“The precedent is that if you sloppily deal with classified information, if you are cavalier about it, and it wasn’t just an innocent mistake and this went on for years, then there is going to be no effect”.
Advertisement
“And so an unauthorized server in the basement is not mishandling?”
Comey also said that it could result in revoking a security clearance, when asked by Desantis. “This whole investigation at the end focused on: Is there sufficient evidence of intent?” He said investigators followed up with a written summary of their findings.
Clinton modified her answer on whether she had sent or received information marked as classified on her private account, telling CNN in a separate interview that she did not “believe” she had done so.
Comey gave his most detailed explanation to date about why the Justice Department concluded without charges a year-long investigation that had dogged Clinton’s presidential campaign and raised questions for voters about her trustworthiness.
Comey’s decision, and the way he delivered it, infuriated Republicans who felt that the Federal Bureau of Investigation director in his unusually detailed and critical televised statement Tuesday had laid out a sufficient basis for prosecution. “There is no classified material.’ Was that true?” Had the “average Joe” done what she had done, he said, that person would go to prison.
If elected in November, Clinton would take an oath of office obligating her to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and to preserve, protect, and defend the United States.
“Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information”, said Comey, “our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case”.
But it criticized presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the violence, saying both she and her staff showed a “shameful” lack of response to congressional investigators looking into the attack on a USA diplomatic compound.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee offered her first interviews since the Justice Department’s controversial decision earlier this week to not indict her, adding that FBI Director James Comey had “clarified that comment, to some extent, pointing out that some of what was thought to be classified apparently was not”.
On the former, Clinton told CBS News’ Scott Pelley that we “should walk in the shoes of police officers who do risky jobs, we should walk in the shoes of African Americans who worry about every traffic stop”, and that we all need to treat each other with respect and dignity.
To criminally charge Clinton based on the facts his agency’s yearlong probe had found would have been unwarranted and mere “celebrity-hunting”, Comey said.
“Did she lie to the public?”
Asked how many, Comey paused and said: “More than two, less than 10”.
Blitzer noted that Comey said Clinton and her aides “should have known” that her emails were not secure.
“Not to my knowledge”. Only three of the 30,000 FBI-reviewed emails were explicitly marked as classified and those were marked with a “C” in the body of the email, not in the header, Comey said.
“You’ll have one in the next few hours”, Chaffetz said.
In response, Chaffetz promised such a referral would be made “within hours”.
The FBI investigation, which began a year ago, examined tens of thousands of emails sent to and from Mrs. Clinton during her leadership of the State Department.
During an exchange with Rep. Ron Desantis (R-FL), Comey acknowledged that when government employees mishandle classified information, they can be reprimanded at work.
For most of the hearing Comey kept his cool.
Comey, a Republican who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and also served in the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush, has built a reputation as a straight shooter who does not bend to pressure from either party.
Advertisement
The question was not dropped, however.
