Hillary Clinton has just been launched into the news cycle again. More than two years since the FBI exonerated Clinton of misusing her private e-mail server, newly-released documents shed new light on the bureau’s handling of the e-mail probe.
Top FBI officials scrambled to respond to a Fox News inquiry about a potential quid pro quo agreement with Obama’s State Department to change one of Clinton’s emails “from classified to something else,” according to a new batch of Justice Department e-mails obtained by Judicial Watch.
FBI sought quid pro quo with State
Fox initially reported in the weeks before the 2016 election that a quid pro quo was discussed between the FBI and State Department, but new e-mails, released Monday, confirm that the FBI was interested in the arrangement, although it appears it never went through.
The DOJ released the e-mails to Judicial Watch in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. An October 13, 2016 email sent by former FBI attorney Lisa Page shows that the quid pro quo was discussed by the top brass of the FBI while the bureau was responding to another FOIA request from Judicial Watch.
The State Department requested that the FBI hide the classification status of at least one Clinton e-mail in exchange for more legal attaché positions, Page wrote:
Jason Herring will be providing you with three 302s of current and former FBI employees who were interviewed during the course of the Clinton investigation. These 302s are scheduled to be released to Congress in an unredacted form at the end of the week, and produced (with redactions) pursuant to FOIA at the beginning of next week. As you will see, they describe a discussion about potential quid pro quo arrangement between then-DAD in IOD [deputy assistant director in International Operations Division] and an Undersecretary at the State Department whereby IOD would get more LEGAT [legal attaché] positions if the FBI could change the basis of the FOIA withhold re a Clinton email from classified to something else.
Page’s e-mail was part of a chain prompted by an inquiry about the quid pro quo by Fox journalist Catherine Herridge that October, when Fox originally reported that FBI interview files, called 302s, were released to the House Government Oversight and Intelligence Committees and revealed that Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy was lobbying the FBI to mark a classified e-mail as unclassified in exchange for State department perks.
One of those documents read, “[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.”
Then-Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said at the time, “In return for altering the classification, the possibility of additional slots for the FBI at missions overseas was discussed.”
FBI rushed to respond
The e-mails further reveal that top FBI and DOJ brass were looped in as the agencies scrambled to respond to Herridge’s request.
“Here we go. Lisa: where did we end up on how far we would go as to how we addressed the issue? TX M,” wrote the FBI’s then-head of public affairs Michael Kortan to Page.
There appears to have been a sense of urgency as Page e-mailed, called, and texted McCabe to get his OK on the department’s response.
There is no evidence that the quid pro quo went through, but the new e-mails contradict an official statement from the FBI in 2016 which denied that there was any discussion about any such arrangement. The FBI then said that they discussed an already pending request for more overseas positions abroad by coincidence as part of a conversation with the State Department about the classified e-mail, explaining that the FBI had difficulty getting a hold of the official and wanted to discuss the request while they had the opportunity.
“Having been previously unsuccessful in attempts to speak with the senior State official [about the request], during the same conversation, the FBI official asked the State Department official if they would address a pending, unaddressed FBI request for space for additional FBI employees assigned abroad,” the FBI said.
“Following the call, the FBI official consulted with a senior FBI executive responsible for determining the classification of the material and determined the email was in fact appropriately classified at the Secret level. The FBI official subsequently told the senior State official that the email was appropriately classified at the Secret level and that the FBI would not change the classification of the email. The classification of the email was not changed, and it remains classified today. Although there was never a quid pro quo, these allegations were nonetheless referred to the appropriate officials for review.”
Clinton probe weighed on FBI
The newly released e-mails show that Clinton’s e-mail investigation continued to be a concern at the FBI and DOJ even after James Comey cleared Clinton that July.
The quid pro quo was not the only issue related to the Clinton probe that the FBI and DOJ rushed to respond to in the weeks leading up to the election. When Comey re-opened the e-mail probe just weeks before the election on October 28, Clinton lawyer David Kendall demanded a phone call “ASAP” with top brass. His request was apparently satisfied as the FBI rushed to respond with a conference call set up by Peter Strzok, and days later Comey again closed the investigation with no charges against Clinton.
“It is big news that, just days before the presidential election, Hillary Clinton’s personal lawyer pressured the top lawyer for the FBI on the infamous Weiner laptop emails,” said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton. “These documents further underscore that the fix was in for Hillary Clinton. When will the Justice Department and FBI finally do an honest investigation of the Clinton email scandal?”
No comments: