Hillary Clinton told investigators that she wasn’t aware that a “C” marking in emails she received on her private server indicated the information was classified at the “confidential” level, according to documents the Federal Bureau of Investigation released Friday.
Advertisement
The Federal Bureau of Investigation closed its yearlong probe last month into whether Clinton and her aides had mishandled sensitive information that flowed through the private email server located in her NY home. And she insisted her use of the private server was for convenience, not an attempt to evade Freedom of Information Act requests or government record-keeping laws.
Friday’s release of internal investigative documents by the FBI was a highly unusual step, but one that reflects extraordinary public interest in the investigation into Clinton’s server.
In its summary of the interview with Clinton, the agency said she had received no instructions or directions on preserving or producing State Department records while transitioning out of her post.
“The FBI did find that hostile foreign actors successfully gained access to the personal email accounts of individuals with whom Clinton was in regular contact and, in doing so, obtained emails sent to or received by Clinton on her personal account”, the notes said.
Comey on July 5 delivered a stinging public rebuke of Clinton even as he sought to explain why he and top bureau officials did not believe she should face criminal prosecution because there was no evidence she knowingly discussed classified email over the system.
“These documents demonstrate Hillary Clinton’s reckless and downright risky handling of classified information during her tenure as Secretary of State”, Ryan said in a statement.
Congressional Republicans assert that Clinton lied in testimony investigating the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack when she denied having sent materials marked classified over her private server.
She added that “everyone at State knew she had a private email address”, though in separate interviews several on her team told agents they had no idea she was using a private account.
In regards to an email with classification markings, Clinton said she did not know what they meant and speculated it indicated paragraph markings.
The State Department said later that the information should never have been marked confidential and attributed the markings to “human error”.
The documents include technical details about how the server in the basement of Clinton’s home was set up. He said he believed that Clinton may not have been aware of the what the small markings signified.
According to the investigation report, top Clinton adviser Cheryl Mills told a PRN worker whose name was redacted in December 2014 that Clinton wanted her email to only be retained for 60 days, and instructed him to reset the retention policy on her email account.
The report also revealed that Colin Powell, who served as secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, “warned” Clinton to “be very careful” regarding emails.
Advertisement
Comey testified that no transcript of the interview exists, only the notes taken on it. Clinton was not under oath.
