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Scott Bixby (now) and Tom McCarthy (earlier)

FBI releases documents in Clinton email investigation – as it happened

Hillary Clinton
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at the Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio Wednesday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Today in Campaign 2016

Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton. Photograph: Bryan Woolston/Reuters
  • The phrase “Clinton could not recall” litters the summary of the FBI’s investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee’s use of private email servers during her tenure as secretary of state, which concluded in July that she should not face charges. Amid fierce Republican criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate, the party’s nominee, Donald Trump released a statement which said “Hillary Clinton’s answers to the FBI about her private email server defy belief” and added that he did not “understand how she was able to get away from prosecution”.
  • Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, and Hanley “indicated the whereabouts of Clinton’s devices would frequently become unknown once she transitioned to a new device”, the documents state. “Cooper did recall two instances where he destroyed Clinton’s old mobile devices by breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer.”
  • Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a statement following the release of the documents from the FBI’s investigation:

Hillary Clinton’s answers to the FBI about her private email server defy belief. I was absolutely shocked to see that her answers to the FBI stood in direct contradiction to what she told the American people. After reading these documents, I really don’t understand how she was able to get away from prosecution.

  • The nonpartisan commission that organizes the presidential debates has drawn from a pool of deep experience in selecting hosts for this year’s three scheduled meetings between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. While none of the moderators named on Friday has hosted a general-election presidential debate before, all four moderated primary debates this year.
  • The Commission on Presidential Debates additionally named a moderator for this year’s single vice-presidential debate, CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano. She has never hosted a debate.
  • Amid public outcry over a sharp increase in the cost of the EpiPen, a life-saving drug to stop an anaphylactic allergy attack, Hillary Clinton has unveiled a plan to prevent “unjustified price hikes” for older prescription drugs. Clinton’s proposal would create a team of representatives from federal agencies that would investigate and monitor the cost of long-available prescription drugs with little or no competition to protect consumers from so-called “price gouging”. The plan sets out criteria for determining “an excessive, outlier price increase” and a set of enforcement tools that include making alternative drugs available and imposing fines or penalties to help fund expanded access.
  • The prospect of an interest rate rise in the US has receded after news that the world’s largest economy suffered a lull in job creation last month. There were 151,000 jobs added to the US economy in August, below economists’ forecasts for 180,000 and a marked slowdown after two bumper months of growth. Figures from the Department of Labor also showed wage growth slowed and the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.9%, defying expectations for it to edge down in August.

Have a good weekend!

Donald Trump: Clinton's answers to FBI 'defy belief'

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a statement following the release of documents from the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers during her time as secretary of state, expressing disbelief that Clinton was not prosecuted:

Hillary Clinton’s answers to the FBI about her private email server defy belief. I was absolutely shocked to see that her answers to the FBI stood in direct contradiction to what she told the American people. After reading these documents, I really don’t understand how she was able to get away from prosecution.

The shade of it all.

Hillary Clinton told the FBI that did not pay attention to the difference between “top secret,” “secret” and “confidential” designations for different materials, the Guardian’s David Smith reports:

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton Photograph: Chris Keane/Reuters

She did not recall receiving any emails she thought should not have been on an unclassified system. She also stated she received no particular guidance as to how she should use the president’s email address.

In addition, the notes say: “Clinton could not recall when she first received her security clearance and if she carried it with her to state via reciprocity from her time in the Senate. Clinton could not recall any briefing or training by state related to the retention of federal records or handling of classified information.”

Clinton was aware she was an original classification authority at the state department, but again “could not recall how often she used this authority or any training or guidance provided by state. Clinton could not give an example of how classification of a document was determined.”

Nor could she recall any specific briefing on how to handle information associated with special access programme information.

“Clinton could not recall a specific process for nominating a target for a drone strike,” the notes say.

More on Team Clinton’s use - and disposal - of mobile devices:

The FBI identified a total of 13 mobile devices associated with Clinton’s two known phone numbers that potentially were used to send emails using clintonemail.com addresses.

The 58 pages of notes released on Friday, several of which were redacted, also related that Hanley often purchased replacement BlackBerry devices for Clinton during Clinton’s time at the state department. Hanley recalled buying most of them at AT&T stores in the Washington area. Cooper was usually responsible for setting them up and syncing them to the server.

Clinton’s closest aide, Huma Abedin, and Hanley ‘indicated the whereabouts of Clinton’s devices would frequently become unknown once she transitioned to a new device’, the documents state. ‘Cooper did recall two instances where he destroyed Clinton’s old mobile devices by breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer.’

