But their emails: Seven members of Trump’s team have used unofficial communication tools

[distraff]

But their emails: Seven members of Trump’s team have used unofficial communication tools

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/21/their-emails-seven-members-trumps-team-have-used-unofficial-communications-tools/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.7910afcfdccc

President Trump’s objections to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state were never terribly convincing. He didn’t always seem to understand what she had done, and made claims about how she had deleted emails or wiped her server that suggested, at least, a lack of familiarity with technical details. At times, he claimed that Clinton, his Democratic presidential challenger in 2016, had tried to shield unethical activity by using a personal account. At others, he specifically criticized her for having shared classified material through her personal account.


Generally, though, Trump seemed to understand that nearly any sentence that included “Hillary’s emails” or “Hillary’s illegal server” had the same positive effect on his supporters as any other. It became a shorthand for all of the corruption he and his base saw in his rival’s candidacy. If Trump’s broad criticism was true, that the use of a private account to conduct official business is suspect — if not illegal — and represents an effort to mask illicit activity, then we have bad news for him: An awful lot of that same suspect activity is taking place in his administration.


On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and daughter Ivanka Trump, both advisers to the president, had used either personal email accounts or the messaging application WhatsApp to conduct official business, according to information from the House Oversight Committee.
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s a government employee, these people involved have been instructed to use only an official government email should be used in order to preserve information. There's no confusion about it and it's made very clear to them. Communicating with a foreign official using your personal email is exactly what they should not be doing because that's exactly the kind of information that should be captured. This is precisely what Hillary Clinton and others in the state dept were criticized for. Communications like that shouldn't be kept off a government server.

Hillary Clinton released tens of thousands of her emails so I'm looking forward to reading tens of thousands of Jared and Ivanka's emails when they release tens of thousands of them. And we can see if they're talking about recipes or climate change. Jared uses WhatsApp to communicate with foreign leaders like Mohammed bin Salman. WhatsApp is encryped so no record of these can be captured. This is a dangerous practice for the country. Remember that Jared Kushner is the one that requested a secret back channel method of communicating with the Russian Ambassador during the transition.

View attachment 67253060

Conservatives only care about email management when it applies to Hillary. If it is Pence, Kushner, Ivanka, past state department heads, and other members of the Trump staff, they don't care.

 

[lurchadams]

If they are violating the law, then they should be appropriately prosecuted. But their doing it doesn't exonerate Hillary.

No one's trying to exonerate anyone. Way to put up a straw man. The OP is just pointing out your guy's hypocrisy.

 

[HumblePi]

Actually, Democrats shouldn't leave it up to the FBI. It's not because the FBI can't or won't do the job because they're part of the Trump DEEP STATE but because we know the FBI looked into Jared, said, "NFW that reckless asshole should get a security clearance" and whatever they discovered was buried by Trump and Trump granted Jared a clearance above their objections. So we can't trust their investigation to 1) take place because of possible obstruction by Trump and his political appointees, and 2) can't trust the results will be made public.

So Cummings is doing his job here, and Congress should and is investigating. The question is have I missed GOP members of Congress signing onto his efforts? I'd love to find out I have.

When has the GOP ever really signed onto the idea that it's their duty to do oversight? They are fighting these investigations tooth and nail behind closed doors.

 

[trixare4kids]

Hilllary's emails were in the news for over 500 straight days. We've probably had 500 DP threads on the subject. Her emails were a constant source of criticism by Trump on the campaign trail and since he was elected. You remember "Lock her up!" chants, I assume. Congress has had who knows how many hearings on the emails and related. It was the subject of FBI investigations, IG investigations.

So the reason people are digging at Republicans is this has actually been known for a while, and those same Republicans, here and in Congress and in the media, do a collective, "Who cares?" when it's in the Trump administration. My goodness, Jared tried to set up a non-U.S. backchannel to the Russians. Did anyone in the GOP give a damn? No. Trump's FBI denied Jared's security clearance, Trump's Chief of Staff opposed it, Trump granted it anyway. Did anyone in the GOP care? No. Jared's OpSec communicating official business is to use a Facebook app and forward screen shots of it to somewhere in the government. Does anyone in the GOP care? No. Does any of this sound like a secure way to conduct the business of the United States? No, it's laughable. So was the point of years and years and years of BUTHEREMAILS!!! a legitimate worry about protecting/threats to national security, or was it just partisan pandering - a gotcha - and the deafening silence from GOP members of Congress about all the above and much more, and the whataboutism on this thread tell us the answer, and it was never about national security.

