Before FBI Director James Comey announced he would not recommend charges related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Clinton sat down with the FBI for an interview.
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Powell, who served as the nation’s top diplomat from 2001-2005 under Republican president George W. Bush, told People magazine that while he did send Clinton a memo about his own email practices, Clinton had already chosen to use personal email rather than a government account while she had the job.
The Republican said he told Mrs Clinton his use of personal email “vastly improved” communications within the department, which at the time did not have an equivalent internal system.
The Times additionally detailed a conversation reported to have taken place in 2009 between Clinton and Powell at a dinner party at the home of Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during Bill Clinton’s administration.
Clinton has said that she and Powell were in agreement on the use of private email by secretaries of state.
But there are many key differences between Powell’s use of a private server (through the company AOL), and Clinton’s risky employment of a home-brew server operated out of her home in Chappaqua, N ew York.
“We are pleased that this federal court ordered Hillary Clinton to provide written answers under oath to some key questions about her email scandal”, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement Friday.
He added that, “her people have been trying to pin it on me”.
Clinton never used a computer hooked up to that network. It’s unclear how many of those documents might be duplicates or shielded from release, according to the Post.
The Democratic presidential candidate has 30 days to respond to Judicial Watch’s questions over her use of an unauthorized server while she was the top United States diplomat, the ruling reads.
Voters have said in opinion polls that the email server issue contributes to impressions that Clinton is untrustworthy.
For months, Democrats have tried to deflect controversy over Clinton’s private email server, and her destruction of emails her attorneys deemed “personal”, by arguing that her predecessors used private email addresses.
Colin Powell is washing his hands of Hillary Clinton’s email fiasco. One of the reasons for this: half-excuses for the decision from Clinton and her campaign keep coming to light. Judicial Watch may depose Mr. Bentel by no later than October 31, 2016. “It’s okay, I’m free”, he said.
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The group, Judicial Watch, was hoping the judge would order Clinton’s testimony after filing a request for its Freedom of Information Act suit last month.
