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Hillary Clinton Not Only Candidate To Use Private Emails In Office

Jeb Bush campaigning at the Iowa State Fair in August 2015.
Jeb Bush Campaign video
Jeb Bush campaigning at the Iowa State Fair in August 2015.

Josh Gillin of PolitiFact Florida examines former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's claim that he turned over all of his government related emails from a private server he used while in office. And the Truth-O-Meter also rates Hillary Clinton's Tweet that the GOP candidates are not talking about rising college costs.

Mention the words "email" and "presidential candidate," and Hillary Clinton immediately comes to mind. That’s because Clinton has faced constant questions about her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State.

But PolitiFact Florida has found that Clinton isn’t the only presidential candidate to use a private email server while holding a government office.

“When I was governor of the State of Florida, I released all of my emails,” former Gov. Jeb Bush told a crowd at the Iowa State Fair.

https://youtu.be/kznPtxVsUqc

Josh Gillin of PolitiFact Florida examined Bush’s claim, “I released all of my emails,” as governor and the Truth-O-Meter ruling was Mostly False.

In trying to draw a contrast to Hillary Clinton, Bush actually offered much of the same defense. In reality, Bush says he released all the emails he was required to under Florida law, in the same way Clinton says she turned over all the emails she was required to under federal law.

But Bush hasn’t turned over every single email he sent as governor. While the state handled his public account’s emails, he was allowed to self-edit jeb@jeb.org correspondence from his private server. That amounted to 280,000 emails out of a half-million or more, which Bush repackaged on a website earlier this year.

Bush’s statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

Who Is Tackling Rising College Costs?

Bush isn’t the only candidate comparing his record to other candidates. An email from the Hillary Clinton campaign claims she’s the only candidate proposing solutions to the high cost of college.

PolitiFact Florida finds Clinton’s statement to be False.

Republican candidate New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has proposed higher-education reforms as has Carly Fiorina, a former technology executive.

And reshaping colleges for the 21st century is a major plank in the platform of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, according to Gillin of PolitiFact Florida.

Rubio has been talking about the issue since at least February 2014, when he made a major policy speech about controlling crippling college debt. He repeated his positions in a July speech after he declared his candidacy.

PolitiFact Florida lists the several specific ideas proposed by Rubio.

Copyright 2015 WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7

Bobbie O’Brien has been a Reporter/Producer at WUSF since 1991. She reports on general news topics in Florida and the Tampa Bay region.