A former aide who helped create an archive of Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2013 misplaced a laptop and a thumb drive onto which she transferred correspondence, the Guardian’s David Smith reports:

Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

A Clinton Foundation laptop and a thumb drive used to archive Hillary Clinton’s emails from her time as secretary of state are missing, according to FBI notes released on Friday.

The phrase “Clinton could not recall” litters the summary of the FBI’s investigation, which concluded in July that she should not face charges. Amid fierce Republican criticism on Friday, a spokesperson for the party’s presidential candidate, Donald Trump, claimed that the latest disclosures “reinforce [Clinton’s] tremendously bad judgment and dishonesty”.

The FBI documents describe how Monica Hanley, a former Clinton aide, received assistance in spring 2013 from Justin Cooper, a former aide to Bill Clinton, in creating an archive of Hillary Clinton’s emails. Cooper provided Hanley with an Apple MacBook laptop from the Clinton Foundation – the family organisation currently embroiled in controversy – and talked her through the process of transferring emails from Clinton’s private server to the laptop and a thumb drive.

“Hanley completed this task from her personal residence,” the notes record. The devices were intended to be stored at Clinton’s homes in New York and Washington. However, Hanley “forgot” to provide the archive laptop and thumb drive to Clinton’s staff.

In early 2014, Hanley located the laptop at her home and tried to transfer the email archive to an IT company, apparently without success. It appears the emails were then transferred to an unnamed person’s personal Gmail account and there were problems around Apple software not being compatible with that of Microsoft.

The unnamed person “told the FBI that, after the transfer was complete, he deleted the emails from the archive laptop but did not wipe the laptop. The laptop was then put in the mail, only to go missing. [Redacted] told the FBI that she never received the laptop from [redacted]; however, she advised that Clinton’s staff was moving offices at the time, and it would have been easy for the package to get lost during the transition period.

“Neither Hanley nor [redacted] could identify the current whereabouts of the archive laptop or thumb drive containing the archive, and the FBI does not have either item in its possession.”

Report: Hillary Clinton's staff smashed old Blackberrys with a hammer

From the Associated Press:

Clinton and her legal team deleted thousands more emails she claimed were personal and private. The FBI report details steps taken by Clinton’s staff that appear intended to hamper the recovery of deleted data, including smashing her old Blackberry smartphones with a hammer and using special software to wipe the hard drive of a server she had used.

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said Friday the campaign was pleased the FBI had released the documents.

The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino has more on Green party candidate Jill Stein’s, err, pit-stop:

Jill Stein
Jill Stein Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Green party presidential nominee Jill Stein ran late for a Columbus campaign event on Friday because she accidentally went to Cincinnati, where she is due to hold a rally on Sunday.

The Harvard-educated physician was due to address supporters and students at Capital University near downtown Columbus at noon. She instead mistakenly arrived in Cincinnati, according to the local chapter of the Ohio Green party. After a redirection, she was expected to arrive in Columbus by 2pm.

“There was apparently a misunderstanding by the person who made her flight arrangements – and that was not us,” said Suzanne Patzer of the Ohio Green party.

Patzer said several dozen people had come to Schaaf Lawn on the university campus, but it was unclear how many would stick around to hear Stein speak. According to the Columbus Dispatch, pizzas were ordered to thank attendees for their patience.

Stein recently drew national attention over an interview with the Washington Post’s editorial board that was summed up by the headline: “Jill Stein’s fairy-tale candidacy”. The Post said her policy proposals were far-fetched and unrealistic and seemed unconvinced by her grasp of foreign policy.

Still no word from Donald Trump’s campaign about the FBI’s release of documents in its investigation of rival Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers during her tenure as secretary of state:

Eric Trump: Withdrawal of Latino surrogates 'pretty amazing'

The third child and second son of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told Fox & Friends this morning that it was “pretty amazing” that numerous Latino advocates for his father’s presidential campaign backed away from their support of the candidate after Trump’s draconian address on immigration doubled down on his hard-line stance on the issue.

“It is actually pretty amazing considering the speech was actually very consistent and he has been very, very consistent with his plan,” Eric Trump said. “It’s really interesting.”

