By Jenna Greene, From The National Law Journal
Hillary Clinton, citing the convenience of using a single mobile device, said she broke no rules in her exclusive use of personal email during her service as secretary of state.
“I thought it would be easier to carry one device,” Clinton said at a news conference in New York. “Looking back, it would have been better for me to use two separate phones and two separate emails.”
She continued, “I saw it as a matter of convenience. It was allowed. Others have done it.”
Legal experts agree that there is “not any blanket prohibition on any federal employee from using a personal email account to conduct government business,” said Potomac Law Group partner Neil Koslowe, a former U.S. Justice Department special litigation counsel who has worked on cases involving the Federal Records Act.
Clinton said that about half of the 60,000 emails she sent while serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 were personal, covering topics such as planning daughter Chelsea’s wedding.
She said she had “no reason to save” those messages. She continued, “No one wants their private email made public. I think most people understand and respect that.” She also said that government employees are responsible for determining “what’s personal and what’s work-related” in deciding what to save and what to delete.
Clinton said she has already turned over “all my emails that could possibly be work related.”
Clinton said: “I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by.” She continued, “I believe I have met all of my responsibilities and the server will remain private.”
However, some lawyers argue that Clinton should be compelled to turn over all her emails, not just the ones culled by her aides, to the National Archives and Records Administration or another arbiter for review.
“It’s sensible and fair to let a third party go through them,” said Alan Morrison, a public interest professor at George Washington University Law School. He noted that Richard Nixon unsuccessfully tried to shield his personal Oval Office tape recordings from government review.
The Washington Post on Tuesday reported that the State Department is now reviewing 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton already submitted. A department spokeswoman said that all of the emails that meet the standards for public release will be available in a single batch on a web site once the process is completed.
Clinton said the disclosure of her emails will offer “unprecedented insight into a high government official’s daily communications.”
Clinton also said her server had “numerous safeguards” and that she did not email any classified material.
IMAGE: Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on September 3, 2014. Credit: U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia Commons
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