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| 'What I did was allowed': fact-checking Clinton's statements on email inquiry | 'What I did was allowed': fact-checking Clinton's statements on email inquiry |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The FBI has recommended no charges against Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, even though agents did find direct contradictions, misleading claims and falsehoods in assertions made by Clinton and her campaign about her use of a private email server while secretary of state. | |
| These statements elide the truth: some use of personal email is allowed but Clinton used private servers exclusively, and broke rules in the process, according to a state department inspector general report in May and FBI director James Comey on Tuesday. | These statements elide the truth: some use of personal email is allowed but Clinton used private servers exclusively, and broke rules in the process, according to a state department inspector general report in May and FBI director James Comey on Tuesday. |
| Related: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama prefer the elephant to the emails in the room | Related: Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama prefer the elephant to the emails in the room |
| The state department report found that Clinton had violated rules in her use of the private system: she did not conduct day-to-day business on a department channel, did not consult information and security officers about the server, and skirted the rules of records preservation requests. On Tuesday, Comey called her practices “extremely careless” and said: “None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified server.” | The state department report found that Clinton had violated rules in her use of the private system: she did not conduct day-to-day business on a department channel, did not consult information and security officers about the server, and skirted the rules of records preservation requests. On Tuesday, Comey called her practices “extremely careless” and said: “None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified server.” |
| The FBI director also warned that in similar circumstances offenders are “often subject to security or administrative sanctions”. | The FBI director also warned that in similar circumstances offenders are “often subject to security or administrative sanctions”. |
| The FBI investigation found Clinton’s assertion to be false: agents found 110 emails were classified at the time they were sent or received, Comey said on Tuesday. Eight of those emails contained “top secret” information at the time, 36 contained “secret” information, and eight had “confidential” information. About 2,000 emails that were not marked classified at the time were later upgraded to confidential. | The FBI investigation found Clinton’s assertion to be false: agents found 110 emails were classified at the time they were sent or received, Comey said on Tuesday. Eight of those emails contained “top secret” information at the time, 36 contained “secret” information, and eight had “confidential” information. About 2,000 emails that were not marked classified at the time were later upgraded to confidential. |
| Comey lent a small amount of credence to Clinton’s defense that material was not “marked” classified, but his statement was more damning than not. “Only a very small number of the emails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information,” he said. | Comey lent a small amount of credence to Clinton’s defense that material was not “marked” classified, but his statement was more damning than not. “Only a very small number of the emails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information,” he said. |
| “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.” | “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.” |
| Colin Powell used a personal email address when he was secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, and it is not uncommon for government officials to occasionally use private email addresses. Like Clinton, Powell used private email exclusively, but he did not use a private server and government rules were not well defined during his tenure. Despite this, the state department still ruled in its recent report that he did not preserve email records. | |
| Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, two other secretaries of state before Clinton, did not use private or official email for state department work. Clinton’s successor, John Kerry, infrequently uses personal email to respond to people who contact him there, according to the report. | Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright, two other secretaries of state before Clinton, did not use private or official email for state department work. Clinton’s successor, John Kerry, infrequently uses personal email to respond to people who contact him there, according to the report. |
| Clinton gave 30,940 emails to the state department in December 2014, after her lawyers searched the archives for material relating to government work. She has said that she deleted more than 31,000 personal emails that were also on her servers. | Clinton gave 30,940 emails to the state department in December 2014, after her lawyers searched the archives for material relating to government work. She has said that she deleted more than 31,000 personal emails that were also on her servers. |
| FBI investigators found no evidence that any work-related emails “were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them”, Comey said. | FBI investigators found no evidence that any work-related emails “were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them”, Comey said. |
| But the FBI found “several thousand work-related emails that were not in the group of 30,000” given by Clinton to the state department, Comey said, after agents searched through devices connected to the private server and on archived government accounts. He also said that Clinton and her staff appeared to periodically delete emails, like most email users, and that her lawyers sifted through the emails by subject lines and search terms, meaning they probably missed some work-related emails. | |
| Comey added that some emails probably remain undiscovered or lost forever, in part for technical reasons. When servers were decommissioned in 2013, for instance, millions of email fragments were scattered in “slack space”, according to Comey, leaving a “jigsaw puzzle” behind for agents to sort through. | Comey added that some emails probably remain undiscovered or lost forever, in part for technical reasons. When servers were decommissioned in 2013, for instance, millions of email fragments were scattered in “slack space”, according to Comey, leaving a “jigsaw puzzle” behind for agents to sort through. |
| Clinton’s campaign has said the justice department made “a security referral” that “was not criminal in nature as misreported by some in the press”. This language misleadingly suggests the FBI was only investigating to see whether Clinton’s email servers were at risk of security breaches and hacking. | Clinton’s campaign has said the justice department made “a security referral” that “was not criminal in nature as misreported by some in the press”. This language misleadingly suggests the FBI was only investigating to see whether Clinton’s email servers were at risk of security breaches and hacking. |
| Comey made clear that the investigation by FBI agents did search for criminal conduct, even if they ultimately did not find evidence of “willful mishandling”, “indications of disloyalty to the United States”, obstruction of justice or “vast quantities of material exposed”. | Comey made clear that the investigation by FBI agents did search for criminal conduct, even if they ultimately did not find evidence of “willful mishandling”, “indications of disloyalty to the United States”, obstruction of justice or “vast quantities of material exposed”. |
| “We cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts,” he said. “To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.” | “We cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts,” he said. “To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.” |
| Comey said that Clinton not only used multiple servers but also “used numerous mobile devices to view and send email” using her personal account, undercutting her justification. | Comey said that Clinton not only used multiple servers but also “used numerous mobile devices to view and send email” using her personal account, undercutting her justification. |