# FBI not recommending charges against Clinton **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 5, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125 "2016-07-05T15:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/261 "2016-07-08T16:34:37Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Not too sure the difference between having an AOL account and having a personal server is enough to make this claim “mostly false”, but whatever. Points have to be scored, right? 🙂 Even AOL has 24 hr security monitoring of their servers, so that’s a major difference. You can ignore that if you’re only worried about points, I guess. Rice hardly used email at all, but you can ignore that too if you like whenever a Clinton defender brings up “Rice and Powell did it too”. Golly, those politifact guys just care about scoring points on Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/262 "2016-07-08T16:34:56Z")
Yeah, I mean seriously… AOL? That’s just embarrassing. And I don’t believe Rice never sent or received an email, that’s just utter bullshit. What was she using from 2004 - 2008, carrier pigeons? (I know, I know… how dare I impute that someone in the Bush Administration lied?!) Edited to add: Right, [AOL](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/youve-got-hacked-aol-confirms-significant-number-mail-users-hit-n91701) is [notoriously](http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/257177821.html) secure. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/263 "2016-07-08T16:41:18Z")
Missed edit window. From Wikipedia’s [List of Data Breaches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches): AOL - 2004, 92,000,000 accounts hacked, web inside job, hacked AOL - 2006, 20,000,000 accounts, accidentally published AOL - 2014, 2,400,000 accounts hacked And the point of bringing up Powell and Rice isn’t to say that Clinton’s negligence was okay. It’s to point out the hypocrisy and naivete of claiming that this is unique. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/264 "2016-07-08T16:44:24Z")
I’m not going to defend AOL specifically, but as Comey also mentioned, most “hacks” of personal email is not because of server security but user end issues. e.g. poor password or security question choices. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/265 "2016-07-08T16:46:21Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Actually, I think the FBI Director mentioned that she did in at least one case originate an email containing top secret information, so that’s not good. Though it was (my wild guess) probably a discussion of CIA drone strikes, which are publicly reported anyway, but considered top secret information because reasons. > > Also, the Director made it clear that she never sent any secret attachments, just emails containing discussions of confidential information. I may be wrong, but she was also in the position to determine classification of her own created content, so regardless of the subject matter of the e-mail, if she created it she could theoretically mark it any way she wanted to. She wouldn’t be able to change an existing classification from a different organization, but I believe she could determine the classification level of her own department’s original documents. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/266 "2016-07-08T16:51:19Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Even AOL has 24 hr security monitoring of their servers, so that’s a major difference. You can ignore that if you’re only worried about points, I guess. Rice hardly used email at all, but you can ignore that too if you like whenever a Clinton defender brings up “Rice and Powell did it too”. Golly, those politifact guys just care about scoring points on Clinton. The Politifact article cited above doesn’t say where Powell hosted his email, and his tenure as SoS mostly pre-dated gmail. Was it AOL? That is kind of funny. More seriously, I’m not sure “I trusted classified information [\*] to random, private companies to care for” is actually better than Clinton’s solution. They’re both bad, but for different reasons. In Clinton’s case, it’s reasonable to assume that a homebrew server didn’t have best-of-breed security, and in Powell’s case, for all we know, AOL still has backups of classified emails in a vault somewhere, or some low-level tech sold them to China in 2002. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/267 "2016-07-08T16:52:27Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Yeah, I mean seriously… AOL? That’s just embarrassing. And I don’t believe Rice never sent or received an email, that’s just utter bullshit. What was she using from 2004 - 2008, carrier pigeons? > > (I know, I know… how dare I impute that someone in the Bush Administration . Not never, just rarely, and that comes from many sources. