FBI Releases Hillary Clinton Email Report (cnn.com)

The FBI released 58-pages documents on Friday detailing its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, and a summary of her interview with agents, providing the most thorough look yet at the probe that has dogged the campaign of the Democratic presidential nominee. CNN reports: Clinton repeatedly told the FBI she lacked recollection of key events. She said she "could not recall any briefing or training by State related to the retention of federal records or handling classified information," according to the FBI's notes of their July 2 interview with Clinton. Fallout from Clinton's use of a private email server continues to dog the Democratic presidential nominee's campaign, as her lead over her Republican counterpart Donald Trump has been cut in half since her post convention bounce last month, according to CNN's Poll of Polls released Thursday. Trump and other Republicans have stepped up their attacks connecting the emails to questions over whether Clinton gave preferential treatment to donors to her family's foundation. The bureau is making the information public in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act requests, including from CNN. "Today the FBI is releasing a summary of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's July 2, 2016 interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server she used during her tenure," the agency said in a statement. "We also are releasing a factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter."

Comments

"could not recall"

[Anonymous Coward]

"could not recall any briefing or training by State related to the retention of federal records or handling classified information"

Funny, every one of us poor bastards who actually would go to jail over a classified release remembers the briefing distinctly. She, having had the statutory authority to determine what's classified or not with the stroke of a pen (Original Classification Authority) doesn't remember any of the training and couldn't be assed to declassify what she told her subordinates to email her. If she had any integrity, at all, she should shoot herself.

Re:"could not recall"

[sycodon]

I recall my training on confidential information when I entered the Defense Industry nearly thirty years ago. Hell, I remember the Food Safety course I took at age 17.

It's clear Hillary has some kind of Brain Injury issue going on.

Re:"could not recall"

[_Sharp'r_]

Yup. She's either senile, incompetent or a pathological liar.

I vote for "all of the above"...

Doesn't recognize what classified markings look like, doesn't remember any of her briefings on it, losing her blackberry dozens of times...

Does anyone actually believe all this stuff? She's been conveniently "forgetting" things for 25 years, going back to the Whitewater FBI investigation interviews. It's a bit much to believe she has the worst memory ever, but only when it comes to things which are potentially damaging to her criminally and politically.

Don't get me started on the fact that the FBI conveniently released all this damaging information as a Friday-Before-Holiday news avoidance dump.

Re:"could not recall"

[kwbauer]

Yes. She sustained this injury early in her life. It is called "I am better than you" syndrome AKA "I am not one of the little people" syndrome.

Re:"could not recall"

[magarity]

if Americans vote for trump it'll be simultaneously the saddest thing and the most fucking funny thing that has ever happened.

It will probably be more like when Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota except on a national level. Endless complaining by the establishment on both sides but not much coming of it by the end.

Re:"could not recall"

[Marxist Hacker 42]

"It's a bit much to believe she has the worst memory ever, but only when it comes to things which are potentially damaging to her criminally and politically."

Actually, Narcissistic Personality Disorder combined with trauma-induced schizophrenia would produce *exactly* this effect.

Re:"could not recall"

[myid]

I recall my training on confidential information when I entered the Defense Industry nearly thirty years ago. Hell, I remember the Food Safety course I took at age 17.

It's clear Hillary has some kind of Brain Injury issue going on.

According to this article,

Mrs. Clinton told the FBI she couldn’t remember if she was ever briefed on preserving records, but said it may have happened in 2012, after she fell and suffered a concussion and had a blood clot.

“Based on her doctor’s advice, she could only work at State for a few hours a day and could not recall every briefing she received,” the agents wrote in their notes.

Clinton became Secretary of State in 2009. I doubt she got her briefing on preserving records in 2012.

Claiming that she can't remember things because of her concussion helps keep her out of legal trouble. However, it doesn't help her claim that her mind is healthy enough to be president. Well, maybe she'll say that her mind was messed up then, but that it's ok now.

Re:"could not recall"

[Curunir_wolf]

It's clear Hillary has some kind of Brain Injury issue going on.

Yes, it was a pretty bad head trauma. The cover story was that she had a flu or something and fell over and banged her head, and that's why she was wearing those glasses. The coverup was necessary because the injury actually happened during a plane crash in Iran when she was headed to secret negotiations, which the State Department lied about, then covered up, then covered up the lie, then restored the video where they admitted the lie. It was lies all the way down.

