Hillary Wasn't Close to IT Expert (Brian Pagliano) Who Managed Her Server

[KoKo]

Last edited Tue May 31, 2016, 08:57 PM - Edit history (1)

By Julian Hattem - 05/31/16 05:30 PM EDT--The Hill

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to keep an arms-length relationship with the IT expert believed to have set up and maintained her private server, according to her former chief of staff.

During a marathon seven-hour deposition at law offices in Washington, D.C., Cheryl Mills said she couldn’t recall a single instance in which Bryan Pagliano interacted with Clinton or her top aides.

“In my presence, I don't recall occasions where he interacted with the secretary,” Mills said. “In my presence, I don't recall him engaging with folks in the secretary's office.”

The comments shed new light on the relationship between the Democratic presidential front-runner and Pagliano, who has been granted immunity in exchange for his cooperation with the ongoing FBI probe connected to Clinton’s private server.

Mills’s deposition Friday came as part of an open-records lawsuit related to Clinton’s server by the conservative watchdog organization Judicial Watch. A lengthy transcript of the interview, which lasted from 9:25 a.m. to 4:12 p.m., was released Tuesday afternoon.

Mills’s testimony adds to the scrutiny of Clinton’s use of a private email server, which was thrust into the spotlight last week by a scathing State Department Office of Inspector General report. The watchdog analysis said Clinton violated State Department policies by using a personal email address housed on a private server while secretary of State, and that the arrangement would have been blocked had she sought permission.

The server was previously used by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, Mills noted. However, she could not recall how she learned about the arrangement or whether there was any effort to move Hillary Clinton off of the system.

Echoing a defense used by Clinton, Mills said she assumed that the former secretary of State was complying with federal record-keeping rules by emailing people on their official State Department email accounts, where the messages would have been preserved.

“I assumed — I now know inaccurately — that records that were on a State system were ones that were kept forever,” she claimed. “And I thought since the secretary's practice was to email people on their State records, that there was resident in the department a set of records with respect to her work at the department.

Continued at:

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/281782-clinton-didnt-appear-close-to-it-aide-who-managed-email-server

[MattP]

1. Alot of IT don't interact with the ceo

[Bob41213]

36. Yeah, but usually the IT guy doesn't get immunity either.

Seems he's not as cozy with HRC as we heard in the beginning. That makes immunity not so much fun.

[Babel_17]

2. Keep hearing the unbeknownst defense

While it lost its charm, it remains humorous from a certain perspective.

[winter is coming]

3. "In my presence, I don't recall" sounds pretty weaselly. n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

31. "I don't recall" is a hole big enough to drive an aircraft carrier through. nt

[seabeyond]

4. Is this a gotcha? Cause I am not seeing it. More a reasoned explanation.

[2cannan]

5. Remember he sent her that birthday email (I think it was only one of a few they found). I'm curious

about Oscar Flores who is mentioned in Mills' testimony as well. I guess he was Bill and Hill's personal and household aide (and possible server turner on and offer) when the other guy (Justin Cooper) wasn't available. Nobody with security clearances...

[Waiting For Everyman]

6. There are photos of the Paglianos and the Clintons

that look pretty chummy. I believe he worked on Bill Clinton's campaigns.

So feigning distance at the office would be an odd thing to do.

[Mohammed_Lee]

13. before this disappears .....Hillary, Bryan, Bryan's wife (note sure of her name)

[Waiting For Everyman]

14. Yes, that's one of them, thanks!

[KoKo]

15. Thanks...Sad...

Last edited Tue May 31, 2016, 10:52 PM - Edit history (1)

The Pagliano's look like a cute young couple and sad they got mixed up in this.. Hard to believe Cheryl Mills would say that. Since Hillary hired Brian to serve for IT in her 2008 Campaign. I don't know what Cheryl Mills was up to...but, there's NO WAY that Hillary wasn't close to Brian. Glad that he got immunity if this is what he is up against.

[winter is coming]

19. Re-read what she said.

She said she didn't recall witnessing Hillary and Brian being close in her presence. That's the sort of weaselly statement someone makes when they want to deceive by implication without telling a flat-out lie.

[KoKo]

22. exactly...she's lawyered up and is herself a lawyer...

Definitely law speak weasily! But, then...she's covering her butt. And she and Clintons are close because she was one of Bill's lawyers defending him in the Lewinsky affair.

[karynnj]

25. exactly and she is distancing herself as well as HRC - It's a game of hot potato

SOMEONE instructed him to do so - and no one wants to be that person. One thing that was unbelievable is that she blamed Benghazi and the Secretary's concussion for no one thinking to insure the State Department had everything they should when they left.

This after FOUR years of commingling and not sorting the email! That it was all commingled makes a good case to me that they never intended to ever give them to the State Department. That she never thought that not all work emails would go to State Department people is also rather mystifying. (Not to mention, what of the mention that HRC's emails sometimes ended up in the SD spam filter. This would mean the recipient did not get it AND obviously the spam filter's messages would not be saved.)

[grasswire]

28. the whole transcript is full of "I don't recall"...

...she has a shitty memory.

[Recursion]

32. There's a photo of me with Hillary Clinton too. I guarantee you she has no idea who I am.

[Waiting For Everyman]

37. Is it from the 1990s and did you work on their campaigns?

If so, I'd expect her to acknowledge you if you worked with her at State after that. That's what most normal would people do... unless they have a very good reason not to.

