Sunday, March 8, 2015

Uh Oh ! — First, State Department Finally Admits that New Benghazi Probe led to pressure on Hillary Clinton to turn over some of her E-mails — Then other State Department E-mails showed long-time Hillary Clinton operators kept lid on “Benghazi-gate” while she was Secretary of State and they worked as her assistants at the State Department


State Department says that Benghazi probe partly prompted October 2014 request to Clinton and her staff to turn over Hillary’s E-mails as Secretary of State  —   In August 2014, the White House became aware that the House Select Benghazi Committee had E-mails containing Hillary Clinton’s private E-mail address  —   The White House flagged the problem both to the State Department and to Hillary Clinton’s Staff —   Then   >>> HILLARY’S STAFF  “DECIDED” <<<   to take no action


E-Mails show that Hillary’s close personal operatives at the State Department Cheryl Mills and Philippe Reines were Hillary’s “gatekeepers” on Benghazi  —   Referred to as the “Benghazi Group” by diplomatic insiders  —   Their job on the “Benghazi Group” was to interfere with investigators 


BENGHAZI COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION A FACTOR IN STATE DEPARTMENT'S REQUEST FOR SOME OF HILLARY CLINTON’S PRIVATE E-MAILS

In a stunning reversal, a State Department spokesperson acknowledged Friday that a Congressional investigation into the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi played a role in the agency’s decision to ask former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to turn over copies of all work-related emails sent or received on private accounts during her tenure. According to a report in Politico by Josh Gerstein, “...  State [Department] spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters that a special House committee’s ongoing probe into the Benghazi incident was one of many factors that led the department to send a request last October that resulted in Clinton sending her former agency 55,000 pages of emails she exchanged on an unofficial account....” ( See “State Dept. changes story on Clinton emails” by Josh Gerstein, 3/6/15-3/7/15, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/state-dept-changes-story-on-emails-115841.html]).  The Politico report also noted that “... [e]arlier this week, Harf and other state department officials said the decision to approach the former secretaries about searching their personal email accounts stemmed solely from a broad effort to update the State Department’s electronic recordkeeping efforts....”

WHITE HOUSE KNEW ABOUT A BENGHAZI CONNECTION TO HILLARY’S PRIVATE E-MAILS IN AUGUST

Also in the Friday report in Politico, cited above, was this: “ ... White House officials became aware in August that documents sought in the House Benghazi investigation contained Clinton’s private email address. The White House flagged the issue to the State Department and Clinton aides, but the former secretary’s staff decided to take no action at that point.”

DECISIONS ON WHAT TO SEND TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT ARE MADE BY THE CLINTON CAMP

The State Department spokeswoman confirmed that the department now relies on the Clinton’s camp to decide which E-mails are work-related. The spokesperson, Marie Harf, said the practice is consistent with each government employee’s duty to preserve official records.

CLINTON AIDES CHERYL MILLS AND PHILIPPE REINES WERE THE “BENGHAZI GROUP” TO TAKE CARE OF  INTERFERENCE ON BENGHAZI INVESTIGATIONS

“Two of Hillary Clinton's top aides ran interference while the 2012 Benghazi terrorism attacks were going on, the former secretary of state's emails, obtained through a Judicial Watch federal lawsuit, reveal. ***   The aides named were Clinton's main gatekeeper, Philippe Reines, and Cheryl Mills, who has worked with Clinton for years, reports Fox News. They mainly show Mills' role in how the events rolled out publicly.   ***   ‘Cheryl Mills was instrumental in making sure the big lie was put out there,’ Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. ***   While the assault was happening that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and several other embassy staff, Mills told then-State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland to quit answering reporters' questions about Stevens' status, the emails show. ***   Further, the emails contained references to a "Benghazi Group," which a diplomatic source told Fox News was a inside code name for Mills' task force, which handled damage control. ***   Judicial Watch has not received emails to or from Clinton herself from the night of the attack, Fitton said....” ( See  “Emails Show Clinton's Aides Ran Interference During Benghazi” by Newsmax Wire Services
3/7/15, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/Newswidget/hillary-clinton-emails-benghazi/2015/03/07/id/628813/?Dkt_nbr=ezan2lvx&nmx_source=DailyCaller-Conservative&nmx_medium=widget&nmx_content=654&nmx_campaign=widgetphase2]).

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Please note that:   Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic front-runner for 2016, found herself in a political furor all this week, because it was revealed she conducted her official E-mail business from a personal account on a private E-mail server connected to the internet from her home in Chappaqua, New York.  It is interesting that these other State Department E-mails came out while Clinton is being criticized over revelations that she used a personal E-mail account through a private server during her entire tenure as Secretary of State.