Eric Trump.
Eric Trump. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

The younger Trump’s surprise is, itself, a little surprising. In the address, given after weeks of waffling on the candidate’s bedrock campaign issue, Trump called for the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States within the first hour of his presidency. The address also called for a limit on legal immigration, pushing the far-right policy of keeping immigration levels to “historical norms,” a position never before embraced by a modern presidential nominee.

As many as 15 members of Trump’s two-week old Latino advisory council are reportedly considering abandoning the candidate as a result of the address, which one former advocate called “very scary”.

Trump’s son told Fox & Friends that the campaign still views Latino voters as a possible constituency.

“It’s very important to us,” Trump said. “If you look at the Hispanic community and the Latino community, they’ve largely been left behind in this country.”

Updated

A new poll of Latino voters by America’s Voice / Latino Decisions has Clinton up 70-19 on Trump.

In 2012, according to exit polls, Obama won Latino voters 71-27. So Clinton here shows about the same level of support Obama had – while Trump is quite a bit behind Romney.

Who can disagree?

Here’s more fodder for the Clinton critics who agree with the FBI director that she was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information:

Two lions of the Republican foreign policy establishment decline to endorse Clinton (no one thought they would endorse Trump):

Ryan: documents demonstrate 'downright dangerous' behavior

House speaker Paul Ryan has released a statement saying that the material in the FBI documents is “exactly why I have called for her to be denied access to classified information”:

Times story followed by 'oh shit' moment, archive deletion

On 2 March, 2015, the New York Times published a story with the headline, “Hillary Clinton Used Personal Email Account at State Dept., Possibly Breaking Rules.”

Later that month, a Clinton aide told the FBI in an interview summarized in today’s documents, he “had an ‘oh shit’ moment and ..deleted the Clinton archive mailbox from the PRN server and used BleachBit to delete the exported PST files he had created on the server system containing Clinton’s emails.”

Clinton told the FBI she had no role in sorting out which of her emails were work-related and therefore ought to be turned over to the state department. (The FBI investigation found an unknown number of work-related emails she failed to turn over.)

Clinton admits that one email unearthed by the FBI but not turned over to state, apparently describing a call about the Wikileaks dump with Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), looked easily identifiable as a work email:

Powell's advice: 'be very careful' – FBI summary

“Clinton indicated to the FBI that she understood Powell’s comments to mean any work-related communications would be government records, and she stated Powell’s comments did not factor into her decision to use a personal e-mail account.”

Still reading...

Clinton used eight mobile devices in succession as secretary of state and went through at least two afterward, according to the FBI documents:

Clinton has said she used a personal Blackberry because “one device would be simpler” – the FBI says she used the devices in succession.

FBI interview: 'Clinton could not recall'

The summary of Clinton’s interview with the FBI sure has a lot of “Clinton could not recall”:

“Clinton could not recall when she first received her security clearance... Clinton could not recall how often she used this [classification] authority... Clinton could not give an example of how classification of a document was determined... Clinton could not recall a specific process for nominating a target for a drone strike (!)...”

It goes on. (pdf)

Updated

Be advised that clicking these links will automatically download the pdfs:

FBI releases documents in Hillary Clinton email investigation

Sleepy Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend with a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf coast, how good could this be?

The FBI is releasing a summary of Clinton’s 2 July, 2016, interview with the FBI concerning allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal email server she used during her tenure.

“We also are releasing a factual summary of the FBI’s investigation into this matter,” the FBI says:

We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Appropriate redactions have been made for classified information or other material exempt from disclosure under FOIA. Additional information related to this investigation that the FBI releases in the future will be placed on The Vault, the FBI’s electronic FOIA library.

    Developing..

Recommended read: “The Revenge of Roger’s Angels: How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media” by Gabriel Sherman. From the story:

Taking on Ailes was dangerous, but Carlson was determined to fight back. She settled on a simple strategy: She would turn the tables on his surveillance. Beginning in 2014, according to a person familiar with the lawsuit, Carlson brought her iPhone to meetings in Ailes’s office and secretly recorded him saying the kinds of things he’d been saying to her all along. “I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago, and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better. Sometimes problems are easier to solve” that way, he said in one conversation. “I’m sure you can do sweet nothings when you want to,” he said another time.

Trump on TV host: 'crazy and very dumb'

Jill Stein, due in Columbus, flies to Cincinnati

Green party presidential nominee Jill Stein has an event scheduled today in Columbus, Ohio – but she is not there, because she mistakenly flew to Cincinnati, a city that also is in Ohio and starts with a C.