Let's reduce this to the evidence. How many hearings by the GOP on any of this? We don't have to guess or count because the number is ZERO. So we don't have to guess - we KNOW - the GOP "makes light of those who are careless with classified information." Just for starters, anyone who tried to set up a back channel outside U.S. to communicate with the Russians would never be allowed anywhere near classified information in any sane administration. Jared did just that and the GOP's response was......NOTHING. Did I miss something and cow-suer Nunes is joining Democrats in hauling Jared in front of Congress to explain? I don't think so.

Good PBS article here... It may put your concerns to rest.
Explainer: Was Jared Kushner’s attempted ‘back-channel’ with Russia treasonous — or typical? | PBS NewsHour

 

[Harshaw]

No one's trying to exonerate anyone. Way to put up a straw man. The OP is just pointing out your guy's hypocrisy.

Obviously you haven't read far enough in this thread.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Speaking of Hillary...



Classified emails...maybe that the difference.

Compared to how many classified emails and texts sent from Jared and Ivanka?

 

[lurchadams]

Obviously you haven't read far enough in this thread.

Great, so one or two online persona's folks make your case for you. Do you know anything about statistics?

 

[Harshaw]

Great, so one or two online persona's folks make your case for you. Do you know anything about statistics?

"No one is -- oh, OK, someone is, including the OP, but no biggie. SHUT UP!!"

Bye, now.

 

[ludin]

If they broke the law, prosecute them. Not a difficult concept.

Nope it isn't but here is the problem with doing that.

Did they INTEND to break the law. that is the question.
if they didn't INTEND to break the law then no reason to do anything.

See what happens when you make up non-existent standards in a law.

 

[ludin]

Strangely i've never heard anyone on the right call out Bush 2 for the 22 million emails they sent on private GOP supplied servers instead of official government servers that automatically archived all the emails. I wonder why?

*sigh*
It wasn't the law then. Obama changed the law when he became president.
Why you people still don't understand that simple fact is beyond me.

 

[Amelia]

Some of us THOUGHT that in spite of all his personally repugnant ways, Trump would fill his administration with smart people.

But he fills his team with people who are too stupid to know not to use private accounts after his father attacked Hillary for it.

The most epically incompetent administration ever. Gilligan's Island level incompetence.

 

[JasperL]

You know what's more important than the emails, the fact Kushner was viewed as being compromised and wasn't approved for security clearance, Trump pushed it.
The fact Trump has family members not in cabinet positions walking around the white house getting access to secret information is another thing. People who are financially benefitting from it

So as usual, the right can go F themselves

Seriously. Just the shady dealings around the Kushner's 666 Fifth Avenue property, bailed out by Qatar, are enough to keep Jared 1,000 miles from classified information, but that story had a half life of about 15 minutes on the right wing. Makes sense - ME country under U.S. approved sanctions just HAPPENS to accidentally, unknown to them, funnel over a $billion through a hedge fund to the son-in-law of the POTUS! Why should anyone worry about that - Qatar officials say they didn't have any idea where their $billion was going, and were SHOCKED they tell us they didn't know what was reported in the New York Times!

 

[hanger4]

No it is not allowed period. There is no ability to encrypt email on public email or apps which is why it is against regulation to use those . Archiving has nothing to do with it, it is against government regulation period to use public email and apps for official government business.

Federal law allows government officials to use personal email so long as relevant documents are preserved for history." The law was amended in late 2014 to require that personal emails be transferred to government servers within 20 days.

 

[SCrider]

Good PBS article here... It may put your concerns to rest.
Explainer: Was Jared Kushner’s attempted ‘back-channel’ with Russia treasonous — or typical? | PBS NewsHour

Yes, this is typical behavior, and so is the use of private servers for emails. Does not make it right, but it's not going to change. It should have never been a rally cry for the Trump campaign, bu t since they made it a focus can you agree that they should toe the line better?

 

[hanger4]

Re: But their emails: Seven members of Trump’s team have used unofficial communication tools

That's exactly the point and the problem. The only assurance we have of what Jared did or didn't send over a Facebook app is what he decided to screenshot shock::shock::shock and forward to somewhere in the government. The whole point of using the Facebook app is because they're encrypted, and relying on the sender (Jared) to screenshot shock: !!!!) the classified stuff so we can catch him is just completely bonkers.

