Not overthinking it.

Just because it's simple in your experience doesn't mean that's always the case.

Vitus says this is what happens in the private sector all the time -- that companies easily and often draw distinct lines that are easy to follow, all the time, without exception. Yet that's not true. Can't tell you the number of times I've been told, "I'm going to be out of town, so send it to this email address." Or something to that effect.

And yes, you might restrict your personal email to just family and close friends, but not everyone does. This is especially true for high level public officials, who have all kinds of contacts. It gets even more complicated when there are state and local laws prohibiting the use of public resources for the conduct of political activities. So they can't use the gov't email for that, they can either use a separate political account, or their own personal email. And that's often where things get blurred, as there isn't always a solid line between official business and political activities, and even when there is, the players often are on both sides of that line.

You are wrong. I have first hand knowledge of what they keep. I have personally seen it in action.

I have issued subpoenas for text messages on multiple occasions to multiple different carriers. I know, for a fact, that most carriers do not maintain the contents of text message, and for those that do, it is for very short periods of time.


EDIT TO ADD:

Verizon is the only one of the top four carriers that retains text message content, however, and it keeps that for three to five days. Call detail records, meanwhile, are retained for one year by Verizon, five years for T-Mobile (two years for pre-paid), five to seven years for AT&T, and 18 to 24 months for Sprint.

I have tested backup services (that I never signed up for) and received on my personal device text messages that were over two years old. This was from AT&T.

The "only" reason?
No excuse? Ever?

What do you do when there's a private exchange that evolves into official business?

What do you do when the communication contains both private and official business?

What do you do when you receive an email on your private account that is official in nature, and what that's not immediately clear?

What do you do you don't have immediate access to the gov't account (server down, maintenance, left phone behind, etc.), but you have an immediate need to communicate via email?

Too much black and white thinking here.

That's not the same thing. AT&T offers a text message back-up service called "Messages Backup & Sync" which links your AT&T device to a cloud-based back-up server, no different than your iTunes account. You may not have signed up for it, but you obviously were given free usage for some reason (perhaps a free trial to induce you to purchase the service). This is a select service and is not done for all clients.

I believe Pence used his personal email out of convenience.....I believe Hillary used it (and her server) due to subterfuge.

Awww, how cute... So you're saying Pence is only a sloppy dumbass instead then? I actually think he's smart/experienced enough to know what he was doing and just figured he'd get away with it, much like the other who no doubt was trying to hide her tracks.