Marco Rubio blasted Hillary Clinton on her private email server Wednesday, saying it was an, “irresponsible way to act. It really is for someone who is running on the notion that she’s experienced and competent. This is really incompetent.”
Rubio ridiculed Clinton on the Hugh Hewitt Show, saying, “There is no way you have all those emails going back and forth between her and her top deputies, and it doesn’t include sensitive information, not to mention information that’s been classified. So it’s just really reckless and irresponsible.”
Hugh Hewitt: I hope so. Let’s start with the headline. Yesterday, former Secretary of State Clinton turned over her server and thumb drive to the FBI just as the inspector general of the intelligence community confirmed that there was top secret, even SCI material on it. Senator Grassley, your colleague, has blasted this, as did Speaker Boehner. The speaker said, “Secretary Clinton’s previous statements that she possessed no classified information were patently untrue. Her mishandling of classified information must be fully investigated.” Any of your committees in the Senate have jurisdiction over this, senator?
Marco Rubio: The Intelligence Community. And of course, we’re going to get into this jurisdictional fight between the State Department and the intelligence community about, you know, who does that information belong to, but I said it from the first day that this is revealed. If you go back and see the record, from the very first day this came out, I said here’s the biggest danger, and that is she received information that was classified and/or sensitive. But you know, it doesn’t have to be classified to be important. The Chinese, the Russians and others, they’re not just looking for classified information. They’re looking for sensitive information, things that given them insight into our thinking, into our strategy. And there is no way you have all those emails going back and forth between her and her top deputies, and it doesn’t include sensitive information, not to mention information that’s been classified. So it’s just really reckless and irresponsible.
Hewitt: In early March, General Petraeus, who’s a hero, I mean, an honest to God hero, pled guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified information in violation of 18USC section 1924. NPR pointed out at the time that former National Security adviser Sandy Berger, former CIA director John Deutsch has pled guilty to the same offenses. Do you see any difference between what they did and what former Secretary of State Clinton has done?
Rubio: Well, let’s get all the facts before we, I’m prepared to say that. But let’s just say it’s deeply concerning. Obviously, this is not, we need to see what happened. I mean, was this information being shared with people outside of the government just because they were friends and she wanted their advice? But I think what we know for sure already is that she was using a private server that was not protected, and she used it to traffic in classified, and with no doubt, sensitive information. And it’s just an irresponsible way to act. It really is for someone who is running on the notion that she’s experienced and competent. This is really incompetent.