Representative Chris Stewart (R-UT), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said that after reading some of Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails “I’ve not read anything that is more sensitive and more potentially dangerous than some of the information contained in this email” and “I’ve not read anything that is more sensitive and more potentially dangerous than some of the information contained in this email” on Thursday’s broadcast of “Bill Bennett’s Morning In America.”
Stewart said, “There’s more than people thought, there’s more than the press is reporting. But the most important thing is this, as I said, I was an Air Force pilot, I flew the B-1, one of the most sophisticated and sensitive weapon systems we have, sitting on intel. now, of course we have to some of the most classified information that there is, and I’m telling you Bill, I’ve not read anything that is more sensitive and more potentially dangerous than some of the information contained in this email. And that’s just a fact. … There is incredibly sensitive information on this email.”
He added that Hillary’s defense that her emails should be released is “absurd” and “dishonest” because “she knows these emails will not be released.”
Stewart further stated, “I mean, this isn’t a judgement call. This isn’t a case of, well, maybe they shouldn’t have classified it. It is obvious on their face that these are highly classified. And it’s not something you have to discuss to try and understand. Anyone would read these and know immediately that these are highly sensitive information.” Stewart also said, “[I]f I were a Democrat, and wanting to defend Hillary, I wouldn’t read these emails, because, again, there’s no way you can, and then come out with a straight face and say, ‘Yeah, no big deal.'”
Regarding the defense that the emails were marked classified at a later point, Stewart argued this defense is “irrelevant.” He continued that “You don’t have to have a marking on this to know that this is classified. And I’ve used this example, and I think it’s fairly close and fairly accurate, if I received an email that listed the names and addresses and locations of overseas agents, I would know that’s classified.” Stewart clarified that he wasn’t saying that the emails contained this information, but he was merely using this as an example of something that would be obviously be classified.
Stewart also countered the defense that Colin Powell did the same thing by arguing that there’s “a remarkable difference” because Powell didn’t have “1,600+” emails, and they weren’t “classified as secret or even top secret. They were classified as confidential. And they were still contained within the body of the official state.gov, not on a private server that was sitting in someone’s basement.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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