When covering Hillary Clinton’s emails, it’s tough to beat last Friday’s New York Times in terms of sheer factual inaccuracy, but a new article by the Daily Beast tries its very best.
Over the course of roughly 1,300 words, the reporter for the Beast managed to misunderstand that:
- It is the State Department, not Hillary Clinton herself, that is releasing her work-related emails from her years as Secretary;
- Of the 2,000 emails that have been released to the public to date, the only messages from 2012 were those relevant to a document request from the Benghazi Committee, and are therefore not reflective of Clinton’s entire record at State;
- And that the reason more of the 55,000 pages of prepared emails have not been seen by the public is not because they are “missing,” but rather because the State Department is releasing them in batches at regular intervals.
Once again, a reporter has chosen to see conspiracy and intrigue where none exists. For the second time in a week, a respectable news outlet ran with an innuendo-laced story that contained glaring factual inaccuracies.
When covering Hillary Clinton’s emails, here’s a new rule of thumb: Google first, Pulitzer second.
| Daily Beast: “The Missing Hillary Emails No One Can Explain” | FACTS |
| The Daily Beast claimed that Hillary Clinton released 2,000 emails to the public. “Among the approximately 2,000 emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released from her private account, there is a conspicuous two-month gap.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/15] | The State Department, not Hillary Clinton, released emails to the public at her request. “The State Department released its first round of emails from Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State on Friday, offering a new look at her handling of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State. They reveal a range of correspondence from Clinton, everything from policy briefs to scheduling requests to friendly exchanges with staff…’It’s beginning. I just would like to see it expedited, so we could get more of them out more quickly,’ she said.” In June, “The State Department has released nearly 2,000 emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton in her first year as Secretary of State” [CNN, 5/26/15; ABC News, 6/30/15] |
| The Daily Beast said there was a two-month gap between May and June 2012 containing no emails between Hillary Clinton and her State Department Staff. “Among the approximately 2,000 emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released from her private account, there is a conspicuous two-month gap. There are no emails between Clinton and her State Department staff during May and June 2012, a period of escalating violence in Libya leading up to the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left four Americans dead. A State Department spokesman told The Daily Beast that for the year 2012, only those emails related to the security of the consulate or to the U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya were made public and turned over to a House committee investigating the fatal Benghazi assault.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/15] |
Not all of Hillary Clinton’s emails have been made public, to date the State Department has released just two small batches of the nearly 55,000 total pages Hillary Clinton handed to the Department. According to CNN, “The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State.” In June, “The State Department has released nearly 2,000 emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton in her first year as Secretary of State, according to officials and the agency’s website. The release Tuesday evening is the first in a federal court-ordered rollout that will make 55,000 pages of Clinton’s emails available on the department’s website by Jan. 29, 2016.” [CNN, 5/26/15; ABC News, 6/30/15]The first batch of emails made public were only those responsive to the Select Committee’s request for relevant documents. “Nearly 900 pages of Libya-related e-mails from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private account provide little apparent fuel for a Republican investigation of her actions preceding the September 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi and an alleged administration coverup in its aftermath. Released Friday by the State Department, the e-mails contain nuggets indicating Clinton received a fairly steady flow of information about the political chaos inside Libya throughout 2011 and 2012.” [Washington Post, 5/22/15]
The second batch of emails made public by the State Department contained emails sent between March and December 2009. “The State Department released 3,000 pages of emails from Hillary Clinton’s tenure as the country’s chief diplomat on Tuesday, in compliance with a judge’s order to make the documents public… The batch of emails released Tuesday were sent between March and December 2009, her first year as secretary of State. Many of the emails are heavily redacted.” [USA Today, 7/1/15] State Department confirmed that it does possess emails from Hillary Clinton’s account during the time of the perceived “gaps,” but they were not related to the attacks in Benghazi in 2012 and therefore not relevant to the Select Committee. “Recent public statements have referred to perceived ‘gaps’ in the production of responsive emails involving Secretary Clinton from the 2011-2012 timespan produced to the Committee. The Department does possess emails involving Secretary Clinton sent and received during the former Secretary’s 2011 trip to Tripoli, which also included stops in Malta, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. However, the Department has not identified emails