The FBI provoked an explosive public reaction on Tuesday after deciding that an "extremely careless" Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges for handling classified data over a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Following an investigation that dragged on for months, FBI Director James Comey said that officials found 110 emails that contained information that should not have been on "any kind of unclassified system" and that was possibly hacked by a "hostile actor." The FBI also said that it interviewed the U.S. presidential candidate for three-and-a-half hours over the Fourth of July weekend about the emails.
"Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. For example, seven email chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received," Comey said.
But Clinton had previously said that no sensitive information was sent or received through the system under scrutiny.
Since negligence, as opposed to intentionality, was found in the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's actions, the Bureau opted not to recommend criminal charges. Also, the agency did not find hard evidence that foreigners had breached the server, but emails of people Clinton corresponded with were indeed hacked.
The final decision on whether or not to bring charges against Clinton still remains with the Department of Justice, but Comey did say that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case.”
FBI Director James Comey's full statement on Hillary Clinton email investigation. Video by C-SPAN.
As expected, Clinton's opponents pounced on the decision expressing their outrage as soon as it was announced. The presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump was among the first ones to react, as was governor Mike Huckabee, and Fox News contributors Guy Benson and Tammy Bruce. Some die-hard supporters of Bernie Sanders had also hoped she would be indicted.
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