FBI ‘failed to investigate' Hillary Clinton's email case, declassified documents reveal
The declassified documents, released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, reveal that a confidential source gave thumb drives to the FBI which had State Department's data acquired via cyber intrusions, including mails from ex-President Obama and others.
Grassley said, 'This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence in the FBI's investigation of former Secretary Clinton's email usage and mishandling of highly classified information.'
The report has been authored by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who holds the same position at the Federal Reserve Board and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It remains unclear if the FBI has conducted any further thorough investigation in the hard drives it received, since the 2018 watchdog report was released.
Hillary Clinton, who served as Secretary of State under Obama's administration from 2009 to 2013, had been accused of improperly storing or transmitting classified materials on a private email server.
The FBI had advised the Department of Justice in 2016 that Clinton should not be prosecuted over the matter. It was in 2016 when she ran for presidency from the Democratic Party against Republican leader and now President Donald Trump.
In a press release, then FBI director James Comey said 'Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.'
The declassified documents also reveal that then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe asked then-US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in a memo that if he could refer to the drives for FBI's investigation Russian interference in the 2016 presidential polls.
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