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Fact-Checking Jeb Bush on Email Records

politifact.com

As attention centers on Hillary Clinton’s email records, one left-leaning political action committee is reminding folks about a communication flap from another potential presidential candidate -- former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Bush famously used his personal email address during his eight years as governor, and he recently posted them online. But the American Bridge 21st Centry PAC says Bush handpicked which emails to disclose.

According to Josh Gillin with PolitiFact Florida, the PAC's claim is Mostly True. 

"When he left office, according to public records law, he was supposed to turn over all of his public emails," Gillin explained. "Now that doesn't include say, communications with his family, or just regular politicking, or even fundraising. Those are discussions about state business, or anything he deems acceptable to the public record. So now what they're seeing is he is the one who edited those and turned them in."

Gillin said PolitiFact talked to people who specialize in First Amendment law, and the open records law in Florida, and they said Bush is allowed to do that. 

So is Bush's criticism of Clinton's private email use hypocritical?

"It kind of depends on who you talk to. Some of the people we talked to said it was similar, some said it wasn't," Gillin said. "One thing everybody seems to agree on, though, is that Jeb was very open about how he used a private account."

Lottie Watts was our Florida Matters producer from 2012 to 2016. She also covers health and health policy for WUSF's Health News Florida .
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