The issue began previous year, when it came out that Clinton had used a private email address and server to send and store official emails while she was secretary of State.
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Comey called her and her staff “extremely careless” and said that any “reasonable” government employee should have recognized that such information should not be aired in emails.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Mr Comey’s recommendation proves Mrs Clinton is “living above the law” and questioned whether she should be briefed on classified information as a presidential candidate.
“We have no basis to conclude that she lied to the FBI”, Comey said.
Comey said Tuesday that the FBI’s investigation of the issue ultimately turned up 110 emails, out of more than 30,000 on Clinton’s private servers, that contained confidential information.
Ryan, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, has sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper saying denying Clinton access to classified information would be an appropriate sanction for her mishandling of classified data while she was secretary of state.
“Not to my knowledge”. Comey said the bureau had not examined those statements and explained that there had been no “referral” from Congress on that matter.
Republicans in Congress have held 13 investigations into Benghazi and found nothing on Clinton.
Chaffetz asked in response.
Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, suggested in his opening statement that Ms Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, had escaped prosecution exclusively because she was “part of the powerful elite”.
“I don’t remember reviewing that particular testimony”, Director Comey replied.
Republicans said Mrs Clinton received special treatment and compromised national security.
“If you go by the evidence, there is no evidence that the system was breached or hacked successfully”, Clinton told Lester Holt during an interview on MSNBC.
Comey, a Republican who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and also served in the administration of former Republican President George W Bush, has built a reputation as a straight shooter who does not bend to pressure from either party.
“You say there is insufficient evidence of intent”.
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“She also used her personal email extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related emails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries”. He was referring to the charitable non-profit organization run by Bill and Hillary Clinton that has been rumored to be under FBI investigation for improper ties to Clinton’s Secretary of State office.
