Hillary Clinton has been the subject of much scrutiny since stepping into the national spotlight, leading to the American public to associate her with scandal, corruption, and dishonesty.

In the storm of politics and media, a moment of clarity and self-examination is called for. To that end, I invite you to consider only what we know for sure about Hillary Clinton, free from any bias or insinuation, to form your opinion about her personal integrity.

I have written up what we know for sure surrounding the many allegations surrounding Clinton in brief form, in contrast to the countless printed pages and hours of television they have filled. While it may appear difficult to arrive at facts on such heated, partisan topics, I have in good faith tried to present the most reliable facts from the most unbiased supporting sources.

Benghazi

Hillary incorrectly stated that the attack on the embassy in Benghazi was done by a mob protesting an offensive film (1). Clinton corrected her statement ten days later (2). She explained that her opinion changed back and forth as she considered new information as it emerged from the “fog of war” (3).

When terrorists attacked the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, the attack was without warning and with insufficient time for miltary response (4). Today she takes responsibility for the inadequacy of embassy security (5), although she was not directly responsible for responding to security requests (6).

While there is room for criticism on the preparedness of embassy security, and Clinton’s first statements regarding the attack, lengthy hearings and reports otherwise attach no evidence of blame to Clinton for failing to mitigate the tragedy (7).

The Clinton Foundation

These allegations surround facts with no clear relation (1): Clinton knew lots of people around the world; some people received benefits from the U.S.; some people donated to the Clinton Foundation. There is no clear connection between these, or evidence of any corrupt deal-making, pay to play, etc. (2).

Moreover, the Clintons receive no monetary benefits from the Clinton Foundation (3), it receives the highest rating by Charity Navigator for the efficient use of its funds (4), and is credited with giving over 9 million people lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine (5).

The 2016 Democratic Primary

There is no evidence that Clinton or the DNC “rigged” the primary: not at the Iowa caucuses (1), not at the Nevada convention (2), or from superdelegates (3), or the debate times (4), nor was any particular wrongdoing among DNC members discovered, apart from secretly deriding Sanders, in contrast to their public stance of neutrality (5). The limitation on the number of debates is thought to have favored Clinton (6), but again no corruption or influence on the part of Clinton is apparent.

Hillary Clinton’s E-mails

Clinton was dishonest about being permitted to use a private e-mail server (1), and about having no classified e-mails on it (2). FBI Director Comey called it “extremely careless”(3).

The e-mail server was a risky practice, and skirted regulation, but experts disagree on how drastically the rules were broken, or whether she understood the nature of the official regulations and her e-mail situation (4).

Clinton may have believed her e-mails were archived according to regulation because she corresponded only with government e-mail addresses (5). Nor was Clinton alone in similar e-mail practices in the government, including when government servers were hacked (6). Moreover, other major politicians have similarly hid e-mails on private servers, deleting them under suspicious circumstances, including George W. Bush (7) and Mitt Romney (8), instances which drew little media or political attention.

The truth is that she conducted a risky e-mail practice, lied about the situation in defense, but there is insufficient evidence to prove criminal intent, and perhaps it was all through ignorance. The end result is that no apparent harm was done (9), and she has apologized for the mistake (10).

Miscellaneous

Three probes into the Whitewater scandal of the 90s provided no evidence of wrongdoing (1).

Hillary Clinton may have lied when denying allegations of her husband’s long-term affair with Gennifer Flowers (who was receiving money for bringing the allegations) (2). Whether she lied is uncertain, and whether it was understandable to try to hide personal matters from the public is a matter of opinion.

Hillary Clinton’s other documented lies (3) involve often exaggerating the truth or failing to qualify statements to distinguish herself among opponents, and attempting to dodge attacks by opponents. They are not excusable, and Clinton probably underestimates their harm to her image (4). But she is in fact remarkably truthful when compared to other politicians (5), especially considering the decades of penetrating, national scrutiny (6) she has undergone, unlike many of her opponents.

Conclusion:

When looking only at what we know for sure, free from insinuation and preconceptions, the many “scandals” surrounding Hillary Clinton blow away in the wind, revealing only a few mistakes that have been given much more attention than they are worth. A reasonable person should conclude that such few and relatively trivial things add up to a flawed, but not a fundamentally corrupt or dishonest person. Considering only what we know for sure, the association between Hillary Clinton and scandal is most reasonably explained as a successful fabrication by her enemies and the media, not a result of repeated wrongdoing on the part of Clinton.

