e: “Huge gap” in Clinton emails

From:nmerrill@hrcoffice.com

To: pir@hrcoffice.com

Date: 2015–03–08 22:08

Subject: Re: “Huge gap” in Clinton emails

Doesn’t look like he said the date.

REP. TREY GOWDY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: No, sir, not yet, because we don’t have all of them.

And there’s a reason that serious investigations don’t leak and they don’t make selective releases. We had eight e-mails, Bob, last August. We didn’t release those. We got 300 more e-mails totaling 800 pages in February. We haven’t released those.

It’s frankly not fair to the secretary, not fair to the — to your viewers or my fellow citizens to selectively release information. Now, if she wants to release all of them, with the emphasis being on the word all, she’s welcome to do that. I can’t stop her from doing it.

But serious investigation don’t make selective releases.

SCHIEFFER: Well, let me make sure I understand why this is significant.

And that is, by using this private account on a private server, she could not only keep those e-mails from the reach of the government, as I understand it, but she could delete the e-mails without anybody knowing it. So she has sent you some e-mails, but are there any gaps in the e-mails you have received so far from her?

GOWDY: Yes, sir.

There are gaps of months and months and months. And if you think to that iconic picture of her on a C-17 flying to Libya, she has sunglasses on and she has her handheld device in her hand, we have no e-mails from that day. In fact, we have no e-mails from that trip.

So, it’s strange credibility to believe that if you’re on your way to Libya to discuss Libyan policy that there’s not a single document that has been turned over to Congress. So, there are huge gaps. And with respect to the president, it’s not up to Secretary Clinton to decide what is a public record and what’s not.

We need someone — and, frankly, I have lost confidence in the State Department to make that determination. They’re the ones who allowed this arrangement. There’s the ones who did nothing abut this arrangement until they got a request from our committee. Frankly, I think your viewers are entitled to a neutral, detached arbiter to determine what’s a public record, first of all, because that never should have left the custody of the government, and, secondarily, what is our committee entitled to?

We’re not entitled to everything. I don’t want everything. I just want everything related to Libya and Benghazi.

SCHIEFFER: What else is there to know about Gaza (sic) — I mean, and Libya?

GOWDY: Well, there are three tranches.

So, why was — why did we have facility that didn’t meet any security specification whatsoever? They had a separate classification for our facility at Benghazi. Why? So, why, in spite of the escalating violence, did we lower our security profile, instead of raise it? So that’s the before.

The during, our military response, where were our assets located? After all, this is the anniversary of 9/11. So, if you are better prepared to defend the embassy in Paris than you are the embassy in Tripoli, I think my fellow citizens want to know that.

And then, thirdly, the aftermath. I continue to naively believe that people have a right to expect their government to tell them the truth in the aftermath of a tragedy. And we know that the video was not connected. And we know it was not a spontaneous protest. What we don’t know is how early the administration knew those two narratives were false and whether…

SCHIEFFER: All right.

Congressman, I’m going to have to stop you there. We have just run out of time. But thank you.

On Mar 8, 2015, at 7:44 PM, Philippe Reines <pir@hrcoffice.com<mailto:pir@hrcoffice.com>> wrote:

Actually, there’s a more fundamental mistake. Unless I’m totally off, that picture was 10/18 not 10/8. Not sure if that’s the Post’s mistake or Gowdy’s. Nick, can you try to find his actual remarks to see?

From: Joel Benenson

Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2015 7:26 PM

To: Mandy Grunwald; Philippe Reines

Cc: Philippe Reines; Cheryl Mills; Robby Mook; Jim Margolis; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Nick Merrill

Subject: RE: ŒHuge gaps¹ in Clinton emails: Chairman of House Benghazi Committee | New York Post

Understand it’s the NY POST but was it actually his committee who discovered her personal email accounts?

From: Mandy Grunwald [mailto:gruncom@aol.com]

Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2015 7:20 PM

To: Philippe Reines

Cc: Philippe Reines; Cheryl Mills; Robby Mook; Joel Benenson; Jim Margolis; Jennifer Palmieri; Kristina Schake; John Podesta; Nick Merrill

Subject: Re: ŒHuge gaps¹ in Clinton emails: Chairman of House Benghazi Committee | New York Post

This was apparently the day Diana Walker took the iconic photo of her on the plane looking at her blackberry.

Mandy Grunwald

Grunwald Communications

202 973–9400

On Mar 8, 2015, at 7:07 PM, Philippe Reines <pir@hrcoffice.com<mailto:pir@hrcoffice.com>> wrote:

I can’t address the larger question of why the department didn’t. I believe the answer is that Oct 2011 was well outside the scope of what State was asked for until November 2014. So Gowdy is complaining about the last 3 months. State is not exactly nimble and are still responding to the Oct 2012 letter from Issa.

But for our narrow equities, the time when Hrc least needed to email for work was on trips. She had both her Deputy Chiefs of Staff with her, me, always a high ranking State person most relevant to the issue — often career, a representative of the WH and the Pentago on the plane. Not to mention a four person State staff giving her paper. Not to mention she had a telephone. But it’s primarily because there was no time where she had more 24/7 human connectivity than on the road. She was living in a mobile office.

From: Mandy Grunwald <gruncom@aol.com<mailto:gruncom@aol.com>>

Date: Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 7:01 PM

To: PIR <preines.hrco@gmail.com<mailto:preines.hrco@gmail.com>>, Cheryl Mills <cmills@cdmillsGroup.com<mailto:cmills@cdmillsGroup.com>>, Robby Mook <robbymook2015@gmail.com<mailto:robbymook2015@gmail.com>>, Joel Benenson <jbenenson@bsgco.com<mailto:jbenenson@bsgco.com>>, Jim Margolis <Jim.Margolis@gmmb.com<mailto:Jim.Margolis@gmmb.com>>, Jennifer Palmieri <jennifer.m.palmieri@gmail.com<mailto:jennifer.m.palmieri@gmail.com>>, Kristina Schake <kristinakschake@gmail.com<mailto:kristinakschake@gmail.com>>, John Podesta <john.podesta@gmail.com<mailto:john.podesta@gmail.com>>, Nick Merrill <nmerrill@hrcoffice.com<mailto:nmerrill@hrcoffice.com>>

Subject: ‘Huge gaps’ in Clinton emails: Chairman of House Benghazi Committee | New York Post

Do we have an answer for why there are no emails from the Oct. 8 trip to Libya?

http://nypost.com/2015/03/08/huge-gaps-in-clinton-emails-chairman-of-house-benghazi-committee/

Mandy Grunwald

Grunwald Communications

202 973–9400