I will try, nothing the President does during the term is private.
Both of them are/were free to use personal phones for personal matters. I’d recommend this President not do it, but there is no rule against it - and I’m certain other Presidents have done it. He should never use it for classified discussions.
They both appear to be nongovernment-controlled methods. (Colin Powell said he also used private servers, by the way.)
Since he's using it to talk to "outside advisers," I'd say he'd be better served not to do it at all. There's a reason they gave Obama a special Blackberry.
Incorrect. HRC was free to use her private phone and private email for private business.
Powell and Clinton were the same in the only way that ultimately matters: they used a non-government account for official business.
Like I said, I agree he shouldn’t. However, he’s free to talk about private matters over his private phone. Of course, given the vulnerabilities of a private phone, and the fact that he’s President, he should know his conversations might not remain private.
You left a big gap between "personal matters" and "classified discussions." Not all government business is "classified."
Once again, technology was different, policies were different, Powell only did it when he didn’t have access to his NIPR email outside the office (technology limitation) and he had a SIPR account for classified communications. For HRC, technology allowed her to have access to NIPR all the time, policy at that required official business be conducted via her government account (which she never obtained), and she never obtained a SIPR account either which ultimately led to classified information on her private, unauthorized email server.
I left no gap. He shouldn’t use a private phone for government business either.
This keeps getting repeated, but I've never seen it confirmed. The fact that her private account received a relatively tiny amount of classified information suggests that she made use of other processes when discussing classified information on a regular basis.
I’ve linked reporting that explicitly said she never had a SIPR account. I’ve also explained that, in itself, is not a problem because she can opt to read printed copies (don’t save the trees) and be orally briefed of classified information. However, those two options aren’t always available while traveling and it very likely led to a staffer sending her classified information via her unauthorized and unclassified system.
Actually, I don't think you have. I think you've linked various (well-meaning) people concluding (or assuming) that she didn't have a SIPRNet account. Just to be technically accurate about it.
You're confusing policy violation with error. I'm saying that ultimately, when it comes down to what each of them did that was a mistake, it was using a private account for government business. The details differ between the two, and I don't blame either one for the decisions they made, but in hindsight, that was the fundamental flaw at the center of it all, and it was the same flaw for both.
That’s true. They aren’t the same at all, but it is a good reason Trump shouldn’t do it even so. That presumes Trump could think that logically. He can’t.
Yes I have.
Well, if you linked anything confirming that, then you've since deleted the posts, because they don't show up in a search. We'll have to agree to disagree unless you can provide a link, because I've looked - hard - for anything confirming that statement, and I can't find anything.
I don't think you're the one explaining poorly; I think I am. Because you seem to be talking around my (intended) statement, instead of directly in response to it. I agree there are various details that are different, but I think they still (as individuals) both made the same fundamental core error, which was doing government business on a non-government account. Everything that happened as a result of that to both of them was ultimately caused by that singular decision. I'm not saying all that happened to each was the same; I'm just saying the fundamental error that caused it all was the same.
Trump thinks logically and is not reckless. After all, he stated that while he’s in Russia, he assumes he’s being recorded-after having hookers piss on the bed in his room that he didn’t stay in, since he didn’t spend the night in Russia, even though he did. Besides, what’s reckless about a married man banging hookers without using protection? Nah, he’s good. No security risk at all using a cell phone.
Last try at it. Email systems were inadequate during Powell’s time. They weren’t usually accessible outside the office. Policy specifically authorized unclassified government communications via personal email. Because of this it was sometimes necessary (and authorized) for Powell to do some government business via his personal account. It was not routine. Powell had a NIPR account that he used when he could. Powell himself initiated significant upgrades to DoS’ unclassified email system because it was inadequate and not up-to-date. By the time HRC became SecState, the technology was much improved and DoS email system was accessible outside the office on travel - even on her government Blackberry. Official federal policy was that ALL unclassified government business was to be done via unclassified government email systems. HRC herself informed DoS employees that this was the policy - except for her (she left that part out). She did ALL unclassified DoS business (and some highly classified - though whether she herself knew about that or was just astonishingly ignorant is up for debate) via her personal email system which she had deliberately set up to avoid using government systems in blatant violation of policy.
