Earlier this week, I wrote a post titled ???Clinton e-mail scandal disqualifies her for president.???
Nothing she said at her press conference yesterday changes that calculation. If anything, her performance reinforces the argument that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has disqualified herself from higher office.
Clinton???s dismissive and combative response to the e-mail scandal shows that she is out of touch and not ethically qualified to be President of the United States. Her performance was a public relations disaster.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O???Malley, call your office ??? time to set up an exploratory committee.
Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb ??? might be time to test the presidential waters.
What is Hillary Clinton's Worst Scandal?
Calling all Democrat governors and senators, time to take a hard look in the mirror to see if you see a president staring back.
Expect this Clinton scandal to get far worse. There is no way out, because Clinton has dug in and she refused to provide a reasonable explanation for her actions.
At the press conference, Clinton explained, according to a Time transcript, that ???when I got to work as Secretary of State, I opted for convenience to use my personal e-mail account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal e-mails instead of two.???
Convenience is no defense.
It also sounds like a lie.
According to the AP, ???last month, Clinton told an audience in Silicon Valley that she uses multiple electronic devices. 'I have an iPad, a mini-iPad, an iPhone and a BlackBerry,??? Clinton said.??? So as recently as last month, Clinton became comfortable with four devices. What a miraculous transformation.
It is not reasonable for any government official, let alone the Secretary of State, to use a personal account to handle sensitive or even classified information. Clinton claimed that she did not e-mail classified information, but there is no way to know if this is true or false without Clinton giving an independent counsel the Clintonmail.com server to review.
This scandal was exposed when one of her e-mailed communications was hacked and provided to the public. It is clear that her e-mails were not secure.
The implication of this whole scandal is that Clinton???s real defense is the following: ???Do you know who I am? I am Hillary Clinton and I don???t answer to anybody. Now go away.???
Also, according to the Time transcript, Clinton was asked why she waited two months to turn over e-mails. She responded by saying that, ???I don???t think ??? I???d be happy to have somebody talk to you about the rules. I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by.???
An answer that only a lawyer can love.
Is she saying that the rules didn???t apply to her because she was Secretary of State or is she going to claim some sort of privilege because the server was shared with her husband, a former president? Even though some news reports have documented that President Bill Clinton does not use e-mail.
Do we, as a nation, really want a president who thinks she is above the law and above the ethical guidelines of us common folk?
Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post put forth a timeline of events. He documented that the Clintonmail.com domain name was registered the day Hillary Clinton began her confirmation hearings.
Did Secretary Clinton know the day of her confirmation hearing that she was not going to want to carry around two phones in the future? Was the issue of how many phones and e-mail addresses she would use a concern of her???s the day of her confirmation hearings?
Hypocrisy also is an issue here.
Glenn Kessler reported on the case of Scott Gration, former Ambassador to Kenya. Gration used a private e-mail account to handle ???sensitive but unclassified??? material. The story references a report of the State Department Inspector General that found that Gration???s use of a private e-mail account was a problem. He was fired.
It appears that Hillary Clinton fired Scott Gration for an offense that she committed. It will be important to find out what standard Clinton used to fire a staffer who was using private e-mail for official business when, it appears, Secretary Clinton was doing the same thing.
This is a classic case of ???do as I say, not as I do.???
Clinton claimed that she did not e-mail any classified information to anybody while Secretary of State. This needs to be investigated.
Looks like the next few months will be very interesting to see if Clinton supporters are so blinded by the desire to win the presidency again that they will ignore the ethical shortfalls of the likely nominee.
Also, it will be very interesting to watch as her head to head numbers start to plunge whether Democrats toss Hillary under the political bus and look for a new candidate.
