Today in Campaign 2016
- The threat of criminal charges hanging over Hillary Clinton was finally lifted by the FBI this morning – just hours before the presumptive Democratic nominee for president was due to begin campaigning with Barack Obama for the first time this election cycle. At a press conference in Washington, FBI director James Comey announced the end of the year-long investigation into whether Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state warranted prosecution under laws designed to protect classified government data.
- Though highly critical of the “extremely careless” way in which emails were handled, Comey said the FBI would not be recommending that prosecutors seek charges in the case. “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes … our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” said Comey.
- For the curious, here’s Comey’s full statement.
- Clinton, for her part, flew above the fray, appearing with President Barack Obama at a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina. By the time their shared limousine, nicknamed “the beast”, reached the Charlotte Convention Center, the former secretary of state was basking in the kind of unabashed praise that would have been impossible for Obama to deliver while a possible indictment was still hanging over her.
- “My faith in Hillary Clinton has always been rewarded,” said the president in a speech that was part campaign endorsement, part character testimony. “I have had a front row seat to her judgement,” he added, without a hint of irony. Trump’s name produced a predictable response from the crowd of Clinton supporters, prompting the president to call: “Don’t boo – vote!”
- A Jewish employee of a newspaper owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, wrote an open letter to Kushner accusing him of “tacit approval” for a culture of antisemitic hatred surrounding Trump and challenging Kushner to do something to break it up. Dana Schwartz, an entertainment writer at the Observer, wrote “An Open Letter to Jared Kushner, From One of Your Jewish Employees” today. The Observer is a New York City-based paper that Kushner, the billionaire scion of a real estate family, bought in 2006.
- Schwartz wrote that she became a target of antisemitic hate speech after she took issue with a Trump tweet posted Saturday that included an image that House speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday called “antisemitic”. Schwartz challenges Kushner as a fellow Jewish member of the media to face what is happening in the barely concealed underbelly of his father-in-law’s campaign.
Video: Donald Trump praises Saddam Hussein
When told of Trump’s comments on Saddam Hussein, House speaker Paul Ryan told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that Hussein “was one of the 20th century’s most evil people.”
Updated
Iconic blonde bombshell and immortal gift to the American songbook Dolly Parton wrote what may be the most colorful refusal to endorse a presidential candidate on Facebook this afternoon, after inaccurate rumors that she had endorsed Hillary Clinton spread on social media.
Parton, known for penning some of the most indelible singles in the English language and being the most successful female country artist of all time, among other accomplishments, told the New York Times that “Hillary might make as good a president as anybody ever has,” which some construed as an endorsement.
Since it’s late on the East Coast, here Parton is singing “Jolene”:
Updated
After clearing the indictment hurdle, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has notched another political victory today: an increase in her double-digit lead over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
According to a poll released this evening from Reuters/Ipsos, Clinton has a 13-point lead over Trump, with 46% of likely voters telling pollsters that they support her candidacy, compared to a dismal 33% saying that they back Trump. A full 22% told pollsters that they would not support either candidate in November, instead not voting or pulling the lever for a third-party candidate.
Trump’s level of support among likely voters is roughly 10 points below what 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney received at the same point in the campaign four years ago.
The last time a prominent American praised Saddam Hussein on live television:
Live footage of the Trump rally tonight in Raleigh: https://t.co/IBNmadz7sZ
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 6, 2016
For those who missed it, the Guardian’s Dan Roberts reported live from Charlotte, North Carolina, where President Barack Obama appeared on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton for the first time.
Nothing makes for a quicker getaway after a narrow brush with the law than Air Force One.
Hillary Clinton spent Tuesday morning in Washington being chastised by an unexpectedly stern director of the FBI, but a few hours later she was flying free – cleared at least of the threat of criminal charges and heading to her first campaign rally alongside the commander-in-chief, with only political storms on the horizon.
Their arrival in North Carolina was not without its awkward moments. Add together the standard presidential motorcade and the already long convoy of a presidential candidate, and you reach a cumbersome 28-vehicle snake that nearly tied itself in a knot drivingon the way out of the airport.
But by the time their shared limousine, nicknamed “the beast”, reached the Charlotte Convention Center, the former secretary of state was basking in the kind of unabashed praise that would have been impossible for Obama to deliver whilea possible indictment was still hanging over her.
“My faith in Hillary Clinton has always been rewarded,” said the president in a speech that was part campaign endorsement, part character testimony. “I have had a front row seat to her judgement,” he added, without a hint of irony.
It was hard to tell whether the beaming Clinton was happier about the compliments or that Obama never once mentioned an email scandal that the FBI had found to be worse than almost anyone imagined.
Donald Trump finishes his rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, after declaring that he will make America great again.
Donald Trump, speaking in North Carolina, just praised deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as a killer of terrorists, noting that Hussein “didn’t read them the rights” before executing them.
