undefined | Better HN

0 pointslogifail10mo ago0 comments

> First, official communications [..]

Unfortunately the list of politicians who either don't care about records of their communications being properly kept, or who went out of their way to keep their comms "off the books" is long.

We should want to hold all of them to account, not just this one.

0 comments

JumpCrisscross10mo ago

> We should want to hold all of them to account, not just this one

We should and do. FBI investigated Clinton because of her emails.

logifailOP10mo ago

> FBI investigated Clinton because of her emails.

Correct, and this was the outcome:

[FBI director James Comey said] "Clinton had been 'extremely careless' but recommended that no charges be filed because Clinton did not act with criminal intent, the historical standard for pursuing prosecution"

Is '[not] acting with criminal intent' really the standard we think we want to hold our elected officials to?

JumpCrisscross10mo ago

> Is '[not] acting with criminal intent' really the standard we think we want to hold our elected officials to?

Yes, mens rea is a deeply-precedented standard that's a good default.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea

1 more reply

logifailOP10mo ago

> We should and do

The European Commission ended up in court trying to keep Ursula von der Leyen's messages secret 'claiming that the texts were “by [their] nature short-lived” and were not covered by the EU’s freedom of information law'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/10/i-aske...

https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-eu-comm...

Outcome? A(nother) nothingburger.

JumpCrisscross10mo ago

> European Commission ended up in court trying to keep Ursula von der Leyen's messages secret 'claiming that the texts were “by [their] nature short-lived” and were not covered by the EU’s freedom of information law'

Sure. They still wound up in court. Hegseth hasn't had to go to court to defend himself because he hasn't even been investigated. You really have to go back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to find these levels of exploitable ineptitude at the highest ranks of a major military structure.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse