Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines repeatedly lied about using a personal email address to communicate with reporters, records show. Emails uncovered after Gawker successfully sued the State Department show that Reines regularly corresponded with reporters using a personal Gmail address, despite previously dismissing the suggestion as a "cockamamie theory," saying his personal email account "is about the last place I want to be emailing reporters or conducting work."
Gawker's initial request under the Freedom of Information Act was initially denied after the State Department claimed to have no record of Reines's correspondence with reporters. The emails, about 18,000 in total, are coming to light now thanks to a successful legal appeal.
The revelation is interesting given that the scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email address, hosted on a private server, during her time as secretary of state, and the fact that Hillary, according to her, has been completely honest and more transparent than anyone in American history.
The emails obtained by Gawker show Reines repeatedly bashing POLITICO in correspondence with New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich, referring to the Virginia-based gossip blog as "toilet stall graffiti." Reines also challenged POLITICO's Glenn Trush to take a lie-detector test, and called then-POLITICO editor Ben Smith a "MORON."
Reines is a notorious Beltway figure for many reasons, including the fact that he is a raving sycophant who snitches on his co-workers. It's weird that he would work for someone who is such a model of honesty and transparency.