[Press Virginia]

7. By the time this is over, he'll have broken into the house and set everything up

as a prank, then forged checks to himself.

[IdaBriggs]

8. ^== This. nt

[KoKo]

9. Cheryl Mills testimony is Shocking. "In my presence..." She's Covering her butt...

Look at the IG Report and News Articles. Brian Pagliano was hired by SOS to take care of the Day Job of monitoring Hillary's Chappaqua Server. Others in the State Dept. didn't know what his job was.

Mill's testimony is bizarre in her covering up.....

Here's link to State Department's "Inspector General's Report:" 28 Pages

https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/state-department-report-on-clintons-email-practices/2039/?tid=a_inl

[morningfog]

17. Mills is seriously exposed. She's made claims and representations

that have not held up. I see her the most at risk so far.

[leveymg]

33. Things are pointing to Mills being the one who advised HRC to use the private server.

Mills was the one who unsuccessfully negotiated with NSA to obtain six clones of Obama's secure phone. It was this set of February 2009 emails between Mills and NSA to HRC that wasn't initially turned over to the State Dept investigation until NSA produced them. It's looking like Mills may fall on her sword.

[riderinthestorm]

10. Brian who? I don't recall that guy. Never met him...

Jayzus, like some bad novel plot.

[litlbilly]

11. Looks like they're setting him up to be the fallguy.

[KoKo]

12. Cheryl Mills seems to be but there are more to be interviewed....

Will be interesting to watch. Plus there's the FBI Investigation waiting to hear this testimony from the FOIA Civil Law Suit that Clinton Appointed Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan is presiding over.

[morningfog]

18. Well sure, he has immunity. They'd love for it to fall on him.

[litlbilly]

20. that's right, I forgot about that. They'll pick someone im sure.

[winter is coming]

21. My guess is they'll try to make Mills the scapegoat. I wonder whether she knows it yet. n/t

[KoKo]

23. I think it will be Pagliano. But, then..who knows.

Its still early.

[winter is coming]

24. IMO, to get immunity in the first place, he must have known

something that would implicate people further up the food chain.

[KoKo]

34. True...and maybe they aren't aware of what info he has revealed.

He might not have been chummy with many in SD...but, observed what was going on.

[Bob41213]

38. Mills is the one who seems to know shit people are telling her not to talk about...

I think she's the fall guy. Brian's got immunity so he prolly already sang his guts out.

[karynnj]

26. Though they would likely prefer that to anyone in the inner circle, if no top Clinton aide

instructed him on what to do, Hillary Clinton did.

[bigtree]

16. most people know Hillary isn't an IT expert

...and can reason she didn't involve herself in the technical aspects of her communications.

[pangaia]

27. Isn't an IT expert?? Well, she sure as hell isn't a foreign policy expert either.

[grasswire]

29. word is that Patrick Kennedy has a lot of exposure.

He will be the last one interviewed.

[KoKo]

35. Patrick was the one forwarding all the e-mails to her...If I recall

correctly, and maybe he was just doing what he was told by the boss. It would be hard to question her authority.

[Skwmom]

30. Didn't he take a picture with Clinton? Some photo was posted here. Edit: I found a couple.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3474211/Ex-Clinton-staffer-set-email-server-accepts-immunity-offer-FBI-provide-interview-official-says.html

[grasswire]

39. I saw an interesting brief video..

...that is identified as Pagliano going to a fundraiser with Terry McAuliffe.

[KoKo]

40. That would be kind of strange....

are you sure about that?

[Waiting For Everyman]

41. Some additional info on Pagliano

He worked on Hillary's 2008 campaign (but I still think I remember a connection with Bill's campaigns too in another article somewhere). This one below is by Reuters from this past March. It goes into what was known about Pagliano by whom at the State Dept.

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-role-of-tech-who-set-up-clintons-server-unknown-to-bosses-at-state-2016-3?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=referral

One issue is, it seems he was being paid by the State Dept. and also by the Clintons privately. I think that may have been true of Huma as well.

[KoKo]

42. Thanks! and this from the Washington Post:

Politics

Clintons personally paid State Department staffer to maintain server

by Rosalind S. Helderman and Carol D. Leonnig September 5, 2015

Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family personally paid a State Department staffer to maintain the private e-mail server she used while heading the agency, according to an official from Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The unusual arrangement helped Clinton retain personal control over the system that she used for her public and private duties and that has emerged as an issue for her campaign. But, according to the campaign official, it also ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter as well as aides to the former president.

That State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, told a congressional committee this week that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination instead of testifying about the setup.The private employment of Pagliano provides a new example of the ways that Clinton — who occupied a unique role as a Cabinet secretary who was also a former and potentially future presidential candidate — hired staff to work simultaneously for her in public and private capacities.

Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, and Huma Abedin, a close confidant who served as deputy chief of staff, both spent time working for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons personally.

Pagliano’s employment by the Clintons was confirmed by a campaign official in response to questions from The Washington Post. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. A campaign spokesman declined to provide a statement.

Pagliano had served as the IT director of Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and then worked for her political action committee.

Continued at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-personally-paid-state-department-staffer-to-maintain-server/2015/09/04/b13ab23e-530c-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html