There was also a Navy Seal killed during the crash. It must have been a fairly open secret among some folks at the State Department. When Hillary returned to work after a month-long recovery from the crash, officials at the Department gave her a crash helmet as a gift.

Re: "could not recall"

[ScentCone]

Things will be horrible shit for just about everyone if Trump is elected.

Because things are going SO well thanks to Clinton's policies and advice when she was Secretary of State? I wonder how a couple million Syrian refugees feel about that. Or the people now living in that shining bastion of liberty and peace, Lybia. No doubt you're thinking of the nice people in Crimea or Ukraine who are just thrilled to living where USSR 2.0 is testing the waters. Or are you thinking of the people in Pacific Rim nations who ware watching China take over international waters? Or maybe your contemplating the sterling success of economies in Central and South America, where pandered-to lefty kleptocracies are causing more than their usual share of suffering? Yes, definitely - we need the US to do its level best to ensure there's more of the same. Great idea.

Re:"could not recall"

[Enigma2175]

She can't even sign right, she did dd-mm-yyyy instead of mm-dd-yyyy!
Maybe she'll claim that makes it not valid...

Yes, she used one of the two logical ways to portray a date, the other being YYYY-MM-DD. The American habit of using MM-DD-YYYY is almost as annoying as refusing to use the metric system

Re: "could not recall"

[Anonymous Coward]

There two types of countries. Those that use the metric system and those that have been to the moon.

Re:Could not recall briefings because of concusion

[Tyrannicsupremacy]

Man, I disagree with some of Hitler's social policies, but I voted for him anyway. I'm sure it'll be alright.

Re:Could not recall briefings because of concusion

[DidgetMaster]

The problem with the 'convenience' argument is that it just doesn't hold water. Maybe if she had just set up a gmail account and used it, then convenience might sound plausible. Instead, she went to a lot of trouble to set up a private server and make sure everything flowed through it. If she is going to own up to anything close to the truth, it would be to admit is was about control. Control over what information got out to the public. Control over what information was given out when a subpoena or FOIA request came in.

Just wait until January 21 2017

[damn_registrars]

This report won't mean anything to whatever number of republicans remain in congress after Clinton is sworn in as POTUS on January 20. January 21 will begin with GOP members attempting to initiate impeachment hearings over the email server. It will be the endless series of Benghazi hearings and investigations all over again.

People who like the government to not get any meaningful work done should be able to rest easy. Those who would like to see something happen will be inevitably disappointed.

"I do not recollect"

[31415926535897]

See, she's not a malicious lawbreaker, she's a drooling moron. All hail our next Commander-in-Chief!

Seriously, if she can't recall basic instructions, how can she be trusted to lead the country?

[No, don't get me started on Trump. Please, everyone, vote 3rd party.]

Re:Dementia, Idiot, or Liar

[__aaclcg7560]

There's no fourth option. Only combinations of these three choices.

The combination of any three options is a fourth option. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Re:Could not recall briefings because of concusion

[Anonymous Coward]

So you want a person that don't care about security or classified information running the country?
Not saying vote for Trump. But there has to be a better person then either of these two.

Hillary news break

[tripleevenfall]

The executive branch has announced that it has thoroughly investigated itself, and it's found that it did nothing wrong.

Loony Site

[bigsexyjoe]

I'm not a Clinton supporter and I don't think you have to trust her or the main stream media. But that is a wacko right wing site.
http://www.eutimes.net/2016/08...
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/E...

Ironically you are correct, but not how you think

[SuperKendall]

I'd like to ask the US readers about the timing of this publication.

The timing is very meaningful.

Specifically, given the proximity to a US Presidential vote in which the subject of the report, Mrs Clinton, is standing as a nominee, it would seem on the face of it that the timing of this release might be politically motivated.

It is - it was released the Friday before labor day, the time when all the worst news is released because most reporters have gone on vacation, and most people are not paying attention to news.

The timing of this being released today, means this is more very terrible new for Clinton and it is being buried as much as is possible so as few people as possible see it.

Is this a deliberately-timed event by a Republican-leaning FBI,

The FBI is Democrat leaning, as you can tell by them letting a felony slide for Clinton. The FBI said she committed a felony, but they thought it was too inconvenient to prosecute her.

Ask anyone who has ever works with classified material. They would be in jail, for a long time, if they had done just once what Clinton did with great regularity.

Washington Times Cred [Re:"could not recall"]

[Tablizer]

According to this article [washingtontimes.com], ...

Sorry, but Washington Times is known for political bias and spin. My advice is either find and quote the original source of their info, or ignore them. You might as well cite a tabloid (which they arguably are).

