Lanny Davis: Facts not innuendo

There's a rule in mathematics that also should apply to charges often made against the Clintons: No matter how high the number, if you multiply it by zero, it is zero.

Thus, as to the e-mails "controversy," let's agree on the facts, because innuendo and partisan attacks are the mathematical equivalent of "zero."

Fact: Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail account when she was secretary of State was lawful. The law restricting such private accounts by public officials was changed in 2014.

Fact: The 2009 Archives Preservation Law was not violated. Secretary Clinton's e-mails were preserved on the server, regardless of whether it was located at home. More than 50,000 pages had already been turned over. On Wednesday, she asked the State Department to review and release them.

Fact: Thousands of State Department officials and others received e-mails from Secretary Clinton during her tenure, and all knew that she was using a private e-mail address. This flat out contradicts all the baseless innuendo that she was attempting to hide her use of a private e-mail address.

Fact: Secretary Clinton's use of a private e-mail account for both personal and official diplomatic communications was not unprecedented. Former secretary of State Colin Powell has said that his private e-mail account was used for both purposes, too.

Fact: To those who argue Mrs. Clinton's server at home was less secure than the one used by State, I answer: Really? Heard of Edward Snowden?

Fact: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush also used private e-mail for personal and official business. Despite a misleading statement from his spokesperson, Gov. Bush did not disclose all his e-mails. He selected which ones not to disclose.

Is there a double standard applied to the Clintons but not to Gov. Bush or Secretary Powell? What else is new?

The Clintons are accustomed to innuendo. But USA TODAY and other outstanding news organizations are not partisan politicians; they should focus on the facts.

Lanny J. Davis, a weekly columnist for The Hill newspaper, is a Washington attorney and crisis manger who served as special counsel to President Clinton from 1996 to 1998.