I was happy to face three-hour grilling by FBI, says Hillary
HILLARY Clinton last night claimed she had been ‘eager’ to be interviewed by the FBI over the email scandal blighting her presidential campaign.
Despite the possibility she may still face charges, the Democratic candidate said she was ‘pleased’ she had been questioned for three-and-a-half hours.
Mrs Clinton – who is facing an investigation over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state – claimed she had been offering to give the interview for almost a year.
The probe is looking into whether she broke any secrecy laws during her time in office between 2009 and 2013, when she used a personal email account which may have been vulnerable to hacking.
CNN reported that there would not be enough evidence to charge Mrs Clinton, a decision likely to outrage her rivals.
Mrs Clinton’s team has always maintained she did nothing wrong.
Speaking to US TV station MSNBC, she said the FBI interview on Saturday was ‘civil and businesslike’.
Mrs Clinton declined to give details about what was discussed and said she had ‘no knowledge’ of the timeline of the investigation.
She said the interview ‘was something I had offered to do since last August’, adding: ‘I’ve been eager to do it, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department in bringing its review to a conclusion.’ Mrs Clinton claims that none of the emails on her private server were classified at the time they were sent or received – but that some may have been ‘retroactively classified’.
Last week her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had an informal meeting with US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who technically has the final say over whether his wife will face charges.
Miss Lynch said the meeting on an airport runway in Phoenix, Arizona, was purely ‘social’ – but she agreed to accept the FBI’s findings to avoid any suggestion of impropriety.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump branded his rival ‘crooked Hillary’ on Twitter, adding that it was ‘impossible’ she would not face charges.