Clinton and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information”.
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For weeks now, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has been arguing that her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, is unfit to be president and can not be trusted in the Oval Office. Both Clinton and Lynch say the Federal Bureau of Investigation case wasn’t raised, and Lynch responded to the uproar by saying “I fully expect to accept” the recommendation of career prosecutors at the Justice Department.
The FBI uncovered even more messages that were clearly marked classified among emails that Mrs. Clinton did not turn over.
“Given that combination of factors”, he concluded, “We assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account”.
“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues meant to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information”, Comey said. She had hoped that a rally Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte with President barack Obama – their first joint appearance of the campaign – would underscore that contrast with Trump.
The Guardian’s Lucia Graves warns Democrats not to get complacent about the FBI’s decision to not recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, arguing the legal victory is a political setback for the former Secretary of State.
“If the email server issue raises doubts about Hillary Clinton’s judgment, there are other things going on with Donald Trump that raise questions about his judgment”, Franklin said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a statement saying “this announcement defies explanation”.
At Clinton’s NY campaign headquarters, staffers scrambled to gather around the large television screens arrayed in the office as Comey took the podium, not knowing what he would say. Later on, Comey noted that “only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information”. She has also said it was a “mistake” and apologised for it. He also said Clinton had used different servers.
Comey made the announcement Tuesday, three days after FBI agents interviewed the Democratic presidential candidate in a final step of its investigation.
“It actually undercuts one of her strongest arguments against Trump is that Trump is reckless, that is some of the Hillary narratives that you can’t trust Trump with the nuclear button because look how reckless he is”, said Brendan, a caller into the Sean Sullivan’s Midday Mobile Show on 106.5 FM.
The Justice Department has been looking into whether anyone mishandled classified information that flowed through Clinton’s private email server.
Although Comey’s announcement removes the threat of criminal charges, it’s unlikely to eliminate concerns about Clinton’s trustworthiness.
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Trump had already ramped up that line of attack after reports surfaced last week that former President Bill Clinton met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch aboard a plane in Phoenix. And it nearly certainly won’t stop Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from continuing to make the server a campaign issue.
