FBI Rattles Hillary's Cage

[Kathianne]

She can probably thank the White House and her own statements about being '100% sure' of this going nowhere. The rest of us can thank Judicial Watch for filing the FOI request:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-218973


<header style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">FBI: Clinton email probe 'ongoing'</header><footer class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By Josh Gerstein (http://www.politico.com/staff/josh-gerstein)
<time datetime="2016-02-08T05:42-0500" style="box-sizing: border-box;">02/08/16 05:42 PM EST</time>
</footer>

The FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server remained "ongoing" as of earlier this month, a top FBI official said in a letter (http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000152-c304-d19a-addf-cb3d623f0001) filed in federal court Monday.



In the new letter, made public hours before a key test in Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, FBI General Counsel James Baker was tight-lipped about the inquiry but told a senior State Department official that divulging details about the probe could undermine it.

"We remain unable to provide the requested information without adversely affecting on-going law enforcement efforts," Baker wrote to State Department acting legal adviser Mary McLeod. The letter, dated Feb. 2, was filed by the Justice Department Monday in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.



The fact that the FBI was investigating Clinton's server set-up became public last July. A Justice Department official confirmed the inquiry, but said it was a security review of a potential breach of classified information and was not a criminal investigation targeting Clinton, as the New York Times initially reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/us/politics/inquiry-is-sought-in-hillary-clinton-email-account.html) intelligence and State Department oversight officials had sought.


Since then details about the focus and status of the probe have been scarce, although the FBI has interviewed some former State Department officials (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-probe-215630) about their email practices, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/fbi-colin-powell-email-probe-218748).


FBI Director James Comey has pledged (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/hillary-clinton-spam-deleted-214351) that the review would be free of political influence.



Last month, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it appeared Clinton was not a target of the FBI probe, although he seemed to have been referring back to the initial Justice Department statement last summer and did not have any updated information on the status of the inquiry.



While Clinton and her aides have repeatedly characterized the FBI probe as a security review, it's unclear whether the probe is still so limited or is now a criminal investigation.



Baker's letter doesn't appear to address that issue directly. He notes that in September he declined to confirm or deny any inquiry, but now says other statements by the FBI have made clear a probe was going on.


...

[Kathianne]

Related:
Getty ImagesBy Julian Hattem (http://thehill.com/author/julian-hattem) - 02/08/16 06:00 AM EST
Loretta Lynch is on the edge of the spotlight, about to be dragged to the center.


If the FBI finds sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton or one of her top aides for mishandling classified information, Lynch’s Justice Department will have to decide whether to press ahead.



Even if no evidence of wrongdoing is found, Clinton’s many critics are unlikely to take the word of an appointee of President Obama’s and will doubt that justice has been served.


Already, top Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to be brought in and evaluate the situation.


No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn (Texas) took to the floor of the Senate last week to call for a special counsel to be appointed “because of the conflict of interest by asking Attorney General Lynch to investigate and perhaps even prosecute somebody in the Obama administration.”


Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) agrees that Lynch ought to consider a special counsel, a representative said, to reassure the country that decisions are made “without regard to any political considerations.”

The Justice Department, however, has so far declined the request.


“This matter is being reviewed by career attorneys and investigators and does not meet the criteria for the appointment of a special prosecutor,” department spokeswoman Melanie Newman said in a statement.


Federal officials are currently investigating the security of Clinton’s bespoke email arrangement and whether classified information may have been mishandled.


Critics of Clinton have called for indictments to be handed down following revelations that more than 1,500 classified emails — including 22 classified at the highest level — were found on her personal server. None of the messages were marked as classified, and accounts differ as to whether they should have been classified at the time they were sent.


During a Democratic presidential debate last week, Clinton insisted (http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/268347-clinton-100-percent-confident-fbi-wont-find-wrongdoing) that she was “100 percent confident” that the FBI’s review will not evolve into a criminal matter.


Instead, she and other Democrats have decried the criticism about the emails as simple political gamesmanship designed to drag down her presidential campaign.


“I think the American people will know it’s an absurdity, and I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever,” said Clinton.


Lynch’s critics are unconvinced that the attorney general can be a neutral arbiter.


“I think they probably won’t indict her, because the attorney general is from New York, who I believe is a friend of Hillary Clinton,” Donald Trump, a leading Republican presidential candidate, said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends” in October.


Skeptics of Lynch have also pointed to an October interview in which President Obama appeared to dismiss concerns about Clinton’s private server.


“I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America's national security was endangered,” Obama said (http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/256645-obama-clintons-email-wasnt-security-threat) on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”


“It might appear that he’s trying to influence the conduct of the investigation,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor this week. “That’s a real problem.”

...




http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/268456-pressure-on-lynch-to-step-aside-in-clinton-email-probe


Pressure on Lynch to step aside in Clinton email probe

[aboutime]

Hillary is as confident as Obama was after being asked about the IRS scandal. Where he announced "Not a hint of WRONGDOING took place" even before the FBI investigation began. LIARS FLOCK TOGETHER.

[Perianne]

Hillary is as confident as Obama was after being asked about the IRS scandal. Where he announced "Not a hint of WRONGDOING took place" even before the FBI investigation began. LIARS FLOCK TOGETHER.

So true, aboutime. And they protect one another.