Indeed, for all their relentless efforts — with her whole career and personal life to pick apart, after relentless committees, probes, investigations, hearings, and intimidation from Congress, Federal agencies, lawyers, journalists, and pundits, surrounding never-ending allegations — Clinton’s opponents have revealed remarkably little wrongdoing. Considering the sustained effort to tear down Clinton for 24 years, if she was a fundamentally corrupt person, her career would have ended long ago.

The e-mails were certainly a mistake, but one without any apparent harm or bad intent. She is also guilty of many defensive lies told in the midst of ceaseless allegations and political battles. But with any sense of perspective on her wider life and accomplishments (1), with a breath of fresh air away from the media’s hounding on baseless scandals, Hillary Clinton takes on an image that is not the one fed to us by her rabid enemies. Even granting her flaws, and any political disagreements you may have with her, the weight of evidence maintains that Hillary Clinton is a fundamentally principled and competent person committed to doing what she believes is best for the American people.

The further context for Clinton’s decision to use a private e-mail server, and for her shirking from openness in general, may be explained by what she has become in the spotlight: reflexively secretive and wily. Her secrecy and defensiveness are learned traits from a lifetime of never being trusted from the start and never being rewarded for transparency. Revealing anything about herself, even the sound of her laugh, is invariably used as ammunition against her by her enemies. This does not excuse Clinton for her faults, but such considerations are important if we would be honest in holding the same standard as others.

Nevertheless, most Americans still consider Hillary Clinton to be fundamentally corrupt. It is to the point that considering the facts may have no effect on most voters’ opinion. Some Americans believe this to such an extent that they believe Donald Trump may be a more honest President, a man who makes dozens of erroneous and dishonest statements per week (2).

In contrast to Clinton, Trump’s lies are often not mere embellishments of the truth, nor defensive reactions to attacks: Trump regularly and freely makes statements that are diametrically opposed to reality, and repeats them daily (3). Not to mention his treasure trove of scandals (4) and personal cruelties (5), which are numerous and substantive, revealing a true double-standard in how many Americans and the media compare Trump and Clinton.

This represents a massive failure in the media’s portrayal of the facts surrounding Clinton, and a failure of Americans to rationally acknowledge the facts in forming an opinion.

Please take this into consideration in the voting booth. If you want an honest person to be your President, the first order of business is for you to be honest with yourself about the facts.

~~

Bengazhi Sources:

(1) http://www.factcheck.org/2016/06/the-benghazi-timeline-clinton-edition/

“the administration was quick to blame the video, which did trigger protests in Egypt and elsewhere, and slow to acknowledge the incident was a terrorist attack”

(2) http://www.factcheck.org/2016/06/the-benghazi-timeline-clinton-edition/

(3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/06/17/hillary-clinton-to-fox-news-on-benghazi-this-was-the-fog-of-war

(4) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html

“there simply was not enough time, given the speed of the attacks, for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/30/sean-hannity/hannity-misleads-claim-about-benghazi-stand-down-o/

(5) http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-on-benghazi-i-do-feel-responsible/

(6) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/may/16/fact-checking-benghazi-our-most-recent-round-/

“The State Department was asked repeatedly for additional U.S. security staff in Libya. But we see no evidence that Clinton herself was made aware of those requests.”

(7) http://www.factcheck.org/2015/10/clinton-and-the-benghazi-reports/

“no employees engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-benghazi-hillary-clinton-obama-rhodes-edit-0629-jm-20160628-story.html

“We never thought there would be some smoking gun proving that four brave Americans might have been saved. Instead, we looked for evidence that Clinton managed a terrible ordeal and its fallout with exemplary skill and integrity. Unfortunately, we didn’t find that either. It will be up to American voters to make the final judgment on her performance.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/benghazi-report-finds-no-smoking-gun-and-hillary-clinton-happy-to-move-on

“The 800-page report was the result of two years of research and cost taxpayers $7m. It shed light on several new details about the events of 11 September 2012 but ultimately produced no new evidence of wrongdoing.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/21/mike-pence/mike-pences-false-claim-about-clintons-role-and-re/

“It’s reasonable to argue that Clinton, as head of the State Department, should shoulder some responsibility for the bureaucratic failures that may have contributed to the tragedy. But there’s no evidence that suggests, as Pence does, that Clinton was personally responsible for or could have prevented the deaths of the four Benghazi victims.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/politics/hillary-clinton-benghazi.html

“The House Select Committee on Benghazi issued its final report on Tuesday, finding no new evidence of culpability or wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton.”

