State Department the 30,000 that remained.

"I think it would be a real red flag," Whitaker said, referring to the legal defense tactic. He is the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT). He believes that having a single lawyer helps the four get their stories straight for the FBI interviews.

That would imply that something untoward was perpetrated by these four in service of the Clinton dynasty. Otherwise, what's the big deal? 

"The benefit is to have one lawyer's brain have all the knowledge of the various pieces and parts, and so each of those potential targets or subjects of the investigation get to share information across that same attorney--and quite frankly get their story to sync up and understand what other people know of the situation," Whitaker said.

Wilkinson is a Washington D.C. lawyer who's married to former NBC "Meet the Press" host David Gregory. When asked for comment, her office gave no immediate response as it has been their practice not to respond to the press on this case.

Whitaker explained that "All you're trying to do is seek the truth, and when someone is sharing a lawyer, you worry that the interview that you just did an hour ago with that attorney has been shared with the next witness and they can fix or reconcile their story to be the same."

Why that isn't illegal is anybody's guess--it ought to be. And while it isn't the norm, the legal representation hasn't been challenged by Justice Department officials, perhaps because, hey,  it's Hillary Clinton, after all.

In April, Cheryl Mills and Wilkinson blocked questions about Bryan Pagliano, Clinton's IT specialist and a key figure in the probe. Although Pagliano struck an immunity deal with the Justice Department last year, now he is seeking to invoke the Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions in the same Judicial Watch proceedings. That's what is known as wanting to have it both ways.

FACT is seeking the emails of Dennis Cheng, Clinton's former deputy chief of protocol at the State Department. His records may reveal a connection between the slush fund known as the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state. 

Cheng was the main person dealing with senior foreign government officials, and there were only a few emails of his among the 30,000 she turned over when she apparently felt comfortable to do so. Cheng was also a consultant to the William J. Clinton Foundation.

The plot sickens.


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