Coverage via the Columbus dispatch:

For a man who is running in large part on his business record and a promise to Make America Great Again, Donald Trump’s foray into Atlantic City – and his legacy at the Taj Mahal casino, now closing – tell a cautionary tale, writes the Guardian’s Rupert Neate:

“Trump made a lot of money off of it [the Taj and its bankruptcies],” McDevitt said. “He rifled through the Taj Mahal at the last bankruptcy in 2009, he basically took all the money and left.

“He basically sucked the life and the money and the fortune out of this property – it’s a dried-up husk and the workers are left to deal with it [as] he goes on his merry way and goes on to run for president.”

The Trump Taj Mahal is closing: did it make Atlantic City great?

Read the full piece here:

Madonna has attacked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s sons after they posed for a picture with a leopard they had killed during a hunting trip in Africa.

The pop icon wrote on Instagram that the picture, which showed Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump holding the dead cat’s body, was another reason to vote for the Democratic party. She wrote: “How big of [a] pussy do you have to be to kill this noble animal for sport? Just ask Donald Trump Jr and his brother Eric. One more reason to vote for Hillary!”

Is Hillary Clinton’s new book for young adults?

Clinton hits Trump for his trip to Mexico in a new video spot, titled Embarrassment, which claims Trump got “shut down” by Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and then lied about it:

The nonpartisan commission that organizes the presidential debates has drawn from a pool of deep experience in selecting hosts for this year’s three scheduled meetings between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

While none of the moderators named on Friday has hosted a general-election presidential debate before, all four moderated primary debates this year.

The Commission on Presidential Debates additionally named a moderator for this year’s single vice-presidential debate, CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano. She has never hosted a debate.

Moderating can be thankless work. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, criticized Candy Crowley of CNN after she spot-checked his claim on a debate stage in New York that Barack Obama had failed to refer to the 2012 Benghazi attacks as a “terror” attack. “She obviously thought it was her job to play a more active role in the debate than was agreed upon by the two candidates,” Romney later said.

More recently, Trump complained for months about Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who asked him during the first Republican primary debate last August about his views on women, quoting his own words back to him, which Trump claimed was unfair.

Who are the moderators?

Let’s not overlook the break-glass-in-case-of-emergency backup moderator for these debates, C-Span’s Steve Scully. In fact, let’s start with him. Scully is C-Span’s senior executive producer, White House, and political editor.

Scully, who has a reputation for being irreproachably evenhanded, was born in Pennsylvania, served on the board of White House Correspondents’ Association, and has worked for over three decades at C-Span.

He has been hailed by comedian John Oliver as the most patient man on television:

Here are the rest of this year’s moderators:

Lester Holt, anchor, NBC Nightly News – moderator of the first presidential debate, 26 September

Holt, a popular figure in his own newsroom and beyond, rose to the anchor chair of NBC’s flagship evening news program after former host Brian Williams was suspended last year for misrepresenting a story. Claims for Williams’ indispensability were undercut when the ratings climbed under Holt. He moderated a Democratic primary debate in January.

Martha Raddatz, chief global affairs correspondent and co-anchor of This Week, ABC News – moderator, with Anderson Cooper, of the second presidential debate on 9 October

Raddatz, a specialist in military affairs, has perhaps the most debate hosting experience of the bunch, having moderated the 2012 vice presidential debate and two 2016 primary debates, one for each party. Purveyors of conspiracy theories – ie Breitbart – complained in 2012 that Raddatz’s impartiality was subverted by the fact that Barack Obama had attended Raddatz’s wedding – 25 years ago, before Obama was an elected anything.

Conservative id-keeper Matt Drudge is keeping up that line this morning:

Anderson Cooper, anchor, CNN Sunday – moderator, with Martha Raddatz, of the second presidential debate on 9 October

More than the other moderators, Cooper’s star power transcends his work as a news host. He also had a syndicated talk show, Anderson Live, he did a voiceover on Broadway, he’s the author of a bestselling memoir and he has a vocal fan base. Cooper hosted two Democratic primary debates and one forum.

Chris Wallace, anchor, Fox News Sunday – moderator of the third presidential debate on 19 October

A decorated journalist currently parked at Fox News with three Emmys and the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award to his credit. A must-watch for Sunday show aficionados on Fox, and a former moderator of Meet the Press. His reputation for evenhandedness is perhaps bolstered by his former voter registration as a Democrat.

