Team Clinton's latest email excuse: Hillary doesn't know how to use a computer
Anyone who has ever tried to teach a parent how to use a newfangled electronic device is likely to be sympathetic to Hillary Clinton's apparent plight with her desktop computer. According to a sworn deposition by former State Department administrative official Lewis A. Lukens, Clinton was not ultimately set up with a computer in her office when she became secretary of state in 2009 because she was "very comfortable checking her emails on a BlackBerry, but she [was] not adept or used to checking her emails on a desktop."
The "I can't work a computer" excuse might have made sense in the early aughts... but it's pretty baffling for a high government official by 2009 (although one presidential candidate in 2016 has confessed he still doesn't even do "the email thing"). What's more, the release of the deposition follows an excruciating report from the State Department's inspector general earlier this week, which raised questions about Clinton and her aides' seemingly willful disregard for following proper cybersecurity measures.
The question of how adept Clinton was at computers is only the latest excuse from her camp; the Clinton team has also defended the former secretary of state for using her BlackBerry by saying two phones would have been a hassle, that she did not want a government account to mingle with her nonwork matters, and to keep information from the potentially prying eyes of Republican lawmakers.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The State Department has said 22 emails sent or received from her private email server while secretary of state were top secret, but not marked as classified. Clinton has since called the decision to use her private server "a mistake."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Nordstrom family, investor to take retail chain private
Speed Read The business will be acquired by members of the family and El Puerto de Liverpool, a Mexican real estate company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden commutes most federal death sentences
Speed Read The president downgraded the punishment of 37 of 40 prisoners on death row to life in prison without parole
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Personal contentment, as well as national prosperity, lay in what one does for others'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Putin says Russia isn't weakened by Syria setback
Speed Read Russia had been one of the key backers of Syria's ousted Assad regime
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Georgia DA Fani Willis removed from Trump case
Speed Read Willis had been prosecuting the election interference case against the president-elect
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Democrats blame 'President Musk' for looming shutdown
Speed Read The House of Representatives rejected a spending package that would've funding the government into 2025
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdown
Speed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Congress reaches spending deal to avert shutdown
Speed Read The bill would fund the government through March 14, 2025
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Luigi Mangione charged with murder, terrorism
Speed Read Magnione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ex-FBI informant pleads guilty to lying about Bidens
Speed Read Alexander Smirnov claimed that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian energy company Burisma
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
South Korea impeaches president, eyes charges
Speed Read Yoon Suk Yeol faces investigations on potential insurrection and abuse of power charges
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published