The email issue has shadowed Clinton’s candidacy, and Republicans have been steadfast in focusing on her use of a private server for government business, with several high-profile hearings leading up to the election.
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Two other witnesses linked to Clinton’s e-mail server invoked their Fifth Amendment rights and repeatedly refused to answer questions.
Justin Cooper said he was paid by both the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton family itself and he helped manage the email accounts, though he said Bryan Pagliano, who worked for the State Department, was responsible for the main operations.
The FBI illegally refuses to provide Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s Oversight Committee with the full unredacted notes from its interview with Hillary Clinton, prompting this entertaining exchange between Chaffetz and the Bureau’s congressional liaison. Chaffetz says there will be consequences for Pagliano’s refusal to appear and for “thumbing his nose at Congress”.
Pagliano previously appeared before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, the panel investigating the terrorist attack that first unearthed the existence of Clinton’s private email server.
Her campaign for the White House has been repeatedly dogged by that move, which has prompted a series of attempted explanations and clarifications from the Democratic presidential candidate.
The hearing is the latest in a string of proceedings seeking to examine Clinton’s email practices since the Justice Department in July declined to press criminal charges against her. He also said he was never offered immunity by the FBI in its investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information.
The FBI and Justice Department concluded there was no evidence that Clinton or her aides deliberately tried to hide or delete work-related emails that should have been turned over to authorities.
Cooper said he had access to Clinton’s server without a security clearance and that he is paying for his own legal counsel, contrary to reports that the Clintons are footing the bill. Lawmakers can jail people who defy congressional subpoenas.
The FBI last month provided portions of the file from its probe into whether Clinton mishandled classified information.
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Cooper said that as Hillary Clinton switched from one email device to another, all of the emails and information contained on her old computer were copied onto the new one, rejecting Republican claims that Clinton set out to hide material.