“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy. Really bad guy,” Trump begins. “But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights, they didn’t talk. They were a terrorists - it was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism.”
Hussein was labelled a major sponsor of terrorism by the American government for decades, a status that was a major plank in the rationale to invade Iraq in 2003.
Updated
Donald Trump accuses Hillary Clinton of bribing attorney general
“It’s a bribe!” Donald Trump says, of statements Hillary Clinton has made in the past about possibly extending attorney general Loretta Lynch’s tenure into her administration.
“He knew that the FBI was going to do this, because it would’ve been very uncomfortable for him to campaign with her, actually, if they didn’t take a pass on Crooked Hillary,” Trump says of Barack Obama.
“We need somebody with a tough temperament,” Trump says, juxtaposing himself with the president. “Whether it’s on trade, whether it’s on military, whether it’s on the border, the last person these other countries want to see as president... is Donald J. Trump! The last person.”
After accusing Hillary Clinton of conducting “an Enron-style purge of her emails,” Trump declares that “that alone disqualifies her, and again, Bernie Sanders talked about bad, bad judgement, but he’s not happy tonight, folks, but you know what, I have a feeling that they’re gonna have a lot of people marching on Philadelphia.”
“I always knew, and I always see, and it’s so sad, that our system is, in fact, rigged,” Trump says.
“Stupidity is not a reason that you’re going to be innocent!” Trump tells the audience in Raleigh, North Carolina, of Hillary Clinton’s exoneration
“Today is the best evidence ever, that we’ve seen, that our system is absolutely, totally rigged. It’s rigged,” Trump says, before beginning a long jeremiad about the use of the term “rigged,” which he claims to have popularized.
The real loser today, Trump declares, is Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. “He lost the FBI primary!”
“People she emailed were hacked and probably - I think maybe definitely - were hacked by these hostile actors!” Trump says. “Our enemies have a blackmail file on Crooked Hillary, and this alone should mean that she does not run for president of the United States.”
“She lied!” Trump exclaims. “She sent vast amounts of classified information, including information classified as Top Secret!”
“Now you know it’s my hair because any hair that could survive that wind,” Trump says, of coming to North Carolina in the middle of a rainstorm. “It is my hair.”
Donald Trump, on his political movement:
This is a movement, folks - this is not like a normal situation.
“Whether its Isis, whether it’s trade, whether it’s borders, whether it’s jobs, it’s going to be four more years of the same thing. The last thing we need is another Clinton!” Trump announces.
“It’s like a carnival act,” Trump continues, speaking of Barack Obama’s appearance with Hillary Clinton earlier today. “Lotta fun. Moving around. I say, this is a president? We need a president who’s gonna bring us back. We need a president who’s gonna take care of the Africa American community! Remember that. Obama is all talk and no action.”
“We need a president that’s gonna turn our country around, and Barack Obama can not do it, and Hillary Clinton will be even worse,” Trump continues. “Why is she campaigning with the plane of the United States? Why is she campaigning? And why is he allowed to come down, get on that very, very, very expensive plane - you know, he talks about the carbon footprint. He wants to talk about the carbon footprint, but he gets on that very very old 747…”
“She was guilty! She was guilty!” Trump says of Hillary Clinton, who was functionally cleared of criminal activity in relation to her use of private email servers this morning by the Federal Bureau of Investigation “We have a rigged system, folks.”
Speaking of President Barack Obama, who campaigned with Clinton in North Carolina earlier today, Trump says that “He should be home working on Isis, where the threat is getting worse and worse, he should be working on trade, he should be working on the borders!”
Donald Trump invites Tennessee senator and rumored vice presidential contender Bob Corker to the stage in Raleigh, North Carolina, in a highly unorthodox introduction that will likely increase the chatter about his potential as a running mate.
“Pretty remarkable day,” Corker says. “It says a lot about a person to meet their family, to meet their kids... and to be around the people that have worked in the Trump Organization for 25 and 30 years. To see the respect they’ve had for their father and father-in-law.”
“It’s not who you know in life, it’s how you know ‘em, and I have the incredible privilege today to spend time with this man, to spend time with his family, to spend time with those who know him so well,” Corker says, before being interrupted by a “Trump!” chant.
“The reason you love him so much is because he loves you! He loves the best for you!”
Donald Trump takes stage at rally in Raleigh, North Carolina
Watch it live here:
Awaiting Donald Trump’s appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina:
RALEIGH, NC-- Overheard in crowd at the Trump rally, as adviser Stephen Miller talks Hillary.
— Candace Smith (@CandaceSmith_) July 5, 2016
"Hang that bitch!"
A few cheers let loose.
Jared Kushner, publisher of the New York Observer and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has released a statement in response to an employee’s open letter, published this morning, in which she asked how he could countenance what she described as Trump’s use of anti-Semitic imagery.
