Staff Reports
On PBS' NewsHour, host Jonathan Capehart made a ridiculous claim about Hillary Clinton's private server issue. He argued that Donald Trump's situation was worse due to his possession of classified information, while Clinton did not. He then claimed that the emails found in Clinton's server mainly talked about appointments and recipes, and none of them contained secrets about America's allies.
A panel member, Gary Abernathy, quickly corrected Capehart. He noted that FBI Director Comey had revealed that many of the messages found on Clinton's server were classified.
He then claimed that if classified information had been discovered on Clinton's server, the country would have known about it. However, Capehart was not able to provide a clear explanation as to how this information was handled by the Department of Justice. James Comey, the former FBI director, revealed that over 2,000 of the 30,000 emails that were found on Clinton’s server were classified. Despite this, he did not recommend criminal charges against her.
It's important to keep in mind that a president has the authority to declassify certain documents at any time, while the secretary of state doesn't have this same power. Also, the Presidential Records Act doesn't provide the secretary of state with the same level of protection. This highlights the difference between the level of accountability and responsibility that both the president and the secretary of state have.
Capehart's attempt to make light of the Clinton private server issue is both inaccurate and ignores the seriousness of the situation regarding the mishandling of classified data. The fact that numerous emails that were found on her server have raised national security concerns is a vital matter that should not be dismissed.
