White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest labeled the investigation into then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails as “criminal.”
“That’s why the president, when discussing this issue in each stage, has reiterated his commitment to this principle that any criminal investigation should be conducted independent of any sort of political interference,” Earnest said.
Fox News had asked Earnest if President Barack Obama’s endorsement for Clinton for president “might apply pressure to investigators assigned” to her case.
But Clinton, now the presumptive Democrat presidential candidate, called the investigation a “security review.” She discussed it on the Today show with Matt Lauer:
“Do you think the FBI and the Justice Department write you a letter and say it was a misunderstanding? We’re sorry, carry on?” Lauer said.“Well, we’re certainly going to carry on. I think it’s a security review,” Clinton said. “It is a security review and there are lots of those that are conducted in our government all the time and you don’t hear about most of them. You hear about this one because, you know, it does involve me, so that’s why it gets so much attention.”
But FBI Director James Comey said the FBI only conducts investigations:
“I don’t even know what that means, a ‘security inquiry.’ We do investigations here at the FBI,” Comey told Fox News’ Catherine Herridge, reiterating Clinton will not be receiving any kind of special treatment.Herridge further noted “security inquiry” is an unknown term to the Director.
Despite this, her website states the departments “made a security referral” and the investigation is “not criminal in nature.” Clinton told Fox News on Wednesday she will not face an indictment.
Obama released his endorsement for Clinton yesterday after he met with her opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders at the White House. Clinton declared a victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday after she won primaries in California, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota. The Associated Press announced she clinched after she captured the Puerto Rico primary, which propelled her to 2,383 delegates.
Clinton has insisted over and over she did not do anything wrong by using her personal email address when she served as secretary of state. Former State Department watchdog Howard Krongard shot down her claims that her predecessors also used their own emails along with an inspector general report.
The IG report, issued on May 25, found that Rice never once used a personal email address to conduct state business. Colin Powell used his personal email address “on a limited basis to connect with people outside the department.” He also informed and “worked with the State Department to secure the system.”
Clinton never asked for approval from senior State Department officials. The IG showed confidence that no one would have given approval.
The May 25 report found numerous violations during Clinton’s term:
“At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have surrendered all emails dealing with Department issues before leaving government service,” says an audit by the State Department Inspector General, obtained by NBC News.“Because she did not do so, she did not comply with the [State] Department’s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act.”
The inspector general also lashed out at the State Department:
The report broadly criticized the State Department as well, saying that officials had been “slow to recognize and to manage effectively the legal requirements and cybersecurity risks” that emerged in the era of emails, particularly those of senior officials like Mrs. Clinton.It said that “longstanding systemic weaknesses” in handling electronic records went “well beyond the tenure of any one secretary of state” but the body of the report focused on the 30,000 emails that Mrs. Clinton sent and received on her private server.
Federal law says everyone must preserve all government records. Clinton claims she did this because the majority of the “emails were sent to people the State Department system.” But the inspector general countered her claim by saying “sending emails from a personal account to other employees at their Department accounts is not an appropriate method of preserving any such emails that would constitute a federal record.”
I wonder how Sanders and his supporters will address this slip of the tongue from Earnest. Last month, supporters told The New York Times they hope the FBI will eliminate Clinton from the race due to her email scandal. Supporter Julie Crowell does not understand why there are no rules that forbids people under criminal investigations from running for president. A few have even said they will vote for presumptive GOP candidate Donald Trump.
In March, Professor Jacobsen mentioned that Sanders has chosen to only stay in the race because of the emails.
Sanders said he will work with Clinton to make sure Trump does not win in November. He also said he will continue to campaign through the DC primary and the Democrat National Convention.
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