Only one of these two things is likely to be true:

1. The State Department has a culture of over-classifying material that is routinely bemoaned by the reporting class as a means of evading transparency laws.
2. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never received or sent any classified material via email.

“I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” Clinton said on Tuesday in the effort to defuse the controversy swirling around her “homebrew” email system. “There is no classified material.”

Many have noted that the above statement requires us to parse the meaning of the word “is.” More still are confounded by the prospect of having to dive back into the nuances associated with the present tense form of the verb “to be.” The 90s are truly back.

While it’s not only probable but likely that there “is” no classified material on Clinton’s email servers now, it’s highly unlikely that Clinton never sent or received sensitive or classified information on her email account. According to an investigation conducted by the government oversight organization Judicial Watch, there is plenty of reason to view Clinton’s claim with suspicion.

In fact, last month JW obtained State Department files that include a chain of internal emails tracking the events surrounding the terrorist attack as it developed beginning immediately upon its inception. The exchange includes emails between Clinton’s top aides and advisors, including Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, Special Assistant Maria Sand, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Jacob Sullivan and Executive Assistant Joseph McManus. Last year JW forced the release of an internal State Department email showing top White House officials attempting to orchestrate a campaign to “reinforce” President Obama and portray the Benghazi terrorist attack as being “rooted in an Internet video, and not a failure of policy.”

That brings us to the secret email account scandal initially exposed by a mainstream newspaper. “Hillary Clinton’s suggestion that she didn’t send classified information is belied by productions in our Benghazi lawsuits,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “A review of the documents shows material sent to Susan Rice and other top State Department officials withheld under exemptions for classified material. None of these emails (or any similar emails) were ever received or sent by Hillary Clinton?”

The scenario is highly unlikely, despite claims made by Clinton this week during her United Nations news conference. “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” the former Secretary of State assured. “I’m certainly well aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.” So, we’re supposed to believe that the nation’s top foreign diplomat managed to exclude classified information in more than 30,000 emails? Highly unlikely, according to experts, including a former State Department official’s assessment in a mainstream newspaper article: “I would assume that more than 50 percent of what the secretary of state dealt with was classified.”

Clinton has every reason to mislead investigators as to whether or not this elaborate email server which she had constructed out of “convenience” ever received classified information. “Storing classified information in a personal, nongovernmental email account on a private computer server, like the one at Mrs. Clinton’s home, would be a violation of secrecy laws,” The New York Times reported.

If you are inclined to misled the public on the major criminal matter of potentially mishandling American national secrets, you might also be moved to fib about the inconsequential stuff, too. For example, that email server that Clinton repeatedly claimed is surrounded by security at her home in Chappaqua, New York, might not be there at all.

“Now, working with publicly available tools that map network connectivity, experts have established that the last ‘hop’ before the mail server’s Internet Protocol, or IP, address (listed as 64.94.172.146) is Internap’s aggregator in Manhattan (listed as 216.52.95.10),” Fox News reporter James Rosen revealed.

“This is a very strong indication that the clintonemail.com server is in Manhattan,” a source told the Fox reporter.

Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole we go. It’s possible that Clinton’s complicated relationship with the truth will not be cured merely by hiring a series of campaign professionals.