Did Reddit Users Figure Out Paul Combetta’s Secret?
When Paul Combetta of Platte River Networks refused to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, many thought perhaps it would be all but impossible to find out what he knew about the deletion of thousands of Hillary Clinton emails.
During the FBI’s yearlong investigation into the matter, Combetta had been granted immunity by the Department of Justice, but when questioned by Congress, he asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. He may be convinced to testify behind closed doors, but the public likely would never see or hear that testimony.
Then, a group of Reddit users decided to look for evidence on their own social media platform. And sure enough, they hit a pot of gold. As U.S. News & World Report noted in its report:
An army of reddit users believes it has found evidence that former Hillary Clinton computer specialist Paul Combetta solicited free advice regarding Clinton’s private email server from users of the popular web forum.
A collaborative investigation showed a reddit user with the username stonetear requested help in relation to retaining and purging email messages after 60 days, and requested advice on how to remove a “VERY VIP” individual’s email address from archived content.
The requests match neatly with publicly known dates related to Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state.
Stonetear has deleted the posts, but before doing so, the pages were archived by other individuals.
Additionally, The Daily Caller‘s Chuck Ross also reported on the Reddit treasure trove of information:
The FBI’s report of the Clinton investigation—which has Combetta’s name redacted—refers to other activities that took place that month which are key points in the Clinton email timeline.
The report shows that Clinton’s attorney and former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, asked Combetta that month to export Clinton’s emails from PRN’s servers. He forwarded the emails—many of which contained classified information—to Mill’s laptop and one for Heather Samuelson, a longtime Clinton aide and the lawyer who led the review of Clinton’s work-related emails to the State Department in December 2014.
In the request for help, “stonetear” said that the client he was working for was well-known.
“The issue is that these emails involve the private email address of someone you’d recognize, and we’re trying to replace it with a placeholder address as to not expose it,” “stonetear” wrote.
Combetta became a central figure in the Clinton email fracas just two weeks ago when The New York Times revealed that the Justice Department granted him immunity to cooperate with the federal investigation of Clinton’s emails. That decision was made even though Combetta appears to have lied to the FBI about the timeline of his decision to use a software program called BleachBit to deleted backups of Clinton’s emails.
He used the software to make the deletions in late March 2015, just weeks after Clinton’s email practices were reported. Her records were placed under congressional subpoena after that. Combetta hurriedly deleted the backups just prior to a March 31 conference call with Clinton’s lawyers, the FBI’s report stated.
Ross also reported that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a member of the oversight committee, told him the committee staff was now looking into the Reddit information. Combetta has not responded to requests for comment.
