# What happened with the Hillary email scandal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 29, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574 "2016-01-29T14:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/21 "2016-01-29T17:02:33Z")
He did? Well, that certainly settles _that!_ ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/22 "2016-01-29T17:05:30Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > It seems to be almost forgotten at this point. Wasn’t she facing felony charges a few months ago? Were they dropped? I don’t really know the details about this particular scandal at all, but I do think running for president is not a get out of jail free card. Unless Obama pardoned her, or the court dropped the charges, she should stand trial. People don’t actually go to jail for media created scandals. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/23 "2016-01-29T17:10:03Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He did? Well, that certainly settles _that!_ Yeah, I can sleep easily now. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/24 "2016-01-29T17:24:55Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > The article goes to note what it is likely to happen, this is indeed mostly an investigation on who exactly had access to the emails and to set proper guidelines for the future; as some noted, it remains a bureaucratic fight. The article doesn’t actually say what is likely or what the investigation may or may not be mostly about, because there’s no way for outsiders to know at this point. The FBI has the option of recommending that criminal charges be filed or declining to do so. Predictions at this point have nothing more to go on than speculation and spin. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/25 "2016-01-29T17:28:19Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > No. > > They may have discovered a crime, though, and are still gathering evidence. Dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s, even. > > And the suspect might not be Hillary, but one of her aides. So no, the FBI isn’t going to announce anything until the investigation is complete. Which would seem to be standard investigative process. Well, they already announced it to [Tom DeLay](http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/267083-tom-delay-feds-ready-to-indict-clinton), apparently. Or maybe he’s just full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/26 "2016-01-29T17:41:37Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > No. > > They may have discovered a crime, though, and are still gathering evidence. Dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s, even. > > And the suspect might not be Hillary, but one of her aides. So no, the FBI isn’t going to announce anything until the investigation is complete. Which would seem to be standard investigative process. They may have discovered that Cruz is a space alien, too. But I’ll reserve judgment until there’s actually reason to believe so. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/27 "2016-01-29T18:05:11Z")
Nothing. Nothing happened with the Hillary email scandal. _Because we buried it._ We made it go away. Our outlets won’t report on it, or will downplay it - we have all the pieces in place, the hands have been shooked, the deals are made. Maybe if the right-wingers would tone down the morality and integrity, they could learn how to play the game, too. Amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/28 "2016-01-29T18:22:42Z")
The silly hopes of the GOP that Clinton would be somehow indicted by the FBI in the middle of her campaign will turn out to be just another fantasy. Americans stopped caring after nothing was found and Bernie Sanders explicitly said “We’re tired of hearing about your damn emails”. Don’t know if he intended it or not, but that effectively killed any momentum it had. If Clinton is elected, I hope she can find some time to send him a grateful present. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/29 "2016-01-29T20:12:55Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The article doesn’t actually say what is likely or what the investigation may or may not be mostly about, because there’s no way for outsiders to know at this point. We do a lot, compared to the ton of speculation and spin from the right wing media and the mainstream too. The FBI has reported already that Hillary is not the target of the investigation. > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The FBI has the option of recommending that criminal charges be filed or declining to do so. Predictions at this point have nothing more to go on than speculation and spin. Indeed, but as pointed before the speculation and spin are coming mostly from the right wing. Predictions for almost all of it to end in disappointment for the right wingers are very good. > **[Myths And Facts On Hillary Clinton's Email And Reports Of "Top Secret" Materials](https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-nation/myths-and-facts-hillary-clintons-email-and-reports-top-secret-materials)** > > Media are exploiting news that two emails Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton turned over to the State Department from her time as secretary of state may be retroactively classified as "top secret" to push myths about Clinton's handling... ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/30 "2016-01-29T20:16:41Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > You think Hillary is a flight risk? Lol. I’m seeing a high-speed police chase after a white SUV… ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/31 "2016-01-29T20:32:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Once again Hillary benefited from Republican whacko conspiracy theories. … Yep, the republicans made Hillary look like the sane one in the room. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/32 "2016-01-29T20:48:29Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I’m seeing a high-speed police chase after a white SUV… Thought it was low speed? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/33 "2016-01-29T21:01:11Z")
