At least one federal judge is examining whether this was the case as part of a lawsuit against the State Department concerning public access to Clinton’s government records.
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Clinton has said the AP’s analysis was flawed because it did not account fully for all meetings and phone calls during her entire term as secretary.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the American Legion’s 98th National Convention at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati on August 30, 2016.
Shown a cable that went out under her name, warning all State Department employees about security threats to their personal email accounts – and advising them not to use them for official business – Clinton drew a blank.
The report provided detail on mass deletions of Clinton’s email server by the company maintaining her server, Platte River Networks. The FBI reports that in 2011, the staffer overseeing Clinton’s private server shut it down after seeing failed login attempts and interpreting it as a hack attempt. Pagliano secured an immunity agreement from the Justice Department after previously refusing to testify before Congress, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination. And the FBI’s investigation did, in fact, turn up dozens of email chains that contained classified documents, including eight whose contents were “top secret”. Stunningly, she also told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she wasn’t concerned that Top Secret/Special Access Program (SAP) intelligence would damage US national security interests if mishandled and leaked. Because she used a private server, those emails were never searched in response to FOIA requests.
The Democratic presidential nominee continues to struggle with dismal approval ratings and uneasiness among the electorate about her trustworthiness.
Spokesmen for Clinton did not respond to questions about the concussion and other aspects of the FBI’s summary, but released a statement welcoming the summary’s release. “Clinton’s secret email server was an end run around government transparency laws that wound up jeopardizing our national security and sensitive diplomatic efforts”.
Friday’s release of internal investigative documents by the FBI was a highly unusual step, but one that reflects extraordinary public interest in the investigation into Clinton’s server. Republicans have used the email issue to argue that Clinton is not trustworthy and should not be elected.
In July, the Justice Department declined to file charges in the case, following the recommendation of FBI Director James B. Comey.
In his reply to Clinton via email, Powell told Clinton to “be very careful” because the work-related emails she sent on her BlackBerry could become public record. “When you’re using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see”.
At one point in the interview, she was presented with a 2012 email that included a “c” marking next to one of the paragraphs.
The former secretary of state said she did understand when an email was marked “confidential” at the top, and “asked the interviewing agents if that was what “c” referenced”, according to the notes.
Clinton also said that she “did not recall receiving any emails she thought should not be on an unclassified system”, the Federal Bureau of Investigation documents say, The New York Times reported. The FBI found no evidence that cyber attackers benefitted, but also said they can not rule it out.
Hillary Clinton said that she was unaware that any of this was going on and that she was only vaguely aware that there was now server hardware in the basement. But she told agents there were never so many suspicious emails to cause concerns.
Clinton’s use of a private email account and homebrew server during her time as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 has weighed heavily on her bid over the past year to become America’s first female commander-in-chief.
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Besides the 11-page interview summary, the FBI also released other details of its investigation into her use of an unauthorized private email system while running the State Department, in which it concluded she mishandled classified information but not in a way that warranted a criminal prosecution.