Elaine Quijano, anchor, CBSN and correspondent, CBS News – moderator of the vice-presidential debate on 4 October

A veteran of the White House, Pentagon and Supreme Court beats and a former CNN talent, Quijano anchors politics coverage on CBSN, the live-streaming digital version of CBS News. She grew up in a Chicago suburb, majored in engineering and “lucked into a broadcast journalism career,” she tells an interviewer in the Filipinas Magazine clip below:

Updated

Holt, Raddatz, Cooper, Wallace to moderate debates

The commission on presidential debates has announced the moderators for the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. Here they are:

First presidential debate:

Lester Holt, Anchor, NBC Nightly News Monday, September 26, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY

Vice presidential debate:

Elaine Quijano, Anchor, CBSN and Correspondent, CBS News Tuesday, October 4, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

Second presidential debate (town meeting):

Martha Raddatz, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and Co-Anchor of “This Week,” ABC Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNN Sunday, October 9, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Third presidential debate:

Chris Wallace, Anchor, Fox News Sunday Wednesday, October 19, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

The CPD also announced that Steve Scully, Senior Executive Producer, White House and Political Editor for C-SPAN Networks, will serve as backup moderator for all the debates.

Updated

Putin claims no preference in US election

Vladimir Putin has told Bloomberg that he is ready to work with any US president ready to work with him, and he has no preference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – he says this even after the interviewer, John Micklethwait, describes Trump’s “great affection... almost... homoerotic” for Putin.

Micklethwait asks Putin: “Are you really telling me that if you have a choice between a woman who you think might have been trying to get rid of you, and a man who seems to have this great affection for you, almost bordering on the homoerotic, you’re really going to go, you’re not going to make a decision between those two, because one of them would seem to be a lot more favorable towards you?”

“We are ready to work with any president,” Putin says. “If someone says that they want to work with Russia, we will welcome it.”

Friday, on the sidelines of the 2016 Eastern Economic Forum at Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island.
Friday, on the sidelines of the 2016 Eastern Economic Forum at Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island. Photograph: TASS / Barcroft Images

Earlier Putin gave a similar answer:

“I would like to work with the person who can make responsible decisions and implement any agreement that we reach. Their last name doesn’t matter.”

With the Clinton campaign producing videos asking why Trump sounds so much like Putin, an investigation under way of potential Russian hacking of Democratic party organizations and the senate minority leader asking the FBI to investigate whether Russia is trying to hack the US election – there’s a lot of Russia talk this cycle.

Putin acknowledges as much. “The thing is, I have repeatedly seen the anti-Russian card played during the nasty political campaign in the United States,
he says. “I think it’s a very short-sighted approach.”

Watch the interview here.

Updated

Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. Donald Trump is to receive a second national security briefing today in New York and later attend an event in Philadelphia. Hillary Clinton has no public events on her schedule.

Clinton plan to control drug prices

Hillary Clinton has rolled out a plan to control drug prices after a public outcry over soaring costs for EpiPens, the emergency medication to stem allergic reactions. AP has the details:

Clinton is rolling out a plan Friday designed to give the federal government more power to push back against what she calls “excessive unjustified costs” for medications that have long been on the market.

Clinton plans to create a drug-pricing oversight group that will monitor price increases. If this group of federal officials decides that an increase is excessive, it could take a number of enforcement actions, including making emergency purchases of an alternate version of the drug, allowing emergency imports of a similar product from other developed countries, and imposing penalties on the companies, such as fines.

Melania Trump sues Daily Mail

Lawyers for Melania Trump on Thursday filed suit for $150m damages against the Daily Mail in Maryland state court, writes the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs:

In a statement, Trump’s lawyer, Charles Harder, said: “These defendants made several statements about Mrs Trump that are 100% false and tremendously damaging to her personal and professional reputation [and] broadcast their lies to millions of people throughout the US and the world – without any justification.

“Their many lies include, among others, that Mrs Trump supposedly was an ‘escort’ in the 1990s before she met her husband. Defendants’ actions are so egregious, malicious and harmful to Mrs Trump that her damages are estimated at $150m.”

The Mail retracted its story in its Friday paper edition in the UK.

Biden silences heckler

‘So did my son’: Joe Biden responds to heckler’s shouts of ‘My friends died’

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Trump backer warns of ubiquitous taco trucks

The founder of Latinos for Trump was making a point on TV last night about the dominance of his culture (he said) and ended up warning: “If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucks on every corner.”

We’d be happy if they just brought Calexico back to Wooster Street. Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments.

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