Heading into the 2016 presidential campaign season, one of the big topics has been email, and specifically, what's being made public record.  Former Secretary of State and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has recently come under fire when it was learned that she had her own private email server while she was in office.  Critics contend that this was a way for Clinton to avoid having her emails made public via open records laws.

Various Democrats have come to Clinton's defense in the media, saying that she's acted appropriately and that critics are engaging in a "fishing expedition," not knowing what they're looking for, but hoping they'll find something to use against the former First Lady.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) recently appeared in a national television interview and said that, in fact, Mrs. Clinton has been the only Secretary of State to turn over private emails that dealt with public work.  Schumer said the following:

"The State Department asked all secretaries of state to send their emails over, and she’s the only one who’s done it."

Our partners at PolitiFact decided to look into Schumer's claim to see if it was accurate.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that his claim rates MOSTLY FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says the ruling is based on the context of the situation.

"Now, it is true that the State Department has asked former Secretaries of State to turn over additional email materials from their times in their official positions," said Gillin.  "The problem is that you have to remember that email hasn't been around forever, and that means you can't go back to Henry Kissinger, for example, to request email records from 1973."

Gillin notes that email was slow to be adopted by various Secretaries of State.  "If you go back to the 1990's with Madeline Albright, she has stated that she didn't actually use email," said Gillin.  "Colin Powell did have an email account and had some records, but most of that was from a ten-year old account and those emails are no longer available.  Condoleeza Rice, according to many sources, was pretty famous for not using email very much."

Gillin says that there's a big difference between not complying and not turning over anything because it didn't exist in the first place, which, in that context, makes Schumer's argument weaker, leading to PolitiFact rating his claim MOSTLY FALSE.

 

SOURCES: CLINTON TURNING OVER EMAILS