Colin Powell is fighting back with daggers out at the latest allegations that he was the one who inspired Hillary Clinton to create her own private email server. “Her people are trying to pin it on me,” Powell said Saturday night at an event in East Hampton, NY, according to People Magazine.
The furious Powell expressed frustration that yet again Clinton and her people are trying to point the finger at him accusing him of directing her to create the server, an accusation which he has continuously contested to be false. “The truth is, she was using (the private email server) for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did,” he said.
When asked why he thought Clinton had pointed the finger to him during the testimony he responded, “Why do you think?” Powell continued, “It doesn’t bother me. But it’s okay; I’m free.”
The accusation that Clinton received the advice directly from Powell came this past week when it was reported that she revealed that information during the 3 hour FBI interview she had with investigators discussing the email scandal. Though there was no audio recording or transcript documentation of the meeting, the FBI recorded “notes” that they handed over to Congress earlier last week.
In the notes, Hillary reportedly told investigators that she spoke to Powell during a dinner party for all former, current, and future Secretary of States hosted by former Secretary Madeleine Albright at her home in Washington in early 2009. Clinton claims that during that exclusive soiree, Albright requested that any guest who had advice for Clinton, who was next in line for the position, offer it to her before the night was over. Clinton says that it was then that Powell informed her of his use of personal email during his time as secretary and suggested she do that same.
Powells office came out just before the weekend and refuted that statement, saying Powell has “no recollection” of it happening. What Powell did recall, however, was sending a memo to Clinton informing her of his email practice during his time in office, saying that he used his AOL account for personal correspondence while insuring that any official government communications involving classified information was discussed on State department computers with a secure system. Powell claims Clinton was using her server well before he sent the memo.
Though Powell used a private email account during his time in office, he has had to fight back against claims it was anything like Clinton’s situation time and time again. Clinton, who came into office in 2009, created a personal domain and harbored the server to run it in her home bathroom in New York and never once used a .gov account to conduct state department business. Not only did Clinton only use her personal email account, she never had a .gov email to begin with.
During the time that Powell was Secretary, email and communication systems were not set up as they are today with the technology still being developed during the time when he started in 2001.
Though the FBI has formally acknowledged that Clinton was “extremely careless” handling classified information, the justice department has decided not to press any charges against her.
[revad2]