Despite clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton can expect a further onslaught of attacks from Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has accused her of playing by a different set of rules from the American public.
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“There is no effect, director – there is no outcome”, Chaffetz said, demanding to know why Clinton and her aides do not appear to be paying a price over the long-running controversy.
And, following Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s announcement Wednesday that she would accept the FBI’s findings and close the case, Comey explained the legal distinction that underpinned his decision not to seek charges. She said she was unable to access emails she sent or received in her first two months as secretary of state because her emails were not yet being captured on her server.
The attorney general had previously pledged to respect Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecutors’ decisions about whether to bring charges after it emerged that she met briefly with Clinton’s husband, Bill, last week – prompting Republicans to cry foul over possible government interference.
It has been apparent for some time that Clinton failed to hand over all her work emails, though it is still unclear how many.
However, Comey refrained from using that term, instead calling Clinton and her team “extremely careless” in their handling of sensitive information. They include one of her top foreign policy advisors, Jake Sullivan, Clinton’s former deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin and longtime ally Cheryl Mills.
Republicans said they were infuriated with the FBI’s decision and confused by the way it was presented. Comey on Tuesday gave a scathing assessment of Clinton’s email practices, followed by his conclusion that “no reasonable prosecutor” would charge her with a crime.
Comey also left the door open for Clinton to be punished even if it’s not criminal. The refutation worked so well as a point-by-point rebuttal to Clinton’s assertions that media outlets, Donald Trump, and the Republican Party put together video mashups pairing her claims with Comey’s findings.
Comey, who was then yanked up to Capitol Hill for a hearing on Thursday, revealed that instead of no emails with classified information, as Hillary had insisted, there were 110, of those turned over to the State Department.
Asked why Clinton’s conduct could not be prosecuted under a 1917 law involving “gross negligence”, he noted that only one other person had been charged under that provision in the past 99 years. It’s classic Clinton, neither she nor her husband face consequences for their misdeeds, but those around them will. Whatever “sanctions” are applied to State Department employees will happen now that Clinton is gone-and she won’t be subject to them. Still, they found “no evidence” that Clinton’s camp intentionally deleted messages in an effort to hide them, Comey said. FBI agents investigate and present facts to prosecutors.
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Comey’s testimony comes a day after House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, beseeching him to withhold confidential intelligence information from Clinton for the duration of her campaign after she secures the Democratic nomination this summer.
