On Saturday, Hillary Clinton was interviewed for MSNBC by Chuck Todd. The interview came after Clinton was voluntarily interviewed by the FBI about her use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State. During the phone interview, Clinton said that she could not give details, but that she was ready to talk to the FBI when they were ready. “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,” she said. A full video of the interview is below.
On Saturday morning, Hillary Clinton gave a voluntary interview with the Department of Justice and FBI about her email setup during her tenure as Secretary of State. The interview took place at FBI headquarters and lasted approximately three and a half hours. The FBI is currently investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server while she served in the State Department. The FBI is expected to release its finding in the next few weeks. Following the interview, Hillary for America spokesman Nick Merrill released the following statement:
“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.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives at the high school in Exeter, N.H., Monday, Aug. 10, 2015, where she announced her college affordability plan. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Today, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign released a fact sheet about her use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State. The release came as it was announced that Clinton would turn over her private email server to the Department of Justice following allegations that she received classified emails on an insecure channel. The Clinton campaign’s release includes a number of key points and a link to a Q&A on their website. The full text of the release is below:
Here are the basics: Like other Secretaries of State who served before her, Hillary used a personal email address, and the rules of the State Department permitted it. She’s already acknowledged that, in hindsight, it would have been better just to use separate work and personal email accounts. No one disputes that.
The State Department’s request: Last year, as part of a review of its records, the State Department asked the last four former Secretaries of State to provide any work-related emails they had. Hillary was the only former Secretary of State to provide any materials — more than 30,000 emails. In fact, she handed over too many — the Department said it will be returning over 1,200 messages to her because, in their and the National Archives’ judgment, these messages were completely personal in nature.
Hillary didn’t send any classified materials over email: Hillary only used her personal account for unclassified email. No information in her emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them. She viewed classified materials in hard copy in her office or via other secure means while traveling, not on email.
What makes it complicated: It’s common for information previously considered unclassified to be upgraded to classified before being publicly released. Some emails that weren’t secret at the time she sent or received them might be secret now. And sometimes government agencies disagree about what should be classified, so it isn’t surprising that another agency might want to conduct its own review, even though the State Department has repeatedly confirmed that Hillary’s emails contained no classified information at the time she sent or received them.
To be clear, there is absolutely no criminal inquiry into Hillary’s email or email server. Any and all reports to that effect have been widely debunked. Hillary directed her team to provide her email server and a thumb drive in order to cooperate with the review process and to ensure these materials were stored in a safe and secure manner.
What about the Benghazi committee? While you may hear from the Republican-led Benghazi committee about Hillary’s emails, it is important to remember that the committee was formed to focus on learning lessons from Benghazi to help prevent future tragedies at our embassies and consulates around the globe. Instead, the committee, led by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, is spending nearly $6 million in taxpayer money to conduct a partisan witch-hunt designed to do political damage to Hillary in the run-up to the election.
Hillary has remained absolutely committed to cooperating. That’s why, just as she gave her email server to the government, she’s also testifying before the Benghazi committee in October and is actively working with the Justice Department to make sure they have what they need. She hopes that her emails will continue to be released in a timely fashion.
It’s worth noting: Many of the Republican candidates for president have done the same things for which they’re now criticizing Hillary. As governor, Jeb Bush owned his own private server and his staff decided which emails he turned over as work-related from his private account. Bobby Jindal went a step further, using private email to communicate with his immediate staff but refusing to release his work-related emails. Scott Walker and Rick Perry had email issues themselves.
Hillary for America communications director Jennifer Palmieri.
After releasing a false story about a criminal investigation into the use of a personal email server by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Clinton campaign has released an open letter criticizing the inaccurate reporting by The New York Times. The letter, penned by communications director Jennifer Palmieri, was directed to Dean Baquet, the executive editor. The story originally said that the Department of Justice had been urged to open a criminal investigation. The story was later corrected to indicate the investigation was not criminal in nature but was a “security referral.”
In the letter, Palmieri wrote about the lack of response time given to the campaign by the news organization and she questioned the sources used for the article. She concluded by saying, “In closing, I wish to emphasize our genuine wish to have a constructive relationship with The New York Times. But we also are extremely troubled by the events that went into this erroneous report, and will be looking forward to discussing our concerns related to this incident so we can have confidence that it is not repeated in the future.”
Yesterday, Clinton kicked off a three-day visit to Iowa by attending a campaign event in Winterset, Iowa where she spoke with supporters then answered questions from reporters. A number of questions were about allegations that Clinton sent and received classified information on her private email server as Secretary of State and a possible investigation by the Department of Justice. She denies the claims saying, “I am confident I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received. What I think you’re seeing is a very typical kind of discussion to some extent, disagreement among various parts of the government over what should or what should not be publicly released.”
On Saturday, Clinton also gave a speech and answered questions at an event at Beaverdale. A video from this event is posted above.
Today, Clinton gave a speech in Ames at an organizing event where she previewed her plans to combat climate change and her commitment to clean energy. Tomorrow, Clinton will provide full details of her plan in a speech in Des Moines. In her preview, Clinton took the opportunity to criticize the Republican presidential candidates who deny climate change is a reality saying, “Those people on the other side, they will answer any question about climate change by saying I’m not a scientist. I’m not a scientist either—I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain…I know that if we start addressing it, we’re going to actually be creating jobs and new businesses.”
A video from today’s speech will be posted when/if it becomes available. Until then, watch the video released by the Clinton campaign about climate change.
Tomorrow, Clinton concluded her three-day trip to Iowa in Des Moines. Follow along on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for all the latest updates.
Updated (8/5/2015): Added video from the event in Beaverdale.
Hillary Clinton Speeches 