In a stunning story from The New York Post, Paul Sperry claims that Hillary Clinton, while acting as Secretary of State, had her maid, Marina Santos, print up sensitive documents on multiple occasions.
Among the flood of emails released by the FBI from Hillary Clinton’s private, unsecured email server, there are several emails in which Clinton’s aides–and even the Democratic presidential nominee herself–write about having “Marina” print out sensitive documents.
Sperry also notes that Marina Santos had access to Hillary Clinton’s sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). A SCIF is a specially designed room in which sensitive communications can be delivered, received, or discussed. Such rooms are routinely used by the United States government, and its agencies.
Two emails in particular stand out. On April 3, 2012, Clinton aide, Monica Hanley, sent the Secretary an email regarding an upcoming “call sheet.” The unredacted portion of the body reads:
“Apologies – but this just came in. Includes revisions to the Iran points and the addition of some MEP points. Marina is trying to print for you.
The Secretary’s Call Sheet for EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. Purpose of call: To consult with Ashton regarding P5+1 talks, and in particular, the letter sent by Sergey Lavrov.”
The rest of the email is redacted, and marked “CONFIDENTIAL” under section 1.4(D) of the Obama administration’s December 2009 executive order, titled: “Classified National Security Information.” Section 1.4(D) is a designation for “foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources.”
In a second email, sent April 8, 2012, Hanley details another “call sheet,” this time regarding Clinton’s upcoming conversation with Malawi president, Joyce Banda. In the email, Hanley writes: “This did not make it with the pouch, but we can ask Marina to print this and her bio for you…”
This email is also marked “CONFIDENTIAL,” under section 1.4(D) of the “Classified National Security Information” memo.
It must be noted that the above emails were retroactively classified on October 30, 2015, and January 29, 2016, respectively. However, the redacted emails are sensitive enough to be marked under section 1.4(D). Clinton and her staff should have known that such information shouldn’t be handled by someone without clearance.
Moreover, knowingly sending such information to an individual without clearance could be considered a violation of section 793(f) of the Espionage Act, which states in part:
“Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed…and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer—Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”
Sperry notes that Santos may even have handled top-secret documents:
“The FBI noted Clinton periodically received the Presidential Daily Brief–a top-secret document prepared by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies–via the secure fax.”
The Post alleges that the FBI never interviewed Santos during its probe into Clinton’s email server, nor did they ask for Santos’ iMac, on which the maid presumably received the sensitive emails. If this is indeed true, the FBI failed miserably in even the most basic aspect of investigation.
This doesn’t stop at Hillary Clinton. Marina Santos could face legal repercussions as well for handling sensitive information without the proper clearance, if she did so knowingly. The New York Post confronted Santos outside her home, but she simply replied: “I don’t speak to reporters.”
With every bit of new information that comes to light regarding this investigation, Clinton’s “I made a mistake” excuse looks more and more like a rank disregard for the national security of the United States.
Hillary Clinton is either an imbecile, or she’s criminally negligent. Either way, come Tuesday, this individual who appears entirely unable to handle highly sensitive information may be elected president of the United States.