Months before The New York Times reported that Hillary Clinton used a private email address for government business, the Defense Department revealed to a journalist late last year that former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel did not have an official email account.
Here’s a tweet from VICE News’ Jason Leopold on Nov. 30, 2014:
Response from DOD to my #FOIA for Hagel's emails: Request closed "as we were advised SecDef does not maintain an official e-mail account."
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) November 30, 2014
Leopold later posted the full email denying his Freedom of Information Act request, which indeed stated that “the Secretary of Defense does not maintain an official e-mail account.”
It’d be bad enough if it were the case that two Obama cabinet secretaries somehow managed not to have official email accounts for their entire tenure. But complicating matters was a tweet from Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin indicating that Hagel DID have an official email account.
Senior defense official tells me Chuck Hagel had and used a government e-mail account. cc: @JasonLeopold
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) March 3, 2015
NBC News’ Perry Bacon reported the same:
People who use(d) government e-mail accounts: Jarrett. Holder. Hagel. http://t.co/NNYwvyQ5Yl
— Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) March 3, 2015
Needless to say, Leopold was outraged.
@joshrogin oh you're joking. I will raise hell!
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) March 3, 2015