FBI defends decision not to charge Clinton
The FBI yesterday forcefully defended its decision not to criminally charge Hillary Clinton in connection with her use of a private email server as US Secretary of State in a letter to legislators that laid out its rationale for refusing to do so.
The letter was sent to House Oversight Committee members the same day that the bureau released to the GOP-controlled Congress a variety of materials from its investigation.
It marked yet another occasion in which FBI leadership responded to — and in some cases, rebutted — GOP claims about why the Democratic presidential nominee should have been charged.
But the materials turned over — which included an investigative summary; reports known as “302s” containing interviews with Clinton and others; and classified emails found on her private server — may give Republicans fodder to criticise Clinton in the months before the election.
That is, if that material — some of which is classified and marked “secret” — is actually released or leaked by Republicans, which could put them in the awkward spot of defending the release of sensitive information, which they have criticised Clinton for mishandling by using a private server as Secretary of State.
FBI Director James Comey announced last month that he was recommending Clinton not be charged, and the letter largely repeated statements he had made previously in public. But it also seemed to take aim at some ongoing conservative criticisms of Clinton — particularly that she was negligent in her handling of classified information and thus deserving of criminal charges.