Government officials initially characterized the referral as involving a potential criminal investigation.
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Because it was not identified, it is unclear whether Clinton realized she was potentially compromising classified information – again offering her a possible defense.
The official cautioned that the referral was an early step and far from any possible prosecution.
(An earlier version of this article corrected the Justice Department’s description of probe.).
As the Federation of American Scientists’ Steven Aftergood said at the time: “Many officials in the State Department and elsewhere use classified as a default setting…It diminishes the meaning of the classified stamp”.
In March at a press conference at the United Nations, Clinton insisted that she was careful in her handling of sensitive information with her private account.
Hillary Clinton said she will do her part to get the facts straight about classified emails and her private server. Clinton has said that she used the account (and the private server that hosted it) as “a matter of convenience”, though it also exempted her from some federal transparency obligations. “I have released 55,000 pages of emails, I have said repeatedly that I will answer questions before the House committee”.
A separate memo disclosed today from government inspector generals expressed concern about how the emails were being handled as they were prepared for release to the public.
“Her poor judgment has undermined our national security, and it is time for her to finally do the right thing”, said House Speaker John Boehner.
“This classified information should have never been transmitted via an unclassified personal system”, they said.
Polls show that Clinton at the moment leads all rivals for both the Democratic nomination for president and all prospective Republican rivals in general election matchups. The other important point is that none of the secret information contained within the emails was explicitly marked as such, although there are questions about whether Clinton and her aides should have still known their emails contained classified information. The referral addressed the potential compromise of classified information in connection with that personal email account.
Well, this is not the kind of headline Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was hoping to see on a Friday afternoon.
The campaign source told The Journal that Clinton would also call for more complete disclosure when companies buy back their own stocks, which can boost stock prices but also divert cash from research and development.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during an event in Chicago, Illinois June 11, 2014.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said that Clinton needs to submit her email server to an independent investigator. They are requesting an investigation to determine whether mishandling of potentially classified emails occured through Clinton’s account. I have released 55,000 pages of emails. Charles McCullough, inspectors general for the State Department and intelligence community, respectively. Their memo does not pinpoint which email it was.
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So to be clear, there is no criminal inquiry or investigation of Hillary Clinton.
