Hillary Clinton acid-washed her email server
| Hillary Clinton acid-washed her email server | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Hillary Clinton had her private email server "acid washed" to destroy evidence." | |
| Domain | Technology & Internet |
| Tactic | Fabrication |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2016 |
| Origin | Donald Trump's remarks in the second presidential debate, October 9, 2016, and at rallies, building on Rep. Trey Gowdy's description of the deletion software |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Technology & Internet | |
During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said Hillary Clinton had "acid washed" her emails. The phrase came from a real event described in FBI records, but it described a free software program, not acid.
In March 2015, an employee of Platte River Networks, the company managing her server, used BleachBit, an open-source file-deletion tool, to delete archived copies of emails her lawyers had decided were personal.
What the evidence shows
- BleachBit. BleachBit is free software that overwrites deleted files so they are harder to recover. It involves no chemicals. Rep. Trey Gowdy said in August 2016 that the emails were deleted with it, and the "acid washing" phrase followed.
- The timing. The FBI's notes say the employee deleted the archive in March 2015, after the House Benghazi committee had asked for her emails to be preserved. The employee told the FBI he had an "oh shit" moment realizing he had not done it earlier as instructed in late 2014.
- FBI conclusion. FBI Director James Comey said in July 2016 that investigators found no evidence emails were deleted to conceal them, while calling her handling of classified information "extremely careless."
Why it matters
The deletion after a preservation request is a legitimate issue. "Acid washing" replaced that real issue with an image of physical destruction that never happened.
Sources
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Clinton email investigation notes, released September 2016.
- PolitiFact, "Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton 'acid washed' her emails," 2016.
- James B. Comey, statement on the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email system, July 5, 2016.