The Clinton Foundation Sources:

(1) http://www.vox.com/2016/8/24/12618446/ap-clinton-foundation-meeting

“But what we know is that despite very intensive media scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation, we don’t have hard evidence of any kind of corrupt activity.”

(2) http://www.npr.org/2016/08/25/491282347/saving-lives-or-selling-access-explaining-the-clinton-foundation

“no proof has emerged that any official favors, regulations, government contracts, international deals were curried in exchange for donations or pledges.”

(3) http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/sep/01/hilary-rosen/democrat-pundit-clintons-get-no-personal-benefit-f/

“The Clintons do not take any sort of paycheck, bonus or fees from the Clinton Foundation.”

(4) https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=16680

(5) http://www.politifact.com/global-news/statements/2016/jun/15/hillary-clinton/clinton-clinton-foundation-helped-9-million-lower-/

“If anything, Clinton understated the number of people who have benefited from the program.”

The 2016 Democratic Primary Sources:

(1) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-coin-flips-iowa-caucus/459429/

“Sterzenbach said he could say ‘with absolute certainty ‘that the coin flips did not determine the outcome in Iowa.’”

(2) http://www.politifact.com/nevada/statements/2016/may/18/jeff-weaver/allegations-fraud-and-misconduct-nevada-democratic/

“Allegations of fraud and misconduct at Nevada Democratic convention unfounded”

https://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/sour-grapes-revolution-rocked-paris-hotel

“the facts reveal that the Sanders folks disregarded rules, then when shown the truth, attacked organizers and party officials

or from low turnout”

(3) http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-system-isnt-rigged-against-sanders/

“The System Isn’t “Rigged” Against Sanders. Clinton’s winning because more Democrats want her to be the nominee.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/25/donald-trump/no-donald-trump-bernie-sanders-wouldnt-have-won-ev/

“Bernie Sanders wouldn’t have won even if super delegates were nixed”

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hillary-clinton-clinches-democratic-nomination-according-to-ap/

“Clinton, in the end, is winning her party’s nomination by every available measure”

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-system-isnt-rigged-against-sanders/

(4) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/31/paul-manafort/trump-campaign-chief-dnc-leak-proves-clinton-campa/

(5) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/dnc-emails-sanders-clinton.html?ref=politics

“Released Emails Suggest the D.N.C. Derided the Sanders Campaign”

(6) http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2016/jan/20/debbie-wasserman-schultz/democratic-debates-maximize-exposure-debbie-wasser/

“If the Democrats had wanted to ‘maximize’ opportunities for viewers, the party could have added more debates, scheduled them on weekdays and avoided holidays.”

Hillary Clinton’s E-mails Sources:

(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/09/hillary-clintons-claim-that-everything-i-did-on-emails-was-permitted/

“In reality, Clinton’s decision to use a private e-mail system for official business was highly unusual and flouted State Department procedures, even if not expressly prohibited by law at the time.”

(2) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/06/hillary-clinton/fbi-findings-tear-holes-hillary-clintons-email-def/

“Some classified information ended up on her private server”

“Clinton skirted State Department rules about records management, security and transparency.”

(3) https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

(4) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/12/hillary-clintons-email-did-she-follow-all-rules/

“There was not an explicit, categorical prohibition against federal employees using personal emails when Clinton was in office

“’she was in compliance with the laws and regulations at the time,’ said Gary Bass, founder and former director of OMB Watch, a government accountability organization.”

http://www.vox.com/2016/9/13/12770636/hillary-clinton-email-scandals-explained

“[Clinton’s] more extensive use of personal accounts is very rare, but not unprecedented”

(5) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/12/hillary-clintons-email-did-she-follow-all-rules/

“Clinton, who served from 2009 to 2013, has argued that her emails were archived in the system because she was in the habit of sending them to other government employees with .gov email addresses.”