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/268 "2016-07-08T16:55:06Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Even AOL has 24 hr security monitoring of their servers, so that’s a major difference. You can ignore that if you’re only worried about points, I guess. Rice hardly used email at all, but you can ignore that too if you like whenever a Clinton defender brings up “Rice and Powell did it too”. Golly, those politifact guys just care about scoring points on Clinton. > [@choie](#): > > Yeah, I mean seriously… AOL? That’s just embarrassing. And I don’t believe Rice never sent or received an email, that’s just utter bullshit. What was she using from 2004 - 2008, carrier pigeons? > > (I know, I know… how dare I impute that someone in the Bush Administration lied?!) > > Edited to add: Right, [AOL](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/youve-got-hacked-aol-confirms-significant-number-mail-users-hit-n91701) is [notoriously](http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/257177821.html) secure. Yeah, there is that, and using AOL also involves servers outside the government security, with backups and shared servers where not only AOL workers could have access, but the backup companies as well. AFAICR one big part of the investigation was to find if the backup companies Clinton used were compromised. Finding that that was not the case was one reason why there was no advise to indict. Another reason was finding that previous secretaries had used servers outside the government. I will have to add that looking at the (C) issue that is shrinking in value as I see from previous posts is that Comey should had not worded the point about the classified emails found the way he did, but I do think that just like Politifact he wanted to toss a meaty substitute to the Republicans, just to keep it fair and not to make them look as if they were so off base as they were. Unfortunately for Comey it was not enough for the Republicans and they are demanding more than just Boca Burger. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/269 "2016-07-08T18:09:12Z")
Has there been any evidence that Rice or Powell transmitted classified information through email? Did both of them also use proper .gov emails for work? As far as I know, Hillary used her private mail for all her official email traffic, didn’t she? How could she possibly think that was a good idea? Also, since the excuse she gave about doing it for ‘convenience’ was blown apart by Comey, it would seem rather clear that she did this to control access or hide information from FOIA requests or from other government officials. Also, Comey clearly showed that she repeatedly and directly lied to the American people over this issue. That alone should be disqualifying in a Presidential candidate. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/270 "2016-07-08T18:13:33Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > …it would seem rather clear that she did this to control access or hide information from FOIA requests or from other government officials… Oh, totally clear, really, no question in your mind about that! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/271 "2016-07-08T18:17:07Z")
Since she undoubtedly dealt with classified material a lot and there was a very small number of classified info discussed in her emails, she undoubtedly used other methods of communication than her personal email. I don’t think sending some emails from an office computer or a tablet at home remotely puts lie to her “convenience” excuse. It’s still way more convenient to have just one phone even if it’s not your exclusive email system. Powell and some of Rice’s aides had private emails that contained material later up-classified to confidential. The vast majority of both their private emails seem unrecoverable though. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/272 "2016-07-08T18:19:04Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Also, Comey clearly showed that she repeatedly and directly lied to the American people over this issue. That alone should be disqualifying in a Presidential candidate. So other candidates lying to the American people on any other issue is not disqualifying? Or are you being careful not to disqualify Trump who’s lied more than the rest of the candidates put together? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/273 "2016-07-08T18:28:34Z")
Well, shit, _disqualify_ her, who cares? Never that fond of her to begin with! Of course, finding another candidate willing face Donald Trump is a daunting prospect, but the Dems can probably scare up somebody. Must be _somebody_ willing to face that challenge! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/274 "2016-07-08T18:37:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Has there been any evidence that Rice or Powell transmitted classified information through email? Did both of them also use proper .gov emails for work? > > As far as I know, Hillary used her private mail for all her official email traffic, didn’t she? How could she possibly think that was a good idea? > > Also, since the excuse she gave about doing it for ‘convenience’ was blown apart by Comey, it would seem rather clear that she did this to control access or hide information from FOIA requests or from other government officials. > > Also, Comey clearly showed that she repeatedly and directly lied to the American people over this issue. That alone should be disqualifying in a Presidential candidate. [: **QI Klaxon Blaring** :](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU5mOT57ghM) Uh, no, someone lied to you about that part of the ‘convenience’ being blown apart by Comey. > **[Congress just grilled the FBI director on why Clinton wasn't charged. Here's...](https://www.vox.com/2016/7/7/12118052/clinton-email-hearing-house-comey)** > > Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology,... > [@](#): > > 1. Comey suggests Clinton really might have done all this for “convenience,” rather than having other nefarious intent > > One question on many people’s