Computer Specialist Who Deleted Clinton Emails May Have Asked Reddit for Tips

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.

"ARCHIVE EVERYTHING YOU CAN!!!!" a person wrote on a popular thread on the Donald Trump-supporting subreddit r/The_Donald, as the entries disappeared.

There are several reasons to believe the reddit user is indeed Combetta, who was granted immunity by the Justice Department during its investigation of Clinton's private server after he deleted a large number of emails.

The evidence connecting Combetta to the account is circumstantial, but also voluminous. The inactive website combetta.com is registered to the email address stonetear@gmail.com, a search of domain registration information using the service whois.com indicates. An account for a person named Paul Combetta on the web bazaar Etsy also has the username stonetear.

And, perhaps most damningly, there are the dates.

On July 24, 2014, stonetear posted to reddit:

On July 23, 2014, the House Select Committee on Benghazi had reached an agreement with the State Department on the production of records, according to an FBI report released earlier this month on the bureau's probe of Clinton's email use.

Stonetear posted to reddit on Dec. 10, 2014:

The FBI report says that Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide and attorney, requested in December 2014 that the email retention policy be shortened to 60 days. The FBI report says Mills "instructed [redacted] to modify the email retention policy on Clinton's clintonemail.com e-mail account" but that "according to [redacted] he did not make these changes to Clinton's clintonemail.com account until March 2015."

The report says the person, essentially identified as Combetta by The New York Times, realized in late March 2015 -- after Clinton's use of a private email account was first reported that month by the Times -- that he had not made the retention change and "had an 'oh sh--' moment and sometime between March 25-31, 2015, deleted the Clinton archive mailbox from the [Platte River Networks] server and used BleachBit to delete the exported .PST files he had created on the server system containing Clinton's emails."

An email requesting comment sent to stonetear@gmail.com was not immediately returned, nor was a reddit message sent to stonetear, who also posted apparently nonbusiness content to reddit, including a photo of a small plant growing on filthy car-floor carpet and a comment about an aunt who taught middle school math in Detroit.

Last week, Combetta invoked the right not to testify before the House oversight committee, which is probing Clinton's email practices.

Clinton, who left office in early 2013, provided about 30,000 emails deemed work-related by her legal team to the State Department in December 2014, the same month of the reported Mills retention policy request that led to Combetta's later deletion of emails.

A voicemail left with Platte River Networks, Combetta's employer, was not immediately returned. A staffer indicated there had been a significant number of inquiries on the topic.

Ken Eichner, an attorney for the company, tells U.S. News he is acting as a spokesman addressing the matter, and that he would not be able to comment. He did not deny the apparent connection.

"Right now we are respectfully declining all media inquiries," Eichner said. He said there would be no company statement, before hanging up the phone and ignoring a subsequent call.

Screenshots via @GOPPollAnalyst, who was influential in breaking the story: