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FBI: Colin Powell Is Lying, Tried To Get Hillary To Delete Her Emails, But She Didn’t

FBI: Colin Powell Is Lying, Tried To Get Hillary To Delete Her Emails, But She Didn’t

The FBI released their politically charged investigation file of Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s state department emails and unsurprisingly they show no wrongdoing, but they did firmly verify that former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell had in fact delivered some unusual advice: to delete all of her emails quickly so they would not be exposed to public records requests!

As we all know, Hillary Clinton in fact did retain most of her emails, which Republicans spent seven Benghazi investigations to find and believe is a campaign issue more important than jobs, the economy or the Supreme Court. Luckily, Mother Jones magazine’s truly dedicated lead writer Kevin Drum carefully dumpster dived the FBI’s report over this long holiday weekend, unearthing this gem:

Page 11 From The FBI’s Report: On January 23, 2009, Clinton contacted former Secretary of State Colin Powell via e-mail to inquire about his use of a BlackBerry while he was Secretary of State (January 2001 to January 2005). In his e-mail reply, Powell warned Clinton that if it became “public” that Clinton had a BlackBerry, and she used it to “do business,” her e-mails could become “official record[s] and subject to the law.” Powell further advised Clinton, “Be very careful. I got around it all by not saying much and not using systems that captured the data.”

Drum: This is important. First, it makes clear that Hillary conversed with Colin Powell two days after becoming Secretary of State, not “a year later,” as Powell has claimed. Second, Powell essentially told her that he had just gone ahead and broken the law by “not using systems that captured the data.” Hillary, by contrast, chose instead to retain everything as the law required.

Last month, Hillary Clinton surprisingly revealed that it was Powell to whom she turned for job advice when embarking upon the monumental task of restoring America’s diplomatic good standing after eight years of George W. Bush’s disastrous reign. The ex-General pushed back, claiming that Clinton had used private email for a year according to his statement to the Wall Street Journal before their emailed exchange was revealed. Powell falesely claimed Clinton was subtly trying to blame him for her job problems, but as you can see above, the FBI’s report completely backs up her assertions reported in the New York Times.

It will go down in history as a portait in the double standards of American politics where a female candidate spends a whole year getting grilled for the slightest beaurocratic issue, meanwhile the man she’s running against receives a free pass with the Republican party and in the press as thousands of people sue him for racketeering with Trump University and he pays IRS fines on the political bribes he dispensed to avoid criminal charges.

Thusly, Hillary Clinton’s long email saga can rest, having turned up no serious evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity whatsoever. On that note, it’s best to give Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders the last word, because he was right last November, 100% right, and captured the mood of the country frowning upon the Republican party’s desperate diversion of our country’s politics from the big picture towards partisan nit picking. Sanders said then:

“The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails! Enough of the emails, let’s talk about the real issues facing the United States of America.”

The American people still feel the same way, and want the same thing this year.

Author’s Note: Please read Kevin Drum’s story “Lead: America’s real criminal element” about one of the little discussed, real issues facing our country today.

Grant Stern
is the Executive Editor of Occupy Democrats and published author. His new Meet the Candidates 2020 book series is distributed by Simon and Schuster. He's also mortgage broker, community activist and radio personality in Miami, Florida., as well as the producer of the Dworkin Report podcast. Grant is also an occasional contributor to Raw Story, Alternet, and the DC Report, and an unpaid senior advisor to the Democratic Coalition and a Director of Sunshine Agenda Inc. a government transparency nonprofit organization. Get all of his stories sent directly to your inbox here:

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