minds throughout all this has been why Clinton would go to such lengths to host her emails on a private server in the first place. > > The obvious answer, according to Clinton critics, is that she wanted to withhold her emails from the government and the public, shielding them from Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, investigating committees, and so forth. > > Yet Clinton and her defenders have long maintained that she wanted to keep all of her email on device purely for the sake of convenience — suggesting this was all an innocent blunder from someone who’s not really technologically savvy. > > A bit surprisingly, Comey sort of backed Clinton’s explanation here. After a question from Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) about whether Clinton designed her email setup so that she could withhold information, Comey said, “I can’t say that. Our best information is she set it up as a matter of convenience.” As pointed before other items do look ugly for Clinton, but she as apologized for the mistake of using that server already. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/275 "2016-07-08T19:03:41Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Has there been any evidence that Rice or Powell transmitted classified information through email? Did both of them also use proper .gov emails for work? [Yes and no](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/09/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-said-my-predecessors-did-same-thin/), respectively. [QUOTE=Politifact] We should note that the State Department has flagged a handful of emails containing information now deemed classified that were received by Powell and aides to Rice at private email addresses. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sam] Also, Comey clearly showed that she repeatedly and directly lied to the American people over this issue. That alone should be disqualifying in a Presidential candidate. [/QUOTE] Thanks, but we’ll decide on our own whether she’s qualified or not. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/276 "2016-07-08T20:25:13Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > So other candidates lying to the American people on any other issue is not disqualifying? > Or are you being careful not to disqualify Trump who’s lied more than the rest of the candidates put together? There are so many ways that Trump should be disqualified from being President that it’s hard to count them. Habitually making shit up is only one of them. Why on Earth would you assume that I support Trump in any way? The man is a dangerous buffoon. But we should not let the existence of a dangerous buffoon one one side of the aisle blind us to the dangerous buffoonery on the other. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/277 "2016-07-08T20:28:03Z")
Hillary Clinton said that the reason she set up the server is because she thought it would be easier to just use one device than to use several. That was her ‘convenience’ argument. Comey said that she regularly communicated using multiple difference devices, so that blew her ‘convenience’ argument out of the water. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/278 "2016-07-08T20:31:49Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > There are so many ways that Trump should be disqualified from being President that it’s hard to count them. Habitually making shit up is only one of them. > > Why on Earth would you assume that I support Trump in any way? The man is a dangerous buffoon. But we should not let the existence of a dangerous buffoon one one side of the aisle blind us to the dangerous buffoonery on the other. Well unfortunately, that is indeed what we have to do. Only age and birthright can truly disqualify a presidential candidate and there’s only two choices. So Clinton it is. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/279 "2016-07-08T20:32:31Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Hillary Clinton said that the reason she set up the server is because she thought it would be easier to just use one device than to use several. That was her ‘convenience’ argument. Comey said that she regularly communicated using multiple difference devices, so that blew her ‘convenience’ argument out of the water. I regularly communicate using my MS Surface Pro4, my desktop computer, my cellphone, and my tablet, depending on what machine I’m at, or what I’m using. I generally only want to carry my one cellphone when I’m out and about, and not planning to do design work on my Surface. The idea that communicating on various devices, somehow means you don’t actually prefer to carry fewer is really silly. That just seems like a disingenuous argument to bulwark a pre-existing opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125/280 "2016-07-08T20:32:36Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > [Yes and no](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/mar/09/hillary-clinton/hillary-clinton-said-my-predecessors-did-same-thin/). I just read the link - it said that Powell was the only regular user of E-mail, and that while he did receive an unspecified small number of e-mails now deemed classified, it wasn’t clear if they were considered classified at the time. In the end, they deemed Hillary’s ‘other SoS did it too’ defense to be ‘mostly false’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-not-recommending-charges-against-clinton/759125.md?page=15)