The fact that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren appears to have followed Federal Records Act requirements by using her official email account when she was head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) doesn’t make her a hero, but it does distinguish her from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who disregarded federal law by never once using her official email account when she was in office.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Clinton only used her private email account to conduct government business during her four years in office. The Daily Caller submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for Warren’s CFPB emails containing certain key words last summer.
The 25 pages of documents are not exhaustive of all of Warren’s emails, but they do prove that she used her official account, unlike Clinton.
The Democrats’ different use of their email accounts is likely to be touted by progressives (and Republicans too) who hope Warren will challenge Clinton for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. Warren has so far denied that she has any plans to run.
While the Federal Records Act does allow officials to use their personal email in some situations — such as when their official account is inaccessible — Clinton’s failure to use an official email account at all is troublesome, according to experts interviewed by The Times.
The experts slammed Clinton for evading federal law that was put in place to ensure government transparency, while another criticized the former first lady for using a personal account that may not have been secure from hackers.
Clinton’s private emails were only recently discovered by a House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
In September 2010, President Obama appointed Warren as a special adviser tasked with working within the Treasury Department to set up the CFPB, which was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.
Warren’s emails don’t contain much in the way of news. Most are back-and-forth exchanges between Warren and staffers concerning the review of presidential memos. Some discuss meetings between Warren and then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Perhaps most noteworthy in the batch of documents is Warren’s first email, which she sent to Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s senior adviser.
“I’m taking a gulp of air — and you are my first email from Treasury,” Warren wrote to Jarrett on Sept. 21, 2010.