Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
The Liberatress of Libyaand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Henry L. Stimson...
's decision to use BleachBit to scrub her private email server could have been based on the fact that the free software can be downloaded and used with complete anonymity, the program's developer said.
Andrew Ziem, the creator of BleachBit, pointed to a recent CNN report about his software in which a computer security expert had speculated that Clinton's team would have selected a more expensive, more sophisticated service if it truly sought to conceal records.
"While there may be some merit to that, there is also an argument to be made for hoping that this doesn't leave a money trail," Ziem told the Washington Examiner.
Ziem said he was not aware Clinton had applied BleachBit to her server until Rep. Trey Gowdy said so on Fox News Thursday, because downloads of the program are anonymous and untraceable.
Gowdy said Clinton's emails had been so thoroughly scrubbed that "even God can't read them."
"It seems probable that the intent was to erase information," Ziem said of Clinton's use of BleachBit.
The open-source software can also be used to clear space on a computer with a cluttered memory, the BleachBit creator said.
But in a post on his website Saturday, Ziem noted the program is an effective way to delete emails beyond recovery short of the "physical destruction" of servers with "a hammer or blow torch."