Hillary Clinton Emails: FBI Says No Incriminating Details Found In Latest Investigation
The Hillary Clinton emails scandal appears to be closed again, with no charges forthcoming against the presidential candidate.
FBI chairman James Comey confirmed that the agency found no incriminating details in the latest batch of emails that it investigated, reported the Huffington Post. That upholds the decision the FBI made in the summer not to recommend charges after the initial investigation into Hillary Clinton and her use of a private server while she was Secretary of State.
Comey said in a letter to Congress on October 28 that the agency was looking into emails discovered in an investigation of Anthony Weiner, the former congressman and estranged husband of Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin, over alleged lewd messages he sent to a 15-year-old girl, as the Inquisitr previously reported.
The FBI seized a laptop on which it discovered emails Abedin sent to Clinton — even though Abedin claimed she rarely used the computer and had no idea how thousands of Hillary Clinton emails apparently got onto the laptop.
BREAKING: James Comey: Clinton will not face charges for use of personal email server https://t.co/CFQQ5GdFbU pic.twitter.com/CBKFgLVZn8
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 6, 2016
Comey sent the first letter to Congress against the advice of the Department of Defense, and without, he admitted, knowing the contents of the emails and whether they might hold classified information. He faced intense criticism, including from Clinton and her campaign, over his decision to send the letter 11 days before the presidential election.
Some critics indicated sending the letter was tantamount to interfering with the election, with Clinton campaign aides and pollsters suggesting that while Hillary was at that point already sliding in the polls, the revelation would further hurt her standing with voters.
President Obama, who three years ago nominated Comey to lead the FBI, also criticized the FBI director’s decision to send the letter about apparent Hillary Clinton emails so close to a general election.
The Justice Department has rules against federal law enforcement officials making an influence in the electoral process.
However, Comey told Congress in another letter that the FBI would not recommend Clinton be charged with a crime in connection with the emails.
“Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation. During that process we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton. I am very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high-quality work in a short period of time.”
Breaking – new letter from FBI Director Comey says conclusions re Clinton server from July have not changed pic.twitter.com/QxAMSMah1H
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 6, 2016
Comey gave little information on what the latest Hillary Clinton emails actually contained, though, according to NBC‘s Tom Winter, the latest emails were duplicates of ones the FBI had already reviewed, Mediaite reported.
Brian Fallon, a press secretary for Clinton, said on Twitter that the latest letter confirmed what the campaign already knew.
We were always confident nothing would cause the July decision to be revisited. Now Director Comey has confirmed ithttps://t.co/BMQQx9eRzw
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) November 6, 2016
In July, when Comey initially confirmed no charges would be brought, he said Clinton and her aides had been “extremely careless” in using the private server, even though there was no evidence they had misused classified information through the server.
Donald Trump and his campaign had pounced after the first letter, suggesting there was indictment pending against Clinton. Comey’s latest letter should clear up any speculation over whether the emails found on the Weiner computer misused any classified information, but it seems likely Trump and his surrogates will still wring as much juice out of the scandal as it can in the campaign’s final day or so.
Still, the Democrats might not be completely off the hook, as WikiLeaks has promised the imminent release of more Hillary Clinton emails that were deleted from her server, as the Inquisitr previously reported.
[Featured Image by Julio Cortez/AP Images]
