In exchange for letting Clinton off the hook, Comey made it exceedingly clear Clinton had engaged in repeated acts of criminal misconduct.
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FBI Director James Comey has now shown himself to be a very flawed human being.
Meanwhile, the US State Department has reopened an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by Mrs Clinton and senior aides. Gowdy was particularly effective by reading back statements the Clinton had made about her use of the private server and then asking Comey if they were true.
“Thousands were not returned”, Comey said.
A number of Republicans suggested there was a double standard for charging everyday people accused of crimes as opposed to high-level people like Clinton.
He said during a press conference on Tuesday that while FBI investigators found no “direct evidence” that Clinton’s email domain was successfully hacked, he assessed that “it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account”.
COMEY: “That’s not true”.
Asked about Clinton’s claims that none of the emails were marked classified, Comey replied: “That’s not true…”
FBI Director James Comey recently announced that his agency would not be recommending that Hillary Clinton be charged with any wrongdoing in the matter of her State Department emails.
Her server was so poorly secured the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not eliminate the possibility it had not been hacked by the country’s enemies, Mr Comey said.
Hillary Clinton has responded to the FBI’s scathing assessment that she was “extremely careless” with classified government secrets, by shifting the blame onto her former colleagues at the US State Department.
COMEY: “That’s a harder one to answer. There’s no doubt that the work-related e-mails that were removed electronically from the e-mail system”, he said in response to another question.
Comey also testified that while people copied on Clinton emails had security clearances, some contractors who maintained the server and lawyers who examined her emails did not.
Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told Comey that he would request the FBI investigate whether Clinton lied under oath to Congress.
“That’s not what I said”, Comey said. “There were a small number of portion markings on I think three of the documents”.
But committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz would not relent, following up with a question if the Clinton Foundation was “tied into” the email investigation.
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“I think when you come to Congress you need to provide truthful testimony and if you don’t provide truthful testimony there should be a effect”, Chaffetz told reporters after the hearing.