from that timeframe containing information related to the attacks in Benghazi in 2012. With that said, the Department remains willing to engage with the Committee about any perceived concerns with any of our productions, including our recent production of the former Secretary’s emails.” [State Department letter to Chairman Gowdy, 4/15/15] · The Select Committee’s document request only sought messages to or from Hillary Clinton between January 2011 and December 2012 specifically related to the attack in Benghazi. “On February 13, the Department produced STATE-SCB 0045000 – STATE-SCB 0045895, which included just under 300 email records from former Secretary Clinton in the requested date range of January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2012. The Committee had identified these documents as its top priority. The Committee’s request to the Department focused on Benghazi and the Chairman’s letter to Secretary Clinton explicitly stated that the ‘Committee has no interest in any emails, documents, or other tangible things not related to Benghazi.’ Nonetheless, the Department erred on the side of inclusion when determining whether a document was responsive to the Committees requests. The documents produced relate to the security of, and attacks on, the State Department facility in Benghazi; the United States’ diplomatic presence in Libya, including Benghazi; and the U.S. weapons program related to Libya, such as discussions about whether to arm Libyan forces that were opposed to the Qaddafi regime.” [State Department letter to Chairman Gowdy, 4/15/15] |
| The Daily Beast noted that the two month gap coincided with an employment exemption granted to Huma Abedin, but no emails regarding the exemption exist. “That two-month period also coincides with a senior Clinton aide obtaining a special exemption that allowed her to work both as a staff member to the secretary and in a private capacity for Clinton and her husband’s foundation. The Associated Press has sued to obtain emails from Clinton’s account about the aide, Huma Abedin.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/15] | The only emails from 2012 that have been made public to date were those emails responsive to a request made by the Benghazi Committee, and therefore would not include emails regarding Huma Abedin’s employment. “Nearly 900 pages of Libya-related e-mails from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private account provide little apparent fuel for a Republican investigation of her actions preceding the September 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi and an alleged administration coverup in its aftermath. Released Friday by the State Department, the e-mails contain nuggets indicating Clinton received a fairly steady flow of information about the political chaos inside Libya throughout 2011 and 2012.” Another batch of Clinton’s emails released on June 30, 2015 “were sent between March and December 2009, her first year as secretary of State.” [Washington Post, 5/22/15; USA Today, 7/1/15] |
| The Daily Beast implied that messages “regarding the security situation in Libya” are missing from Hillary Clinton’s emails. “Regarding the security situation in Libya, there was plenty for Clinton and her team to discuss via email. On May 22, 2012, the International Red Cross’s Benghazi office was hit by rocket-propelled grenades. ‘The attack on the International Red Cross was another attack that also involved us and threats to the compound there in Benghazi,’ testified Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, a senior State Department security chief in Libya (PDF) before the House Oversight Committee in October 2012. Then, on June 6, an improvised explosive device detonated outside of the U.S. consulate, ripping a 12-foot-wide hole in the compound’s wall and prompting officials to release a public warning on ‘the fluid security situation in Libya.’ Yet the State Department has not produced any emails to or from Clinton about the improvised bomb.” [Daily Beast, 7/28/15] | Sources have confirmed that Hillary Clinton conducted most of her business by means other than email. “Most of the time, the former official said, his interactions with Clinton and across the department were either face to face or over phone. When he did get an e-mail from Clinton, the former official said, it was generally a directive and his response usually came on paper or in person the next time they saw each other. When Clinton was traveling, the former official said, he generally conveyed messages to Clinton through a core group of four senior aides–Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan, Huma Abedin and Philippe Reines.” Furthermore, Hillary Clinton confirmed that instead of email she regularly viewed information “in hard copy,” on “a separate, closed system,” or “in person, through correspondence,” and “by telephone.” [Bloomberg, 3/3/15]Not all of Hillary Clinton’s emails have been made public, to date the State Department has released just two small batches of the nearly 55,000 total pages Hillary Clinton handed to the Department. According to CNN, “The roughly 300 emails, about 850 pages, are part of the 30,000 that she turned over to State from her private email server, which she used almost exclusively to conduct both private and public business during her time at State.” In June, “The State Department has released nearly 2,000 emails sent and received by Hillary Clinton in her first year as Secretary of State, according to officials and the agency’s website. The release Tuesday evening is the first in a federal court-ordered rollout that will make 55,000 pages of Clinton’s emails available on the department’s website by Jan. 29, 2016.” [CNN, 5/26/15; ABC News, 6/30/15] |