The saga of Hillary Clinton and the use of her personal email to conduct highly sensitive and confidential State Department business gets more troubling every day.
For example, consider this report that was in today's Washington Post regarding the arrangement that Hillary had in paying a Clinton loyalist (also a paid State Department IT staffer) to moonlight on the side to maintain the private email server that the Clintons had installed in their home in Chappaqua, NY.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family personally paid a State Department staffer to maintain the private e-mail server she used while heading the agency, according to an official from Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The unusual arrangement helped Clinton retain personal control over the system that she used for her public and private duties and that has emerged as an issue for her campaign. But, according to the campaign official, it also ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter as well as aides to the former president.
That State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, told a congressional committee this week that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination instead of testifying about the setup.
The private employment of Pagliano provides a new example of the ways that Clinton — who occupied a unique role as a Cabinet secretary who was also a former and potentially future presidential candidate — hired staff to work simultaneously for her in public and private capacities.
However, buried deeper in the story is something that I found even more troubling with regard to the manner in which Hillary assesses issues.
By early 2013, as Clinton was preparing to conclude her time as secretary of state, she was looking to upgrade the system’s security and durability, people briefed on the server have said. The system had crashed for days during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, disrupting her e-mail abilities.
Notice that Hillary only began to consider upgrading the security of her server and email system when she was preparing to conclude her time as secretary of state.
She didn't seem to have the same amount of concern when she was conducting State Department and national security business on her personal server (for over three years previous) as she had when she was only going to be a private citizen (and preparing to run for President of the United States).
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton chose to ignore the governmental email system and establish her email on a private server completely outside of the control of the federal government.
Why did she do this?
She says it was for her personal convenience but this excuse makes her even look worse. She placed her personal convenience before her duties as Secretary of State? She placed her comfort before her country? She placed her personal interests ahead of national security interests?
The fact is that she appears to have done it solely to avoid any requirement to disclose the contents of her emails under the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act and to shield herself from any personal embarrassment or risk to her future political career. It was done to circumvent the laws of her country plain and simple. There is no other rational explanation for what she did.
It certainly was not because of any interest or concern about her country and the reporting of The Washington Post adds yet another confirmation that was the case.
In putting her personal interests above the national security interests of our country she also placed the security of every American at risk.
Hillary Clinton's actions should disqualify her from the office of President of the United States.
