State Dept. Reports Finding 23 Violations of Security Protocols Related to Hillary Clinton's Emails
The State Department revealed on Monday that at least 15 people mishandled former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s emails with a total of 23 different violations.
The revelation came in a letter that was written to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
While the review is still not completed, the letter states that 15 people received write-ups for breaking state department rules, The Washington Times reported.
Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the State Department’s assistant secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs wrote in the letter: “To this point, the Department has assessed culpability to 15 individuals, some of whom were culpable in multiple security incidents.”
“DS has issued 23 violations and 7 infractions incidents. … This number will likely change as the review progresses,” she added. “The department considers the violation of security policies to be a serious matter.”
Grassley, who is currently overseeing the review, responded to the State Department’s findings via Twitter on Tuesday morning.
He said that he was “glad” the State Department responded to his inquiry and that classified material must be “handled by the book.”
Glad state dept responded 2 my inquiry & disclosed 23 violations + 7 infractions from 15ppl mishandling classified info in Clinton email review I’ve been doing oversight on this since 2015 Classified info must b handled by the book & violators shld b held accountable
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) June 18, 2019
Grassley added that “violators” should be held accountable. Likewise, President Trump acknowledged the findings were “really big.”
“The State Department said it has identified 30 Security Incidents involving current or former employees and their handling of Crooked Hillary Clinton’s Emails,” he said. “This is really big. Never admitted before. Highly Classified Material. Will the Dems investigate this?”
Wow! The State Department said it has identified 30 Security Incidents involving current or former employees and their handling of Crooked Hillary Clinton’s Emails. @FoxNews This is really big. Never admitted before. Highly Classified Material. Will the Dems investigate this?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019
The State Department said that its investigation should come to an end in early September and acknowledged how time-consuming the probe has been.
Taylor wrote, “Given the volume of emails provided to the Department from former Secretary Clinton’s private email server, the Department’s process has been necessarily more complicated and complex requiring a significant dedication of time and resources.”
She said that disciplinary actions were pending and that “all valid security incidents are reviewed by DS and taken into account.”
While the letter did not mention any specific names, the State Department promised an additional update once the investigation is complete.
Clinton’s emails have been the subject of criticism, especially among Republicans.
In 2016, then-FBI Director James Comey said that Clinton’s handling of her emails was “extremely reckless.”
In a closed-door congressional hearing last October, former FBI general counsel James Baker said he thought that Clinton and her team should have been prosecuted for the handling of her emails, but he was convinced otherwise “pretty late” into the investigation.
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