FBI and Hillary Clinton emails – No change from July conclusion

Saying that his team “has been working around the clock,” studying emails on a laptop belonging to the husband of an aide of Hillary Clinton’s, Comey claimed the review of the additional material “from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation” did not change the investigators’ previous conclusion regarding Clinton’s email practices.

In July, the FBI said no charges were warranted in the case of the former secretary of state concerning her use of a private email server.

“[We] have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,” Comey wrote in his letter on Sunday.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) remained unfazed by the announcement, saying that the latest review does not change the fact that classified information was “placed at risk.”

Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway pointed out that despite the clearance given by the FBI to Clinton, the agency has not changed its previous conclusions.

“This means she still was reckless and careless, still lied about classified info,”

The RNC chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that findings from the FBI’s criminal probe into Clinton’s use of private email server showed “a damning and unprecedented indictment of her judgment,”adding that the FBI investigation proved that she “placed highly classified information at risk and repeatedly lied to the American people.”

Commenting on the FBI director’s letter, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan also said that Clinton “put our nation’s secrets at risk and in doing so compromised our national security,” citing the “undisputed finding” of the FBI’s probe.

Another prominent Republican, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, alleged that Comey had given in to “enormous political pressure” by releasing the letter days ahead of the vote.

“The destruction of James Comey by political pressure is painful to watch,” he tweeted.

EARLIER:

Retrospective of Hillary Clinton email scandal

is a 99 percent chance that up to five foreign intelligence agencies may have accessed and taken emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server, It was confirmed to FOX NEWS by two separate sources with close knowledge of the FBI investigations.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul  has described Clinton’s handling of her email system during her tenure as secretary of state as “treason.”

“SHE EXPOSED [INFORMATION] TO OUR ENEMIES, OUR ADVERSARIES HAVE THIS VERY SENSITIVE INFORMATION. … IN MY OPINION, QUITE FRANKLY, IT’S TREASON.” SAID MCCAUL

McCaul, R-Texas, said that FBI Director James Comey told him previously that foreign adversaries likely had gotten into her server. Comey should have said at the time there is an “almost certainty” that several foreign intelligence agencies hacked into the server.

FBI has found emails related to Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state on the laptop belonging to the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner, according to a U.S. and FBI officials.

It is being said that these emails, are not duplicates of emails found on Secretary Clinton’s private server.

In an internal memo obtained by Fox News, the beleaguered director noted that the FBI typically would not communicate with the public when reopening a case, according to a Department of Justice source. But Comey said he had to in this case because Clinton is seeking the White House in an election on Nov. 8.FBI Director James Comey told his bureau that he broke with custom in alerting lawmakers that the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server was being reopened because of its political sensitivity.

“Of course we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed,” Comey wrote. “I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.

“At the same time, however, given that we do not know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression,” Comey’s letter continued. “In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter, and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.”

It all begun when James Comey announced that FBI Is going to investigate new emails related to the case of Hillary Clinton’s personal email server after discovering “the existence of emails that may be pertinent to the investigation,” according to a letter from FBI Director James Comey.

The letter to congressional leaders, initially reported by multiple news organizations, does not specify what is in those emails or what the FBI will investigate, and says they were discovered in an unrelated case. He wrote that the agency would be reviewing the emails to determine whether they include classified information “as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”

The “FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work,” he added.

Retrospective of Hillary Clinton email scandal

In March 2015 it became publicly known that Hillary Clinton, while performing the duty of the United States Secretary of State, had exclusively used her private email server for official communications, rather than official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. Those official communications included thousands of emails that are classified TOP SECRET at the time while being used and some of them would later be marked as  classified by the State Department retroactively.

The controversy unfolded at the hearings held by the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi. Some experts, officials, and members of Congress have contended that her use of private messaging system software and a private server violated State Department protocols and procedures, as well as federal laws and regulations governing record keeping. In response, Clinton has said that her use of personal email was in compliance with federal laws and State Department regulations.

 IN TOTAL, MORE THAN 30,000 EMAILS WERE DELETED – WHY? AFTER A YEAR-LONG INVESTIGATION, THE FBI RECOVERED MORE THAN 17,000 EMAILS THAT HAD BEEN DELETED OR OTHERWISE NOT TURNED OVER TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT, AND MANY OF THEM WERE WORK-RELATED AND CLASSIFIED IN NATURE, THE FBI HAS SAID.

After allegations were raised that some of the emails in question contained classified information, an investigation was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of the emails on the server, 113 emails contained information which was classified at the time it was sent, including 65 emails deemed “Secret” and 22 deemed “Top Secret.” Of the 113 emails, just three contained markings indicating they could be classified, FBI Director James Comey stated. Nearly 2,100 emails on the server were retroactively marked as classified by the State Department. Government policy, reiterated in the non-disclosure agreement signed by Clinton as part of gaining her security clearance, is that sensitive information should be considered and handled as classified even if not marked as such.

In May 2016, the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General released an 83-page report about the State Department’s email practices, including Clinton’s. On July 5, 2016 Comey announced that the FBI’s investigation had concluded that Clinton was “extremely careless” in handling her email system and classified document but recommended that no charges be filed against her. On July 6, 2016, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that no charges would be filed. On July 7, the State Department reopened its probe into the email controversy. On October 28, 2016 Comey notified Congress that the FBI has started looking into newly discovered emails that may be pertinent to the case. Law enforcement officials stated the emails were found on an electronic device shared by Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner.

Another email controversy – Wikileaks and The Podesta email revelations

“WIKILEAKS SERIES ON DEALS INVOLVING HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN JOHN PODESTA. MR PODESTA IS A LONG-TERM ASSOCIATE OF THE CLINTONS AND WAS PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON’S CHIEF OF STAFF FROM 1998 UNTIL 2001. MR PODESTA ALSO OWNS THE PODESTA GROUP WITH HIS BROTHER TONY, A MAJOR LOBBYING FIRM AND IS THE CHAIR OF THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS (CAP), A WASHINGTON DC-BASED THINK TANK.”

THE ONE QUESTION THAT STILL REMAINS IS IF CLINTON CAMPAIGN BELIEVES WIKILEAKS EMAILS ARE FORGED, WHY DON’T THEY PROVE IT?

Sources used:
US Department of State, FBI, LaTimes, The Intercept, Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, Fox News, RT

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