A State Department Information Resource Management staffer who raised concerns about Secretary Clinton’s email arrangement was told, falsely it turns out, the the system had been approved by Department legal staff. That staffer, and another staffer who raised similar concerns, was also told never to mention it again. Politico reports:

“In one meeting, one staff member raised concerns that information sent and received on Secretary Clinton’s account could contain Federal records that needed to be preserved in order to satisfy Federal recordkeeping requirements,” the report noted. The staff member recalled that the director said Clinton’s personal system had already been reviewed and approved by legal staff “and that the matter was not to be discussed any further,” according to the report’s language. “As previously noted, OIG found no evidence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser reviewed or approved Secretary Clinton’s personal system,” the next line of the report reads. The other staff member who raised concerns said the director stated that the department’s mission is to “support the Secretary and instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.”

Not only was Clinton’s email arrangement not approved by anyone at the State Department, the IG report makes clear that, had she bothered to ask, she would have been told not to do it. Obviously she anticipated that response which is why she didn’t ask permission in the first place.

Now we learn that even when the issue was raised as a concern by staff tasked with Information Resource Management, Clinton’s palace guard within the State Department 1) lied through their teeth and 2) told them to shut up. Not just shut up but never speak of it again. In a sane world the staffers who raised those concerns would be getting a pat on the back and an apology and the supervisor who lied and tried to silence them would be out of a job. But this is the Obama State Department don’t count on any sort of rational, non-political reaction to official misbehavior.

Earlier today I covered some of the other highlights of the State Department Inspector General’s report on Clinton’s email system. The IG concluded several things which are at odds with statements Clinton has made about the arrangement starting last year. He concluded she violated record-keeping rules which required her to turn over official records before vacating her post and said the records she did eventually turn over to the Department were incomplete. The IG report also revealed that Hillary and most of her aides refused to cooperate with his investigation and that at least two attempts were made to hack into her server. The full report will be published on the IG’s website Thursday.