Hillary Clinton just can’t help herself. It seems lying is a compulsion for the Democratic presidential candidate. And her FBI interrogation notes prove it.
Clinton told the FBI she relied on her staff not to send emails containing classified information to the private email server she relied on as secretary of state, adding that she — the secretary of state of the United States of America — didn’t know about classification markings on official government documents.
If you believe that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.
The reveal came Friday as the FBI, in a rare step, published scores of pages summarizing interviews with Clinton and her top aides from the recently closed criminal investigation into her use of a private email server in the basement of her Chappaqua, New York, home.
The Democratic presidential nominee confessed to the FBI that she never sought or asked permission to use a private server or email address during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat from 2009 to 2013. A prior review by the State Department’s internal watchdog concluded the practice violated several polices for the safekeeping and preservation of federal records.
The latest developments highlights Clinton’s untrustworthiness. Either she made a conscious effort to prevent a full public accounting of her tenure at State or she was nonchalant about decisions with national security consequences and risks. The first scenario plays into Republican arguments and voter concerns about her trustworthiness and transparency, while the second casts doubt on her pitch as a hyper-competent, detail-driven executive.
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump jumped on, saying that Clinton’s “answers to the FBI about her private email server defy belief.”
“After reading these documents, I really don’t understand how she was able to get away from prosecution,” Trump said in a statement.
Clinton has repeatedly said her use of private email was allowed. But over a 3½-hour interview in July, she told investigators she “did not explicitly request permission to use a private server or email address,” the FBI wrote. Clinton said no one at the State Department raised concerns during her tenure, and she said everyone with whom she exchanged emails knew she was using a private email address.
The documents also include technical details about how the private server was set up. It is the first disclosure of details provided by Bryan Pagliano, the technology staffer who set up and maintained Clinton’s IT infrastructure. Pagliano secured an immunity agreement from the Justice Department after previously refusing to testify before Congress, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
Large portions of the FBI documents were censored. The FBI cited exemptions protecting national security and investigative techniques. Previous government reviews of the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton returned to the State Department found that about 110 contained classified information.
Clinton and her legal team deleted thousands more emails she claimed were personal and private. The FBI report details steps taken by Clinton’s staff that appear intended to hamper the recovery of deleted data, including smashing her old Blackberry smartphones with a hammer and using special software to wipe the hard drive of a server she had used.
Friday’s release of internal investigative documents by the FBI was a highly unusual step, but one that reflects extraordinary controversy surrounding the investigation into Clinton’s server.
The FBI focused on whether Clinton sent or received classified information using the private server, which was not authorized for such messages. Clinton told the FBI she relied on others with knowledge about handling classified files not to send her emails inappropriately.
Clinton said she was unfamiliar with the meaning of the letter “c” next to a paragraph and speculated that it might be “referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order.” That particular email had been marked as classified at the confidential level, the lowest level of classification. Clinton said she did not pay attention to the level of classification “and took all classified information seriously,” according to the FBI.
After a yearlong investigation, the FBI recommended against prosecution in July, and the Justice Department then closed the case. FBI Director James Comey said that while Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” in dealing with sensitive materials, there was no evidence they intentionally mishandled classified information.
The FBI’s review also couldn’t find enough direct evidence that Clinton’s server was hacked to prosecute her, but said her system would be a high-value target for foreign intelligence agencies and a sophisticated attacker would have been unlikely to leave behind evidence of a breach. Clinton told the FBI she was unaware of specific details about the security, software or hardware used on her server.
Clinton also told the FBI she never deleted emails, nor instructed anyone else to do so, to avoid their potential release under the Freedom of Information Act.
However, the FBI report says Clinton contacted her predecessor, former Secretary Colin Powell, in January 2009 to inquire about his use of a BlackBerry. Powell, who also used a private email account, warned Clinton that if it became “public” that she used a smartphone to “do business,” her emails could become official government records subject to disclosure.
“Be very careful,” Powell cautioned Clinton in an email. “I got around it all by not saying much and not using systems that captured the data.”
Clinton said she later directed her aides to create a private email account and said it was “a matter of convenience” to use the home server shared with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
She added that “everyone at State knew she had a private email address,” though in separate interviews several on her team told agents they had no idea she was using a private account.
Lies, on top of lies, on top of lies.
What else did we expect?
The Associated Press contributed to this article
This woman is so guilty I just can’t believe she’s allowed to run for president. She will be in office and they’ll still be talking about her email, when and who will come forward with the truth. Could a miracle happen. Trump is right on about her and when he said
“America this is your last chance” I knew exactly what he was saying. Trump is a good man and I’m praying I’m right.
Has she ever been charged with a criminal offense? If not, move on to something with substance.
Email violator or crazy white man, what a choice.
A primary redo please. Present candidates need not run.
“All liars shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone”
No matter what happens with the elections….Hillary is going to spend eternity in the pit called hell.
God’s salvation plan is almost completed ( just like Noah when he finished building the Ark ) and very soon, Christ will come and all this wickedness, corruption, murder, lying, greed, and innumerable abominations that man does to man will at last come to its end and all the ungodly and unbelieving will be perfectly be judged, found guilty and cast into the eternal pit.
Come Lord Jesus!
She and her aides(posse) have lied repeatedly,they destroyed records, they destroyed devices and yet not one of them has been charged with a crime. How is this possible? Think about it.
I went on your so called article and ignorant voting process what a joke the way you phrased the questions absolutely went in trumps favor you people are so ignorant and not anyway a News organization and if you was you would clearly write about all of Trumps illegal activity he should be in jail not her do your research he has cheated his whole life his father grandfather he takes after them cheats in many ways compared to HC emails but of course ignorant Repubs Trumpetts just got to be nasty crazy people I say this because I know there is good Christian Repubs the ones that are not for Trump ever and are not for her but they do not disrespect her you people should be ashamed of yourselves I am so embarrassed by my fellow Americans that are for a cheater liar racist such a racist that when he had his casino the bosses when knowing he was coming in they moved the black dealers out of sight also got in trouble for not renting to black people his family has been linked to the KKK who does not pay his employees vendors filed bankruptcy 4 times what do you think happens to the employees when that happens many times they loose their jobs lets not forget while he was married to first wife he was cheating with soon to be second wife but has the nerve to slam someone else for it and always having other women around him and I want to know when his now wife got her work papers like did she marry him to get them or did she illegally work here before she got her work permit and what did she do in her country I mean she does have naked photos out there and really do we really want them hanging in the white house I don’t OH BUT THE REPUBS ARE THE CHRISTIANS WHAT A JOKE.
Wow, which criminal are you voting for.
And the FBI gave her a pass on all of this – a sad day for justice in America!!!!