FBI interviews Hillary Clinton over ‘private’ email server
HILLARY CLINTON was interviewed by FBI officers yesterday as part of an investigation into her use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State, a probe that could thwart her campaign to become the first female president of the United States.
The FBI is investigating whether she broke any laws relating to the handling of classified information by using a server kept in her home in upstate New York.
Although she has apologised, saying she should have used it only for personal communications, critics have seized on the issue, saying it shows she cannot be trusted with high office.
Nick Merrill, her spokesman, said: “Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was secretary. She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview.”
Legal experts suggest she is unlikely to face a criminal prosecution and that the interview, which had been scheduled in advance, and ran for three and a half hours, may suggest the Justice Department’s year-long probe is drawing to a close.
However, the allegations of mishandling classified information have dogged Mrs Clinton throughout the campaign. She has struggled to answer questions about why she wanted a private server. Opponents have accused her of deliberately covering up operational details, such as communications related to the terrorist attack in Benghazi, when the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed in 2012.
At times she has contradicted herself or looked far from convincing as she stumbled over journalists’ questions.
A day earlier, the US attorney general was forced to say she would follow FBI recommendations on whether a prosecution would be necessary after it emerged she had met Mrs Clinton’s husband Bill, the former president, prompting speculation a backroom deal was in the offing.
Loretta Lynch said the 30minute conversation at Phoenix airport on Monday was purely social.
“People have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business,” she said during a conference in Colorado. “My meeting on the plane with former President Clinton could give them another reason to have questions and concerns.”