'I cannot recall' saying I cannot recall

[TiggertheMad]

Honestly, if you cannot read between the lines here, stop voting.

When a politician (from either party) says 'I cannot recall' while being questioned under oath, it means, 'I will neither conform or deny your question because I am under oath'. Saying nothing of substance give investigators and prosecutors no ammo for perjury charges, which could be filed even if a primary charge gets thrown out of court. Furthermore, Pleading the fifth just makes you look guilty even if you had nothing to do with whatever it is that is being investigated. Saying you cannot recall is a solid legal dodge, and ANY politician with good legal council will use it if you try to push them into a corner.

If you want to hate on Hillary, go ahead. But try to stick to actual character flaws and not tried and true legal tactics to avoid perjury charges. She remembers every bit of it, but she is playing defense so the Hilary witch hunters cannot nail her on tangential charges.

That's it - I'm going Libertarian

[erp_consultant]

Hillary is clearly a lying, deceptive, corrupt, sociopath dirt bag. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican I just don't see how it can be viewed any other way. Trump is just a buffoon. A carnival barker. An embarrassment.

Neither one of them deserves my vote. So what to do? I suppose I could just stay home and not bother to vote but that seems unpatriotic to me. People fought and died for my right to vote so the least I can do is exercise that right. So I'm voting for Gary Johnson the Libertarian candidate. He hasn't got a snowballs chance in hell of winning but that is not the point. I just can't bring myself to vote for either of those two shit sandwiches so at least I can cast a vote for Johnson with a clear conscience.

Re:Monitor Team? [Re:"could not recall"]

[hsthompson69]

18 U.S.C 793 (f)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/us...

(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Comey used the words "extremely careless", which, in legal terms, is synonymous with "grossly negligent".

http://legal-dictionary.thefre...

"intent" is not "gross negligence", as demonstrated by the separate specification of intent in 18 U.S.C 793 (a), 18 U.S.C 793 (b)

(a) Whoever, for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information is to be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation, goes upon, enters, flies over, or otherwise obtains information concerning any vessel, aircraft, work of defense, navy yard, naval station, submarine base, fueling station, fort, battery, torpedo station, dockyard, canal, railroad, arsenal, camp, factory, mine, telegraph, telephone, wireless, or signal station, building, office, research laboratory or station or other place connected with the national defense owned or constructed, or in progress of construction by the United States or under the control of the United States, or of any of its officers, departments, or agencies, or within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, or any place in which any vessel, aircraft, arms, munitions, or other materials or instruments for use in time of war are being made, prepared, repaired, stored, or are the subject of research or development, under any contract or agreement with the United States, or any department or agency thereof, or with any person on behalf of the United States, or otherwise on behalf of the United States, or any prohibited place so designated by the President by proclamation in time of war or in case of national emergency in which anything for the use of the Army, Navy, or Air Force is being prepared or constructed or stored, information as to which prohibited place the President has determined would be prejudicial to the national defense; or
(b) Whoever, for the purpose aforesaid, and with like intent or reason to believe, copies, takes, makes, or obtains, or attempts to copy, take, make, or obtain, any sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, document, writing, or note of anything connected with the national defense; or

Re:Monitor Team? [Re:"could not recall"]

[hsthompson69]

As far as the legal meaning of "gross negligence", it appears it either requires intent, OR very very extreme carelessness.

And I think we can both agree that ultimately, this should have been adjudicated in a court of law. There was clearly enough to bring charges.

Comey himself said that existing laws and case history applied to her actions and statements wouldn't qualify for a crime.

No, that's not what he said :) He was quite specific when he said that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case". It was definitely a crime, but in this case the "number of factors before bringing charges" obviously included the political pressure of the Obama administration :)

Setting up the server BY ITSELF is not a crime.

Of course not. Setting up the server BY ITSELF is an *intentional* act. Whether or not that intent was to harm the US (as per 18 U.S.C 793 (a) and (b)), or if it was simply "wantonness" (as per jurisdictions that require intention with gross negligence) that it was used in violation of 18 U.S.C 793 (f), simply changes which paragraph she violated.

Comey clearly stated "there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information". Given those potential violations, the case should have been brought to trial. It was not brought to trial because of political considerations, not legal ones.

Now, It seems to me a reasonable person would agree that final judgement would be rendered by a judge and jury. But it's manifestly unreasonable for you to assert that there was no possible criminal violation here.