Subject: Re: Proposed response to upcoming State Dept disclosure on Sid emails
From: Brian Fallon <[email-masked]>
To: Heather Samuelson <[email-masked]>
Cc: Nick Merrill <[email-masked]>, Cheryl Mills <[email-masked]>, Jennifer Palmieri <[email-masked]>, John Podesta <[email-masked]>, Tony Carrk <[email-masked]>, Christina Reynolds <[email-masked]>, "Kendall, David" <[email-masked]>, Katherine Turner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 22:40:15 -0400

Based on conversations today, below is the finalized version of the
response plan:

*Q: The State Department says that at least 16 of the emails
that Sid Blumenthal turned over to the Benghazi Select Committee were not
included in the 55,000 pages of materials produced by Hillary Clinton.
Doesn't this prove that Hillary Clinton deleted certain emails at some
point before producing them to the Department?*

*ON-THE-RECORD RESPONSE FROM SPOKESMAN NICK MERRILL:*

"Hillary Clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of materials to the State
Department, including all emails in her possession from Mr. Blumenthal."

*ADDITIONAL POINTS ON BACKGROUND FROM CLINTON AIDE:*

Not only did Clinton turn over all emails that she has from Blumenthal, she
actually turned over more than a dozen emails that were not included in
what Mr. Blumenthal handed over to the House committee.

We do not have a record of other correspondence between Mrs. Clinton and
Mr. Blumenthal beyond that which was turned over to the State Department.
In terms of the documents provided by Mr. Blumenthal to the House
committee, we do not recognize many of those materials and cannot speak to
their origin.

*OFF RECORD, if pressed on whether we are essentially admitting the
possibility that she deleted some emails:*

Look, we do not know what these materials are, or where they came from.
Just take a look at them: many of the documents are not even formatted as
emails.

But even if Sid is right and some of these documents were at some point
sent to Clinton, there is nothing in any of these emails that is remotely
new or interesting. Indeed, none of these 16 emails are qualitatively
different than the dozens of others that Hillary already produced to the
State Department. So it is completely ridiculous to suggest that there
might have been any nefarious basis for her to want to delete any of Sid's
correspondence.

On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 4:07 PM, Heather Samuelson <
[email-masked]> wrote:

>   Thanks for update Nick
>
>  Brian -- I will call you on this.  Recommend removing section re Sid not
> being a federal employee.
>
>  On Jun 24, 2015, at 2:32 PM, Nick Merrill <[email-masked]>
> wrote:
>
>   Just spoke to State a little more about this.  A few updates.
>
>  1. The plan at the moment is for them to do this tomorrow, first thing
> in the morning.
>
>  2. What that means specifically is that they are going to turn over all
> the Blumenthal emails to the Committee that they hav along with some other
> HRC emails that include a slightly broader set of search terms than the
> original batch.  That of course includes the emails Sid turned over that
> HRC didn't, which will make clear to them that she didn't have them in the
> first place, deleted them, or didn't turn them over.  It also includes
> emails that HRC had that Sid didn't, as Brian noted.
>
>  3. They do not plan to release anything publicly, so no posting online
> or anything public-facing, just to the committee.  That said, they are
> considering placing a story with a friendly at the AP (Matt Lee or Bradley
> Klapper), that would lay this out before the majority on the committee has
> a chance to realize what they have and distort it.
>
>  On that last piece, we think it would make sense to work with State and
> the AP to deploy the below.  So assuming everyone is in agreement we'll
> proceed.  It would be good to frame this a little, and frankly to have it
> break tomorrow when we'll likely be close to or in the midst of a SCOTUS
> decision taking over the news hyenas.
>
>  Will keep everyone posted if anything changes, including the timing.
>
>  Nick
>
> On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Brian Fallon <[email-masked]
> > wrote:
>
>>  All - In preparation for the possibility that the State Department may
>> acknowledge as soon as today that there were 16 Sid emails missing from the
>> 55k pages of material produced by HRC, I wanted to circulate the below
>> draft plan for responding to the inquiries that Nick will get. Thanks.
>>
>>
>>  *Q: The State Department says that at least 16 of the emails
>> that Sid Blumenthal turned over to the Benghazi Select Committee were not
>> included in the 55,000 pages of materials produced by Hillary Clinton.
>> Doesn't this prove that Hillary Clinton deleted certain emails at some
>> point before producing them to the Department?*
>>
>>  *ON-THE-RECORD RESPONSE FROM SPOKESMAN NICK MERRILL:*
>>
>>  "Hillary Clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of materials to the State
>> Department, including all emails in her possession from Mr. Blumenthal."
>>
>>  *ADDITIONAL POINTS ON BACKGROUND FROM CLINTON AIDE:*
>>
>>  Not only did Clinton turn over all emails that she has from Blumenthal,
>> she actually turned over more than a dozen emails that were not included in
>> what Mr. Blumenthal handed over to the House committee.
>>
>>  We do not have a record of other correspondence between Mrs. Clinton
>> and Mr. Blumenthal beyond that which was turned over to the State
>> Department. In terms of the documents provided by Mr. Blumenthal to the
>> House committee, we do not recognize many of those materials and cannot
>> speak to their origin.
>>
>>  *OFF RECORD, if pressed on whether we are essentially admitting the
>> possibility that she deleted some emails:*
>>
>>  Look, we do not know what these materials are, or where they came from.
>> Just take a look at them: many of the documents are not even formatted as
>> emails.
>>
>>  For all we know, it could be that, in the course of reproducing his
>> emails after his account was hacked, Sid misremembered which memos he
>> actually forwarded to her and which he did not.
>>
>>  And hey, even if Sid is right and some of these documents were at some
>> point sent to Clinton, this is unremarkable anyway for two key reasons:
>>
>>  One, she would have been under no obligation to preserve them since
>> Blumenthal wasn't a government employee.
>>
>> Two, there is nothing in any of these emails that is remotely new or
>> interesting. Indeed, none of these 16 emails are qualtitatively
>> different than the dozens of others that Hillary already produced to the
>> State Department. So it is completely ridiculous to suggest that there
>> might have been any nefarious basis for her to want to delete any of Sid's
>> correspondence.
>>
>
>