FBI Says Clinton ‘Extremely Careless’ with Emails and Classified Info

Republicans signaled they’re not done with election-year investigations of Hillary Clinton and whether she lied to Congress, even after a House committee signed off Friday on its report into the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. However, Comey said today that the FBI’s investigation found that out of 30,000 messages provided by Clinton to the State Department, 110 in 52 email chains contained information that was classified at the time. He said there was no evidence that she or any of her aides knew that anything they were doing was against the law.

This comes after Clinton had repeatedly said there were never classified emails on what we now know were multiple servers outside of the security purview, with Clinton insisting in 2015, “There were no security breaches”. And though there is a statute that allows for felony prosecution for mishandling classified information with gross negligence, that law has been used only once in the 99 years since it was enacted – and that was in a case involving espionage, he said. But he also said there was no evidence anyone willfully or intentionally mishandled classified information and that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue such a case.

Comey’s appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee marked his first public statements since his announcement that removed the threat of criminal charges against Clinton but also revived public scrutiny of her email behavior as secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s first term.

Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Comey that the FBI’s decision showed a “double standard” for powerful people. An indictment might have forced her out, leaving a Democratic National Convention scenario of nominating the socialist Bernie Sanders, or perhaps the best scenario for Democrats, enticing Vice President Joe Biden into the race.

“There are a number of things that she said that are just false based on the investigation Mr. Comey conducted relative to her testimony under oath to us last October”, Jordan said, adding he thinks it would be “appropriate” to look into perjury claims but the decision is ultimately up to Chaffetz and Rep. Trey Gowdy, who chairs the Benghazi committee.

“You’ll have one in the next few hours”, Chaffetz said. These Democrats also argued that the entire investigation was a “Republican witch-hunt”, when it was not. But he suggested Comey had contributed to that by leaving “a perceived gap” between his public criticism of Clinton and his conclusion not to prosecute.

You have got to be kidding me! “But even if information is not marked “classified” in an email, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it”. “I thought the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking at this, but evidently, they’re not”.

Notably, he said her statement that nothing she sent or received was marked classified was not true.

“We can not find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts”.

Republicans pumped FBI Director James Comey Thursday for fresh evidence to prolong the politically damaging saga during a Capitol Hill hearing that ignited partisan anger over his decision not to seek charges against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has actually been a huge help to Hillary Clinton.