Maybe Hil drives faster? As far as I can tell, the emails are mentioned with some regularity and all it accomplishes is to make her opponents look like some 21st century version of the Spanish Inquisition. Rabid purists whose interest in the truth is [del]second[/del] way below the need to DEFEAT Clinton. Go ahead. Beat the drum now. It’ll make the General Election all the easier. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/34 "2016-01-29T21:06:33Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > If there was a smoking gun, I’m pretty sure they would have acted by now. The problem is that high level appointed or elected officials regularly mishandle classified information, so if they went after Hillary they would have to go after all those others as well. Something that would have gotten you or I in jail for security violations is ignored when the appointed or elected officials do it. So, in a sense the Republicans yammering about this are correct…she should be investigated and probably charged criminally. However, the reality is that she isn’t going to be for the same reason Congress critters aren’t investigated when they leak sensitive information. And the Republicans yammering for her head over this know that, since it would be a lot of their asses as well if the FBI or anyone else ever brought the hammer down, since the hammer that smacks Hillary could equally smack any of them as well. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/35 "2016-01-29T21:16:29Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Nothing. Nothing happened with the Hillary email scandal. _Because we buried it._ We made it go away. Our outlets won’t report on it, or will downplay it - we have all the pieces in place, the hands have been shooked, the deals are made. Maybe if the right-wingers would tone down the morality and integrity, they could learn how to play the game, too. Amateurs. Right now it is the lead story on Yahoo!, it’s on the front page of cnn. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/36 "2016-01-29T21:20:45Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Right now it is the lead story on Yahoo!, it’s on the front page of cnn. Buried in plain sight! Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/37 "2016-01-29T22:39:08Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > This got a little push recently with an supposed leak from an Intelligence Committee Inspector General saying there was highly classified material on the server. The State Department disputes the classification (I guess different agencies have their own rules) and says that some of the material was retroactively classified. State has now [agreed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/29/the-state-department-concludes-there-is-top-secret-material-in-hillary-clintons-email-correspondence-from-her-time-as-secretary-of-state/) that there was top secret material there. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/38 "2016-01-29T22:51:32Z")
And on the [Washington Post site](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/29/the-state-department-concludes-there-is-top-secret-material-in-hillary-clintons-email-correspondence-from-her-time-as-secretary-of-state/): > [@](#): > > **The State Department: Hillary Clinton’s email correspondence contained ‘top secret’ material** > The State Department has concluded there is “top secret” material in Hillary Clinton’s email correspondence from the time she was secretary of state, indicating that some of her emails will never be released, even in heavily redacted form, because they are too sensitive for the public to view. and the [Associated Press](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e19abf78b6fe43e7b7719f059901630d/apnewsbreak-govt-finds-top-secret-info-clinton-emails): > [@](#): > > **US declares 22 Clinton emails ‘top secret’** > The Obama administration confirmed for the first time Friday that Hillary Clinton’s home server contained closely guarded government secrets, censoring 22 emails that contained material requiring one of the highest levels of classification. and [ABC news](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-email-release-state-dept-miss-todays/story?id=36600533): > [@](#): > > **Hillary Clinton Email Release: State Dept. Likely to Miss Today’s Deadline** > The State Department is expected to fall well short of a court-ordered mandate to release all 55,000 pages of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails by today. > It was required as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to finish the production today and release the remaining 9,900 pages of her emails. But officials say that the number of pages released today will be closer to 1,000. and the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35446455): > [@](#): > > **Hillary Clinton emails declared ‘top secret’** > Hillary Clinton’s unsecured home server contained more than a dozen emails deemed “top secret” and [Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-clinton-emails-withhold-idUSKCN0V72JB): > [@](#): > > **U.S. to withhold some Clinton emails with top secret information** > Seven private email chains of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be withheld from the public in their entirety because they contain top secret information, the U.S. State Department said on Friday. So it’s pretty obviously almost forgotten, except by a few Repubs out on the lunatic fringe. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/39 "2016-01-29T22:53:16Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > If there was a smoking gun, I’m pretty sure they would have acted by now. Actually, I am not quite sure they would. The F.B.I is in a tricky spot. They are investigating the leading Dem presidential candidate or her most trusted assistants right before an election. This is a highly partisan issue with the Dems claiming it is no big deal and the 'Pubs claiming it is the end of the world. The F.B.I. could seriously affect the election. If they were to jump too fast one way or the other they would be hammered upon by whichever side gets pissed for losing on this issue. So I don’t think that the F.B.I. would run screaming into the streets as soon as they found something. I think the more likely response would be to hand it off to someone else and duck to avoid the splatter when it invariably explodes into a giant partisan bloodbath. Slee ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574/40 "2016-01-29T22:55:11Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > State has now [agreed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/29/the-state-department-concludes-there-is-top-secret-material-in-hillary-clintons-email-correspondence-from-her-time-as-secretary-of-state/) that there was top secret material there. But not necessarily classified at the time it was sent and received. > [@](#): > > Kirby said the State Department has not yet made a determination of whether the information was classified at the time it was sent or has become more sensitive due to subsequent events. He said that, regardless, the information was deemed too sensitive Friday for release. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-with-the-hillary-email-scandal/744574.md?page=3)