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Hillary Clinton Sent Classified Information on Her Private Email Account, Explained

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton / AP
July 24, 2015

The Hillary Clinton email scandal was revived Friday when the Wall Street Journal reported that she sent classified information over her private email account as secretary of state. Here's what you need to know.

Hey.

Hey.

Can I ask you something?

Sure.

Did Hillary Clinton ever send classified email over her private email address when she was at the State Department?

Yes, she did.

Says who?

The State Department's inspector general's office. Per the Wall Street Journal: "An internal government review found that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent at least four emails from her personal account containing classified information during her time heading the State Department."

Just four?

Well, yes, but they only reviewed 40 emails out of more than 30,000 total. So, ten percent.

Oh.

Yeah.

But the information wasn't classified at the time, right? It was probably done retroactively, like those other emails.

No, the information was deemed classified at the time, but was not properly marked as such. A spokeswoman for the inspector general's office said the emails in question "were classified when they were sent and are classified now." Inspector General I. Charles McCullough wrote that the information in the emails "should have been handled as classified."

Didn't Hillary Clinton deny that she ever sent classified information over her private account?

Yes, she did. In March, Clinton told reporters: "I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material. So I’m certainly well-aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material."

So, the best Hillary can say at this point is that she accidentally sent classified information that wasn't explicitly marked classified on her private account over an insecure network. Right?

Yeah, pretty much.

Foreign hackers probably stole all the information that was on her server anyway, don't you think?

Yes, and so does the former deputy director of the CIA.

That's not good.

No, it isn't.

What's Hillary up to these days, anyway?

She's vacationing/fundraising in the Hamptons.

Oh. Is that the same beach where these photos were taken?

That's the place.

It must be cool to be so rich.

Yeah.

I gotta get back to work.

Later.