WASHINGTON, D.C., July 5, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday morning announced the results of an exhaustive investigation into the use of a private email server for work by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and recommended that she not be prosecuted.
“Although the Department of Justice makes the final decision, our view is no charges are appropriate in this case,” said James Comey, director of the FBI.
Comey did call Clinton’s handling of emails “extremely careless,” adding that she did send or receive emails regarding top-secret information, classified or confidential information in a handful of cases out of the 30,000 emails provided or from many others recovered after what Comey described as routine deletion by Clinton.
Comey said Clinton’s email also was accessed by multiple mobile devices she controlled. There was no evidence her account had been hacked, he said, adding that that is not conclusive proof that it wasn’t.
Some people with whom Clinton corresponded did have their accounts hacked during the time period in question, Comey said.
Comey said the investigation was a “painstaking undertaking” and complex for technological reasons, not because of any attempt to hide information.
Comey said his team searched for similar cases that resulted in charges, but “We could not find a case that would support criminal prosecution.”
Charges would be unreasonable, he said, and “… our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would defend such a case.”
Among the reasons Comey would not recommend Clinton’s prosecution, he said, were the facts that there is:
● No evidence of intention to leak top-secret, classified or confidential information
● No indication of disloyalty to the United States, and
● No attempt to obstruct justice.
