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Federal Bureau of Intelligence, FBI yesterday stated that it would not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State but that Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” handling classified information.
FBI Director James Comey made this known as he said there was no evidence of “intentional misconduct”.
“Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Comey said.
“Although we did not find clear evidence” of intentional misconduct, he added, “There is evidence that they were extremely careless of very sensitive, highly classified information.”
Comey said neither the Department of Justice nor the White House knew what he was going to announce Tuesday, and said the FBI investigation was nearing its end.
Hilary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee nor President Obama addressed Comey’s remarks during their campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina, though Obama praised Clinton’s work at the State Department.
Spokesman Brian Fallon from the Clinton camp in his first reaction to Comey’s statement, said that the campaign was “pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the Department is appropriate.
“As the secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she would not do it again. We are glad that this matter is now resolved.”
Later, aides said they were relieved by the announcement, even though they know it’s far from being in their rearview mirror.
The findings of the FBI probe immediately detonated on the campaign trail with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump crying foul.
“The system is rigged. … Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment,”
Trump tweeted. He later issued a statement in which he claimed U.S. “adversaries almost certainly have a blackmail file on Hillary Clinton,” which he said “disqualifies” her from the presidency.
At a Tuesday evening rally in North Carolina, Trump again pointed to the FBI’s decision as fresh evidence of a “rigged system.”
“Whats going on is very big … for Bill Clinton to go to the plane, then to have what happened … Everybody thought based on what was being said she was guilty. She was guilty. And it turned out that, ‘We’re not going to press charges.’ It’s really amazing,” Trump said as his crowd of supporters broke out in a chorus of boos.
The US House Speaker Paul Ryan said Comey’s announcement “defies explanation.”
“No one should be above the law,” Ryan said in a statement. “But based upon the director’s own statement, it appears damage is being done to the rule of law. Declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent.
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