ICYMI: State Dept. official accused of offering ‘quid pro quo’ in Clinton email scandal
New FBI documents shed light on the level of outright corruption demonstrated by Hillary Clinton and her allies.
Today’s release shows that a State Department official literally offered a “quid-pro-quo” to the FBI as he pressured the Bureau to downgrade the classification of one of Clinton’s emails from her private server. If that stunning display of brazen corruption isn’t enough, the documents also show that, despite the insistence of Clinton and her allies that no sensitive information was breached by foreign hackers, an independent group reported finding potentially classified documents from Clinton on a Romanian server.
How much longer will House Democrats excuse Clinton’s behavior in light of this new clear evidence of corruption?
NRCC Comment: “House Democrats’ continued support of Hillary Clinton after today’s revelations of literal ‘quid-pro-quo’ corruption shows an almost unfathomable lack of judgment. If House Democrats truly cared about our national security, they would immediately reject Hillary Clinton and her decades of deceit and corruption.” – NRCC Spokesman Bob Salera
State Dept. official accused of offering ‘quid pro quo’ in Clinton email scandal
Politico
Nolan McCaskill
October 17, 2016
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/fbi-state-department-clinton-email-229880
An unnamed FBI official alleges Patrick Kennedy asked agency to downgrade classified email in exchange for FBI agents in more countries.
A top State Department official allegedly “pressured” the FBI to downgrade the classification of one of Hillary Clinton’s emails as part of a “quid pro quo,” according to documents released by the bureau on Monday.
The accusation of such an arrangement came from an interview the FBI conducted with an official in its records management division. Notes from the interview were released as part of the FBI’s public posting of documents related to its now-closed investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.
In the interview, the unnamed official says that Patrick Kennedy, under secretary of state for management, tried in late June or early July of last year to get the FBI to change a classified email to unclassified, in exchange for the State Department allowing the FBI to place agents in more countries.
The conversation allegedly occurred as the FBI and State were engaging in an interagency review of Clinton’s emails as they were being prepared for public release. Ultimately, FBI Director James Comey said just over 100 emails retrieved from Clinton’s server were deemed classified after the fact, although the Democratic nominee contends she never knowingly sent or received classified emails.
In an exchange that included redacted names, the interview notes state that “[REDACTED] received a call from [REDACTED] of the International Operations Division (IOD) of the FBI, who ‘pressured’ him to change the classified email to unclassified. [REDACTED] indicated he had been contacted by PATRICK KENNEDY, Undersecretary of State, who had asked his assistance in altering the email’s classification in exchange for a ‘quid pro quo.’”
The notes go on to say, “[REDACTED] advised that, in exchange for marking the email unclassified, STATE would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more Agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.”
An unnamed official alleges that Kennedy followed up this request by asking during a private meeting whether the FBI could “see their way to marking the email unclassified?”
“According to [REDACTED], KENNEDY spent the next 15 minutes debating the classification of the email and attempting to influence the FBI to change its markings.”
An unnamed official accuses Kennedy of keeping up the pressure by going to Michael Steinbach, the assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, but that Steinbach refused to change the classified messages to unclassified.
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner on Monday strongly denied that such a quid pro occurred. “This allegation is inaccurate and does not align with the facts. To be clear: the State Department did upgrade the document at the request of the FBI when we released it back in May 2015,” Toner said.
He added, “Under Secretary Kennedy sought to understand the FBI’s process for withholding certain information from public release. As has been reported, there have been discussions within the interagency on issues of classification. Classification is an art, not a science, and individuals with classification authority sometimes have different views.”
The allegation deepens the scandal around Clinton’s use of a private email server, which has continued to dog her presidential campaign, even in the late stages.
An unnamed official interviewed by the FBI also accuses the State Department of being in cahoots with Clinton. “[REDACTED] believes STATE has an agenda which involves minimizing the classified nature of the CLINTON emails in order to protect STATE interests and those of CLINTON,” the FBI notes state.
The trove of roughly 100 pages is the fourth such installment of documents released by the agency, following dumps in September and August totaling nearly 250 pages.
In announcing the FBI’s decision in July to not recommend charges against Clinton, Comey described Clinton and her aides as “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” but ultimately discerned “that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
Comey passionately defended the integrity of the bureau’s investigation during a House Judiciary Committee hearing late last month.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed, if elected, to have his attorney general appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s email practices and jail the Democratic nominee. At a rally last week, the real estate mogul called for an investigation into the FBI’s investigation.