The only assurance we have is we don't know all the facts yet.
Cummings concerned about Jared, Ivanka private emails, texts | WTOP

 

[hanger4]

Great, then I'm sure you'll show me where the GOP members of Congress are jumping on board with Cummings request to haul his spoiled ass in front of Congress, subpoena all his phone records, subpoena Facebook for WhatsApp records, etc. so we can know. Right?

Why not ??

 

[SCrider]

*sigh*
It wasn't the law then. Obama changed the law when he became president.
Why you people still don't understand that simple fact is beyond me.

No, the presidential records act on covered emails as well.

 

[lwf]

If she broke the law, she should be prosecuted.

And locked up?

 

[lwf]

If Ivanka saved the emails/saved them via hard copies and didn't involve classified information in the emails, she'd likely get off with a warning.

Hillary sent at least 110 messages which the FBI said contained classified information at the time they were sent and she also destroyed others with no hard copies.

Apples and oranges.

So if the news headlines say that the FBI has determined that Ivanka also did this, she deserves to be behind bars alongside Hillary, right?

 

[jmotivator]

The emails in question mishandled by Trump's administration also included classified information. Just be honest, the difference is that you're a a hyper partisan hack who applies different standards based on the R or D next to someone's name.

"But her emails!!" This was the major battle cry of conservatives for 2 straight years and now you're just going to shrug your shoulders and pretend you don't care.

WaPo is now behind a paywall.. can to reference where it said those emails included classified data?

 

[JasperL]

Good PBS article here... It may put your concerns to rest.
Explainer: Was Jared Kushner’s attempted ‘back-channel’ with Russia treasonous — or typical? | PBS NewsHour

Just so we're clear what I'm referring to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...ac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.da1e48b7aabb

Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.

Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.

The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser.

So, you don't "make light of those who are careless with classified information" but are AOK with Jared using Russian facilities which provide the Russians a complete record of all talks, while keeping them secret from the United States?

Are you serious? You cannot be serious. It's perhaps the most reckless suggestion we've ever seen from a high ranking official anywhere near our government. Why in the world should U.S. officials (and at this point Jared was working for the transition, for the incoming POTUS) want to communicate in a way that provided 100% clarity to Russians, and 0% clarity to the United states, the government Jared serves? Explain that, if you can.

Besides, that's just ONE example. I listed several others and together the picture is completely damning. The most damning is the ZERO, NONE, NADA, ZILCH interest from the GOP Congress on any of that above.

Can you imagine if Hillary's FBI denied Chelsea's security clearance and Hillary overruled them. Then Chelsea's husband gets a $1 BILLION+ bailout from Qatar, who issues the most laughably absurd and insulting and dishonest explanation that they didn't know they were dealing with the son-in-law to Hillary, a fact reported in the NYT, before the deal closed? Number of Congressional inquiries under the GOP about either incident - ZERO.

I don't have a clue what YOU are concerned about, but we know the GOP don't actually care about national security breaches, because their actions demonstrate it beyond any doubt.

 

[Erod]

It is comical for a Democrat to even mention the word "email" or question communication choices after the McCabe/Page texts, Hillary's email factory, the DNC ambush of Bernie, and Weiner's exploits.

 

[JasperL]

Yes, this is typical behavior, and so is the use of private servers for emails. Does not make it right, but it's not going to change. It should have never been a rally cry for the Trump campaign, bu t since they made it a focus can you agree that they should toe the line better?

Using a foreign adversary's diplomatic channels to communicate with them, providing that government with 100% clarity on every word discussed, while giving the U.S. government 0% clarity, is "typical" behavior?

Can you cite any other example, ever, of such a thing?

 

[Cardinal]

It is comical for a Democrat to even mention the word "email" or question communication choices after the McCabe/Page texts, Hillary's email factory, the DNC ambush of Bernie, and Weiner's exploits.

It's clear that the only way a Republican would care about what the current administration is doing right now is if Trump switched the (R) for a (D).

 

[hanger4]

So if the news headlines say that the FBI has determined that Ivanka also did this, she deserves to be behind bars alongside Hillary, right?

If lvanka did this and is held to account, whether it's behind bars, fines, probation or some combination of said will you demand HRC be held to account ??

BTW if Ivanka did this she should be held to account.