Federal Bureau of Investigation sends email docs to Congress, Clinton says release them publicly

The FBI sent Congress a cache of secret documents Tuesday related to its investigation into Clinton’s email practices. Pretty much everyone seems to agree that the email controversy has damaged Clinton’s standing among voters, and that new material could keep the issue alive during the election campaign.

“Jason V. Herring, the FBI’s acting assistant director of the office of congressional affairs, wrote in a letter to Congress Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that the facts in the case did not support a recommendation to prosecute Mrs. Clinton for gross negligence, saying emails Mrs. Clinton received with a “(C)” marking indicating classified material is not “clear evidence of knowledge or intent”.

This sharing of information is rare.

“Although there may be other aspects of Secretary Clinton’s sworn testimony that are at odds with the FBI’s findings, her testimony in those four areas bears specific scrutiny in light of the facts and evidence”, they wrote.

But Republicans in Congress aren’t done with the scandal yet.

Having failed to find evidence to support their claims that Clinton was negligent in preventing or stopping the deadly 2012 terrorist attack on the USA diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, Republicans are now focused on whether Clinton shaded the truth about her haphazard handling of emails containing government secrets.

Republicans are also demanding that the Justice Department open a new investigation into whether Clinton lied to Congress. Justice Department spokeswoman Melanie Newman declined to comment Tuesday on the GOP request for a perjury investigation.

The FBI said on Tuesday it had provided “relevant materials” to congressional committees looking into the matter.

Because the material is marked as classified, congressional officials will need to review the material in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.

In this July 7, 2016 file photo, FBI Director James Comey testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Oversight Committee to explain his agency’s recommendation to not prosecute Hillary Clinton, now the Democratic presidential candidate, over her private email setup during her time as secretary of state. Notably, he said the interview summary for Clinton aide Huma Abedin and others appear “entirely unclassified”.

The FBI last month closed its yearlong probe into whether Clinton and her aides mishandled sensitive information that flowed through a private email server located in the basement of her NY home.

The documents were made available to the Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Appropriations committees in the Senate, and the Oversight, Judiciary and Appropriations committees in the House, aides said.

“Three: Secretary Clinton did not initiate any emails that contained classified information or were marked as classified”, Feinstein said. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.