Today on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough continued to spread misinformation about Hillary Clinton’s emails by wrongfully stating that Hillary Clinton did not comply with regulations.
SCARBOROUGH: Again though, the regulation is clear and they’re supposed to back it up, and they’re supposed to back it up by having it at the server at the department where they work. She didn’t do that.
The Facts Are Clear:
- The 2009 federal regulation on handling electronic emails did not require that emails be preserved in real time. It stated that: “Agencies that allow employees to send and receive official electronic mail messages using a system not operated by the agency must ensure that Federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system.”
- It wasn’t until 2014 that the federal regulations were updated to require emails be preserved in real time. The law now required federal government officials using nongovernment email systems to forward a “complete copy of the record to an official electronic messaging account of the officer or employee not later than 20 days after the original creation or transmission of the record.”
- Secretary Clinton complied with the rules and regulations in place when she was Secretary of State. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “There was no prohibition on using a non-state.gov account for official business, as long as it’s preserved.”
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Secretary Clinton took measures to ensure that her emails were appropriately preserved. Clinton conducted government business with others on their government email addresses, which would ensure emails were captured on government servers.
- According to Business Insider, “two former State Department officials…argued that Clinton was careful to utilize the email address in a manner that went above and beyond regulatory requirements and ensured her communications were preserved.”
- The State Department asked every Secretary of State dating back to Madeleine Albright to provide records, including emails, from their time in office and Secretary Clinton was the only one to respond. Secretary Clinton responded to the State Department’s request for emails, providing the Department with over 55,000 pages of emails.