Another shoddy Clinton smear: Anatomy of the New York Times’ epic email screw-up

[DonViejo]

NYT initially reports Hillary may become target of criminal probe -- and then watches its story fall apart

SOPHIA TESFAYE

Late last night, The New York Times published an anonymously sourced reported, titled ”Criminal Inquiry Sought in Hillary Clinton’s Use of Email,” that claimed two inspectors general asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into whether the Democratic presidential frontrunner “mishandled” sensitive government information by using a personal email account and server while she was secretary of state. That story quickly fizzled by early Friday morning, with the Justice Department quashing talk of a criminal probe, although a new report claims Clinton sent at least four emails that contained classified intelligence community information from her private server while at the State Department.

A spokesperson for the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that a review of 40 of the 30,000 emails Clinton has released from her time in office found that four “were classified when they were sent and are classified now.” Clinton had previously claimed she never sent classified emails using her personal server, although the State Department has later acknowledged that some information in the messages should be retroactively classified.

“I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material,” Clinton claimed during a press conference on her email use in March. “I’m certainly aware of the classified requirements and did not send classified material.”

But earlier this month, I. Charles McCullough III, the intelligence community’s inspector general, informed the FBI of a “potential compromise of classified information” regarding Clinton’s email. His spokesperson explained that it was a counterintelligence referral and that “office is statutorily required to refer compromises of national security information” because the inspector general’s office does not handle comprise cases.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/24/another_shoddy_clinton_smear_anatomy_of_the_new_york_times_epic_email_screw_up/

[Thinkingabout]

1. This one has gotten lots of miles on a dusty road, time to let the dust settle.

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R