(6) https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

“While not the focus of our investigation, we also developed evidence that the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified e-mail systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/us/russian-hackers-read-obamas-unclassified-emails-officials-say.html?_r=0

“The disruptions were so severe that during the Iranian nuclear negotiations in Vienna in November, officials needed to distribute personal email accounts, to one another and to some reporters, to maintain contact.”

(7) http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950CE1DA123FF931A25757C0A9619C8B63&legacy=true

“Political advisers to President Bush may have improperly used their Republican National Committee e-mail accounts to conduct official government business”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102167.html

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-republicans-who-did-exactly-what-hillary-did

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/12/nation/na-emails12

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18090710/ns/politics/t/lawyer-rove-didnt-mean-delete-e-mail/#.V-eGLSgrKUl

(8) http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7B500X20111206

(9) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/19/politifact-sheet-hillary-clintons-email-controvers/

“There’s no evidence that anyone successfully hacked Clinton’s email servers”

(10) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/08/hillary-clinton-apologizes-for-e-mail-system-i-take-responsibility/

Miscellaneous Sources:

(1) http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/21/news/mn-33965

“the Whitewater independent counsel said Wednesday there was insufficient evidence that former President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, did anything illegal or profited from a looted Arkansas savings and loan institution.”

(2 )http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/06/opinions/zelizer-presidential-election-campaign-scandals-bill-clinton/

(3) http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/

(4) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/06/hillary-clintons-truth-problem/486395/

(5) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/campaign-stops/all-politicians-lie-some-lie-more-than-others.html

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jun/29/fact-checking-2016-clinton-trump/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/1/1555457/-Fact-Hillary-Clinton-Is-One-of-America-s-Most-Honest-Politicians-Trump-is-one-of-the-biggest-liars

(6) http://www.npr.org/2016/06/12/481718785/clinton-scandals-a-guide-from-whitewater-to-the-clinton-foundation

Conclusion Sources:

(1) http://addictinginfo.org/2015/04/13/heres-a-list-of-hillary-clintons-accomplishments-so-quit-saying-she-doesnt-have-any/

(2) http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-donald-trump-fact-check-week-214287#ixzz4LHG2Un7T

(3) http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/sep/22/donald-trump/trumps-pants-fire-claim-blacks-are-absolutely-wors/

“Trump said, “Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they’ve ever been in before. Ever. Ever. Ever.” Trump’s emphatic statement lacked any nuance. There is no comparison between the situation today and slavery, or the situation today and the Jim Crow era.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-turmoil-or-triumph-donald-trump-stands-alone/2016/04/02/8c0619b6-f8d6-11e5-a3ce-f06b5ba21f33_story.html

“He insisted that he would be able to get rid of the nation’s more than $19 trillion national debt “over a period of eight years.” Most economists would consider this impossible because it could require taking more than $2 trillion a year out of the annual $4 trillion budget to pay off holders of the debt.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/aug/30/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-inner-city-crime-reaching-recor/

“Trump said that “inner-city crime is reaching record levels.” Criminologists say that it is worth watching the recent jump in homicides in certain big cities to see whether it represents a lasting trend or just a blip. However, the homicide rate and the violent crime rate has fallen to such an extent over the past quarter century — both in big cities and in the country at large — that it would take many years of significant increases to return to the “record levels” of the early 1990s.”

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-climate-miami-20160918-snap-story.html

“’Donald Trump lives in a parallel universe where the facts established by the scientific community to him don’t exist,’ said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Climate Change Communication program at Yale University.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/aug/04/donald-trump/ama-trump-exaggerates-youth-unemployment/

“Trump said, “Youth unemployment is through the roof.” Individual young people he speaks to may be worried about unemployment, but Trump is wrong to say that youth unemployment is exceptionally high.”

http://www.politifact.com/nbc/statements/2016/jun/18/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-theres-no-real-assimilation-us-/

“Trump said that even among “second and third generation” Muslims in the United States, “there’s no real assimilation.” The data and the experts agree that Trump is wrong. Substantial evidence confirms that Muslim Americans want to have an American identity and think that doing so is achievable”

(4) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/donald-trump-scandals/474726/

(5) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/donald-trumps-cruel-streak/501554/