Washington Post Gives Hillary 4 Pinocchios for Her Latest Round of Email Claims

By The Stream Published on August 1, 2016

Donald Trump wasn’t the only one who made a mess of things during a Sunday morning talk show appearance this weekend.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made a statement about her emails and the FBI that was so demonstrably false that fact-checkers at the generally Hillary-friendly Washington Post gave the remarks “four Pinocchios.”

It began when Fox News Sunday host Christ Wallace played a montage of statements Clinton had made in the past about her email server:

 I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified materials. I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time. I had not sent classified material nor received anything marked classified.

Said Wallace, “After a long investigation, FBI Director James Comey said none of those things that you told the American public were true.”

Clinton told Wallace, “Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what I’ve said is consistent with what I have told the American people, that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain of the emails.”

As the Post notes, Comey spoke only to her questioning by the Bureau, telling Congress, “We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.” He painstakingly avoided characterizing what Hillary told the American people, saying he was “not qualified to answer.”

However, during that appearance before Congress, Comey faced a quick round of questions from Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), part of which were played by Wallace:

GOWDY: Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails either sent or received. Was that true?
COMEY: That’s not true.
GOWDY: Secretary Clinton said, “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material.” Was that true?
COMEY: There was classified material emailed.

Comey also contradicted Clinton’s statements over the number of devices and number of work-related emails deleted. Hillary had said she used one device. She used several. Hillary had said she handed over “all” work related emails. The FBI found “thousands” that were not handed over.

Here’s what The Washington Post fact-checker concluded:

As we have seen repeatedly in Clinton’s explanations of the email controversy, she relies on excessively technical and legalistic answers to explain her actions. While Comey did say there was no evidence she lied to the FBI, that is not the same as saying she told the truth to the American public — which was the point of Wallace’s question. Comey has repeatedly not taken a stand on her public statements.

And although Comey did say many emails were retroactively classified, he also said that there were some emails that were already classified that should not have been sent on an unclassified, private server. That’s the uncomfortable truth that Clinton has trouble admitting.

The statement was then given “Four Pinocchios” — on a scale of one to four.  One defined as “Some shading of the facts. Selective telling of the truth. Some omissions and exaggerations, but no outright falsehoods. (You could view this as ‘mostly true.’)” Four Pinocchios is defined simply as “Whoppers.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Scarcity Mindset
Robert Morris
More from The Stream
Connect with Us