The Power Line team gets down to business with the latest Democrat scandals: Hillary Clinton’s “clear cut” violation of State Department rules and the Justice Department’s criminal corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez. 
The team expires several important questions. Did the White House know about ClintonEmail.com since August? What’s Clinton’s most ludicrous claim about her email? And is the Obama administration breaking the news of her email account to silence Hillary on the debate over a deal with Iran? Could this happen to a better former Secretary of State? What difference at this point does it make?
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Obama owns Hillary now. One wrong step, one bad word against Obama, and he’ll come down on her (maybe Bill too) with criminal charges just as he did against Menendez.
Obama also owns the Clinton Foundation now. Failure to use some of those funds as he sees fit will also result in charges.
My guess is that Hillary will play ball in the short term, but watch for Clinton, Inc. to find a way out . . .
She’s got a lot of dirt on him as well though… there may be controls on his enthusiasm.
At the very least, Obama must know that she’s tracked and documented a king’s ransom of scandals… she may be able to reveal one that doesn’t directly implicate herself, and take him down without wrinkling her pantsuit.
The idea (@ 10:50) that “all things being equal most bureaucrats would rather operate in secret” and being “a control freak” is an excuse for not using your employer’s email system is laughable. Especially when your employer is the US government (i.e., the taxpayers).
The fact that many Dems will use this or any other fig leaf (perhaps successfully) is just depressing.
Let’s assume for a second that Hillary did the offsite server thing for a reason, because she obviously knew this was against the rules if not the law. If you take that assumption, then the private email was done for probably a few reasons:
1. There might be communications that would implicate Hillary in some way.
2. There might be communications that would implicate Barry in some way, and she could use that later.
That’s it. Those are the reasons. This is Hillary Hardball. She knowingly violated the law for her own political benefit, and probably personal benefit as well, considering the relationships between foreign entities and the Clinton foundation.
Her whole political career should come crashing down for this, and she can be relegated to the ashbin of history, where embittered failures go to be forgotten.
Given that there is the potential for abuse stated above, there is defense for secrecy in the Executive branch of government in Federalist 70.
“That unity is conducive to energy will not be disputed. Decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterize the proceedings of one man in a much more eminent degree than the prodeedings of any greater number; and in proportion as the number is increased, these qualities will be diminished.” – Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 70.
State Department policy would not carry the force of law. For reasons stated by Hamilton, exemptions would and should apply to those at the very top of the State Department, i.e. Secretary of State, carrying on the most sensitive discussions and negotiations with our foreign allies and adversaries.