Although he claims that he does not remember a dinner conversation with Hillary Clinton regarding the use of private email at Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's dinner reception, Former Secretary of State Colin Powell allegedly advised Clinton to use private email for unclassified communications to and from the State Department. This is according to Albright, who explicitly remembers overhearing Powell advising Clinton that utilizing private email does make the job of Secretary of State easier.
A year of private emails
Powell claims that Clinton already was using private email for about a year prior to his advising her to do so in a memo.
He claims that the Clinton campaign is trying to "pin" the blame for the Democratic Party presidential nominee's email problems on him even though he presumably had nothing to do with her initial usage of private emails for State Department business. However, Clinton is recorded to have told FBI officials that she received an email from Powell in 2009 advising her of his profound successes with private emails.
Differences in computer systems
In Powell's autobiography, he drew sharp distinctions between his email system and that of Hillary Clinton. Powell pointed out that he utilized a computer on his desk on a "secure" phone line for his classified emails. He also stated that unlike Clinton, he did not store his classified emails.
Clinton, on the other hand, utilized a private email server in the basement of her home and did, in fact, store the classified emails on the server.
It appears that what Powell is trying to say is that although he advised Clinton to use her private email a year or so after she already had started doing so, that he never would have advised Clinton to use a private email server or to store classified emails on her server.
Quid pro quo
It appears to this observer that this "chit chat" between Powell and Clinton amounts to nothing more than "quid pro quo." Whether Powell's advice to Clinton was given at a fancy dinner hosted by Madeline Albright, or in a memo from Powell, really is irrelevant. The point is that both Secretaries of State utilized private emails in the performance of their duties.
Although Powell and Clinton utilized different methods of securing classified emails, it appears that neither one of them did anything that could be construed as a crime or as questionable. Both Secretaries, in their own way, carried out their duties with the best of intentions and without any deceit or concealment. And finally, without doubt or equivocation, both Powell and Clinton are patriotic and believe in the Constitution and the fundamental principles upon which this country was founded. As stated in a previously published article by this observer, perjury accusations against Clinton cannot be proven.
Please hold my hand
It appears that the handling of classified information is an issue for Donald Trump.
The GOP presidential candidate felt the need to be accompanied to his first classified briefing as a presidential nominee. Trump took New Jersey GOP Governor Chris Christie and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn with him for reasons that have not yet been revealed to the voters. As much as can be surmised from this vantage point, could this be a matter of hand holding for Trump? Is this the qualifier for someone who wants to have the nuclear codes at his fingertips? Need one ask more?
