Clinton Cash Author Reports – “The Strange Gaps in Hillary Clinton’s Email Traffic”

But, when it comes to Clinton’s correspondence, the most basic and troubling questions still remain unanswered: Why are there gaps in Clinton’s email history? Did she or her team delete emails that she should have made public?

The State Department has released what is said to represent all of the work-related, or “official,” emails Clinton sent during her tenure as secretary—a number totaling about 30,000. According to Clinton and her campaign, when they were choosing what correspondence to turn over to State for public release, they deleted 31,830 other emails deemed “personal and private.” But a numeric analysis of the emails that have been made public, focusing on conspicuous lapses in email activity, raises troubling concerns that Clinton or her team might have deleted a number of work-related emails.

We already know that the trove of Clinton’s work-related emails is incomplete. In his comments on Tuesday, Comey declared, “The FBI … discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014.” We also already know that some of those work-related emails could be permanently deleted. Indeed, according to Comey, “It is also likely that there are other work-related e-mails that [Clinton and her team] did not produce to State and that we did not find elsewhere, and that are now gone because they deleted all emails they did not return to State, and the lawyers cleaned their devices in such a way as to preclude complete forensic recovery.”

Why does this matter? Because Clinton signed documents declaring she had turned over all of her work-related emails. We now know that is not true. But even more importantly, the absence of emails raises troubling questions about the nature of the correspondence that might have been deleted.

Based on the emails the State Department released, Clinton sent or received an average of 21 work emails per day during her tenure—including on her numerous trips overseas, when email must have been a lifeline for communication. But there are numerous odd low-traffic days in the email record during her foreign travel. For example, from July 17-23, 2009, Clinton made a high-profile visit to India and Thailand. She not only issued a pivotal joint statement with the Indian government on nuclear technology, she also met with Indian billionaires at the start of her visit. On July 22, she met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Thailand to discuss arms control. And yet, if you look at what she claims is her complete email record released by the State Department, on July 18 and July 20 of this trip, she did not send or receive a single email that was deemed work-related. 

Could it be that Team Clinton avoided email while she was traveling as a security precaution? Her pattern during other travels doesn’t support that possible explanation. During her 2010 visit to Ukraine on July 1-2, for example, she sent and received 38 emails over both days. During her June 27-29, 2012, visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, she sent and received 65 emails over those three days.

There are other anomalies. The email traffic for the secretary of state seems for the most part to be event-driven. For example, during Muammar Qadhafi’s removal from power in Libya, on Aug. 22, 2011, Clinton received 133 work-related emails, way more than average. However, there are some important events with virtually no corresponding email traffic. One useful approach in determining what emails might be missing is to overlay the Clinton emails with State Department cables that were released via WikiLeaks. As one might expect, the volume of cables and the volume of emails about specific events tend to rise and fall together. (Obviously, we cannot account for emails redacted prior to public release.) Consider these examples: the earthquake and rebuilding of Haiti, the Copenhagen climate treaty, the military coup in Honduras and diplomatic matters concerning the Lisbon Treaty. As we demonstrate below, the number of State Department cables and Clinton emails either sent or received that mention these matters rise and fall together.

But then there is an instance where the State Department cable traffic rises and there are few if any Clinton corresponding emails. It’s the case of Rosatom, the Russian State Nuclear Agency: Clinton and senior officials at the State Department received dozens of cables on the subject of Rosatom’s activities around the world, including a hair-raising cable about Russian efforts to dominate the uranium market. As secretary of state, Clinton was a central player in a variety of diplomatic initiatives involving Rosatom officials. But strangely, there is only one email that mentions Rosatom in Clinton’s entire collection, an innocuous email about Rosatom’s activities in Ecuador. To put that into perspective, there are more mentions of LeBron James, yoga and NBC’s Saturday Night Livethan the Russian Nuclear Agency in Clinton’s emails deemed “official.”

What could explain this lack of emails on the Russian Nuclear Agency? Were Clinton’s aides negligent in passing along unimportant information while ignoring the far more troubling matters concerning Rosatom? Possibly. Or, were emails on this subject deleted as falling into the “personal” category? It is certainly odd that there’s virtually no email traffic on this subject in particular. Remember that a major deal involving Rosatom that was of vital concern to Clinton Foundation donors went down in 2009 and 2010. Rosatom bought a small Canadian uranium company owned by nine investors who were or became major Clinton Foundation donors, sending $145 million in contributions. The Rosatom deal required approval from several departments, including the State Department.

For more on that topic, see last year’s post: More Clinton Foundation Cronyism – The Deal to Sell Uranium Interests to Russia While Hillary was Secretary of State

Equally bizarre is the absence at certain times of basic logistical emails pertaining to Hillary Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton. In general, Bill gets plenty of mention in the official emails released by the State Department, emails covering everything from travel logistics to press releases about Clinton Foundation work. But there’s an email silence in June 2010, when Hillary Clinton was in South America for a series of high-level meetings. According to her memoir, “by coincidence” Bill was in Bogota, Colombia, apparently for Clinton Foundation work, at the same time she was in the country. Also there with Bill was Frank Giustra, one of the Clinton Foundation’s largest contributors. Bill, Hillary and Giustra reportedly had dinner together, and the next morning, Bill met with Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe, followed immediately by Hillary’s meeting with Uribe. In the weeks that follow, Giustra’s companies scored concessions from the Colombian government on matters ranging from oil to timber.

More more on this story, see: This is How Hillary Does Business – An Oil Company, Human Rights Abuses in Colombia and the Clinton Foundation.

The State Department released plenty of emails concerning Bill Clinton during other foreign trips when Hillary and Bill were traveling together, including dining recommendations, travel schedules and records of Bill’s daily activities. And yet there is not a single email in the public Clinton email trove about Bill’s presence in Colombia, the couple’s dinner with Giustra or the fact that Bill and Hillary met separately and back-to-back with Uribe.

The media has spent a lot of time parsing through the Clinton emails that already have been released—compiling lists, looking for specific names or discussion of particular issues. But they ought to pay more attention to the holes. Bob Woodward has declared that Hillary Clinton’s email scandal “reminds me of the Nixon tapes.” He’s right. In that case and here, it’s not what’s in the record that’s most troubling. It’s what’s not there.

Buy hey…

For more on Clinton Foundation shadiness, see:

Wall Street Analyst Who Warned on GE Ahead of Crash Calls Clinton Foundation “Charity Fraud”

Senior Fellow at Sunlight Foundation Calls the Clinton Foundation “A Slush Fund”

Exposed – The Clinton Foundation is Running a $20 Million Private Equity Firm in Colombia

How the Clinton Foundation Paid Sidney Blumenthal $10K per Month as He Gave Horrible Libya Advice to the State Dept.

How Donations to the Clinton Foundation Led to Tens of Billions in Weapons Sales to Autocratic Regimes

What Difference Does it Make? 1,100 Foreign Donors to Clinton Foundation Never Disclosed and Remain Secret

Senior Fellow at Sunlight Foundation Calls the Clinton Foundation “A Slush Fund”

More Clinton Foundation Cronyism – The Deal to Sell Uranium Interests to Russia While Hillary was Secretary of State

More Hillary Cronyism Revealed – How Cisco Used Clinton Foundation Donations to Cover-up Human Rights Abuse in China

This is How Hillary Does Business – An Oil Company, Human Rights Abuses in Colombia and the Clinton Foundation

Clinton Foundation’s Deep Financial Ties to Ukrainian Oligarch Who Pushed for Closer Ties to EU Revealed

Hillary Clinton Exposed Part 2 – Clinton Foundation Took Millions From Countries That Also Fund ISIS

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger