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Re: CNN: Inside Clinton's Benghazi emails

From:isams@hillaryclinton.com To: jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com CC: HRCrapid@googlegroups.com Date: 2015-04-27 13:48 Subject: Re: CNN: Inside Clinton's Benghazi emails

This is good. On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Josh Schwerin < jschwerin@hillaryclinton.com> wrote: > Inside Clinton's Benghazi emails > > By Elise Labott, CNN > > Updated 11:33 AM ET, Mon April 27, 2015 > > Insihttp:// > www.cnn.com/2015/04/27/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi-emails/index.html > > (CNN)The day after the Benghazi terror attack, a staffer for Arizona Sen. > John McCain emailed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's office to convey > praise for her remarks to State Department employees after the attack. > > Her statement to employees about the tragedy was "wonderful, strong and > moving," said the McCain staffer, who asked Clinton's office to convey the > senator's appreciation of the remarks. > > Ultimately, McCain turned into a fierce critic of Clinton over the attack. > And Clinton's handling of Benghazi has been scrutinized and has cast a > shadow over her tenure leading the State Department. But the friendly > exchange between their two offices in the immediate aftermath of the 2012 > attack is among a set of emails that could be publicly released by the > State Department as early as this week. > > > CNN was not permitted to review the emails ahead of their release, but > several government officials characterized them and offered detail on some > of them on the condition of anonymity. > > The emails show Clinton and her inner circle closely monitored the fallout > of the incident and the administration's evolving view of what occurred the > night of the attack. They expressed concern with how it could impact the > State Department and her own image. > > The contents of the emails provide a more comprehensive picture of > Clinton's email use and her handling of the attack, two subjects that could > challenge her fledgling presidential campaign. Clinton asked the State > Department to publicly release the emails after it emerged that she used a > private email server to do government business earlier this year. > > The exchanges, as well as other State messages before and after the > Benghazi crisis, are among a trove of more than 900 pages constituting 300 > emails that were given by the department to a special House committee > investigating the attack. > > The emails relating to Benghazi are a fraction of all those Clinton has > handed over to the State Department since leaving office. In December, she > released 30,000 pages of emails to the agency, which State Department > officials say are still being reviewed. The State Department has the emails > Clinton voluntarily handed over. But she kept private the server that > housed them and has since wiped it clean. > > A spokesman for McCain said the staffer's immediate praise for Clinton's > words of condolence should not be conflated with the senator's questions > about how the Benghazi attack came about. > > > "Sen. McCain obviously appreciated expressions from anyone honoring the > service and sacrifice of his friend Chris Stevens," McCain spokesman Brian > Rogers said. "As a general rule, if Sen. McCain had wanted to specifically > thank Secretary Clinton for her remarks, he would have called her > personally. Obviously that can't be confused with Sen. McCain's long > efforts to get to the truth of the Benghazi attack." > > The Benghazi attack has persisted as an area of inquiry for Republicans > for years and it promises to drag on for months. Clinton's campaign and the > committee are in a feud over how and when Clinton would testify as part of > their inquiry. She wants to testify in public. Republicans on the committee > want a private session first. In any event, a final report from the > Congressional inquiry might not be released until early 2016. > > Damage control in Benghazi's aftermath > > "Subsequent information that has since come to light, including about the > State Department's handling of security in Libya, have only deepened Sen. > McCain's concern about the role that Secretary Clinton and other > Administration officials played in the lead-up to this terrible tragedy," > said Rogers > > But the sources who described the emails said they offer no "smoking gun" > on Clinton's actions in the days and weeks leading up to the attack or > while the siege on the U.S. facility was ongoing. They added that Contrary > to charges by Republican lawmakers like McCain, there is no evidence that a > "stand down" order was given to prevent American forces from responding to > the violence in Benghazi and none of the emails suggest Clinton was > involved in any sort of cover-up regarding its response to the attack. > > Then-ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice's appearances on Sunday > morning talk shows became a lightning rod for Republicans, who criticized > Clinton at the time for avoiding public statements on the controversy. > Administration officials had said at the time that Clinton was exhausted > after a grueling week. > > On the talk shows, Rice described the attack as a protest over an > anti-Muslim video, which erupted spontaneously into violence. Clinton never > made that characterization, and after intense Republican charges of > downplaying the attack, administration officials began to call it a > "terrorist attack." > > Emails between Clinton and her aides in the days following Rice's > appearances and first reported by The New York Times expressed relief that > she had not gone as far as Rice did in her language describing the attacks. > > In an email to Clinton two weeks after the attack, Jake Sullivan, > Clinton's director of policy planning and chief foreign aide at the State > Department, said he had reviewed her public remarks since the attack and > found she never used the language Rice did. > > "You never said 'spontaneous' or characterized their motivations," he > wrote to Clinton. > > A month after the attack, Clinton emailed Sullivan after a grueling > hearing in which House Republicans grilled a top State Department official > about security lapses at the Benghazi facility. > > "Did we survive the day?" she asked. > > "Survive, yes," Sullivan responded, promising to follow reaction the next > day. > > Clinton also forwarded a set of emails to her personal assistant, both > from State Department employees and people outside the department, offering > condolences for the tragedy, which she asked to be printed -- apparently > for archiving and for sending thank you notes. > > "As we've said before, when the emails are released, which we hope to be > soon, it will offer an unprecedented opportunity for the American people to > see for themselves what's in them, and that they are all there and then > some," said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill. > > 'Short, colorless and to the point' > > For all the controversy over Clinton's email and her use of the private > email server, she was not a verbose communicator over email. Several former > Clinton staffers have told CNN she did the vast majority of work in person > or on the phone, which is evident by her emails. > > "Her emails were short, colorless and to the point," said one source, > describing some of Clinton's that were given in February to the House > committee investigating the Benghazi terror attack. "The only thing > interesting about these emails is that they were to and from her. That's > it." > > The majority of the correspondence is between Clinton and a handful of > close aides, as well as her executive assistant. But some are from other > senior staff and close friends outside the State Department, including some > from former Clinton White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, who offered Clinton > advice after the attacks. Some of the Blumenthal emails were posted on the > Internet in 2013 after a hacker named "Guccifer" hacked into his private > account. > > Leading up to the Benghazi attack, there was very little discussion about > security in Benghazi or even Libya, although there is talk about the > political climate in the Middle East nation and its upcoming election. > > In fact, most of the emails are mundane, involving scheduling and > logistics. In addition to the scheduling emails were a group of press > clippings sent to her by Sullivan and other aides, which she asked to be > printed. Clinton liked to read things on paper, aides said, as opposed to > on a computer. > > Clinton has acknowledged using a private account on her own server for > State Department business. But her inner circle also occasionally > corresponded with her about work on their personal email addresses, which > raises questions about Clinton's assertion she emailed aides on their > government accounts in order to meet federal guidelines for record-keeping. > > Nick Merrill, Clinton's spokesman, told CNN that Clinton's aides followed > a practice "to primarily use their work email when conducting state > business, with only the tiniest fraction of the more than one million > emails they sent or received involving their personal accounts." > > > -- > Josh Schwerin > Spokesperson > Hillary for America > @Josh Schwerin > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "HRCRapid" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- *Ian Sams* | Rapid Response Hillary for America (423) 915-6592 | @IanSams <https://twitter.com/iansams> Gchat: icsams -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRapid" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hrcrapid+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to hrcrapid@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.