“My father-in-law is an incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife,” Kushner said in the statement. “I know that Donald does not at all subscribe to any racist or anti-semitic thinking. I have personally seen him embrace people of all racial and religious backgrounds. The suggestion that he may be intolerant is not reflective of the Donald Trump I know.”
Dana Schwartz, an entertainment writer at the Observer, wrote in “An Open Letter to Jared Kushner, From One of Your Jewish Employees” that she became a target of antisemitic hate speech after she took issue with a Trump tweet posted Saturday that included an image that House speaker Paul Ryan earlier today called “antisemitic.” Schwartz challenges Kushner as a fellow Jewish member of the media to face what is happening in the barely concealed underbelly of his father-in-law’s campaign.
“I’m asking you, not as a ‘gotcha’ journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: how do you allow this?” writes Schwartz:
Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this. [...] But when you stand silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law, you’re giving his most hateful supporters tacit approval. Because maybe Donald Trump isn’t anti-Semitic. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think he is. But I know many of his supporters are, and they believe for whatever reason that Trump is the candidate for them.
One after another, House Democrats took the floor this afternoon to pushRepublicans to allow votes on gun control legislation.
Some Democrats were conciliatory. Connecticut representative John Larson, who was scheduled to meet with speaker of the House Paul Ryan later in the day to talk about the gun control standoff, hailed Ryan as a “honest and forthright man” who is “not just speaker for the Republican conference” but “speaker of the entire house”. He said the Democrats “prevail on the good nature of the speaker” and the “decency” of Republicans to allow a vote on two Democrat-supported gun control bills.
Larson said that the House has not made any substantive votes on gun control legislation for more than three and a half years, since after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.
Others Democrats were less forgiving. Rhode Island congressman David Cicilline slammed the “tyranny of the majority” and Republicans’ “deliberate inaction in the face of 33,000 deaths caused by gun violence each year”.
“We just celebrated Independence Day,” Texas Democrat Lloyd Doggett said. “How about the Republicans declaring independence from the gun lobby, just once, in a very small, modest way?”
A Jewish employee of a newspaper owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has written an open letter to Kushner accusing him of “tacit approval” for a culture of antisemitic hatred surrounding Trump and challenging Kushner to do something to break it up.
Dana Schwartz, an entertainment writer at the Observer, wrote “An Open Letter to Jared Kushner, From One of Your Jewish Employees” on Tuesday. The Observer is a New York City-based paper that Kushner, the billionaire scion of a real estate family, bought in 2006.
Schwartz writes that she became a target of antisemitic hate speech after she took issue with a Trump tweet posted Saturday that included an image that House speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday called “antisemitic”. Schwartz challenges Kushner as a fellow Jewish member of the media to face what is happening in the barely concealed underbelly of his father-in-law’s campaign.
“I’m asking you, not as a ‘gotcha’ journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: how do you allow this?” writes Schwartz:
Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this. [...] But when you stand silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law, you’re giving his most hateful supporters tacit approval. Because maybe Donald Trump isn’t anti-Semitic. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think he is. But I know many of his supporters are, and they believe for whatever reason that Trump is the candidate for them.
The controversy sprouted when Trump tweeted an image of Clinton with a rain of cash behind her and the words “most corrupt candidate ever” appeared inside a six-pointed star. A short time later, the tweet was deleted and reposted with a circle replacing the star.
President Barack Obama, making good on his promise at Hillary Clinton’s campaign event, has stopped for some North Carolina barbecue.
Campaigning hungry work. @POTUS and @HillaryClinton stop for BBQ. He orders -- pork platters, brisket, and fries. pic.twitter.com/KqRSsN4roS
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) July 5, 2016
Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., is giving longer legs to the conversation about the Trump campaign’s social media connections to the alt-right and white nationalists:
.@DonaldJTrumpJr just liked a tweet by a fairly prominent alt-right twitter account pic.twitter.com/b9Qz83VP6r
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) July 5, 2016
Some of the user in question’s other tweets from today:
stop ackin like blacks be committing crimes at higher rates...dat be racist n sheeeit https://t.co/kKcHFEGlZ8
— Ricky Vaughn (@Ricky_Vaughn99) July 5, 2016
Yet another yenta journalist creates a slideshow of mean tweets sent her way https://t.co/8oWuZli50N
— Ricky Vaughn (@Ricky_Vaughn99) July 5, 2016
paul ryan, cuck extraordinaire
— Ricky Vaughn (@Ricky_Vaughn99) July 5, 2016
The former chair of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will reportedly plead guilty to a felony charge in relation to the “Bridgegate” scandal that has followed New Jersey governor Chris Christie since before his presidential run, according to the New York Observer.
Citing a former prosecutor with “intimate knowledge” of the scandal, the Observer reports that David Samson will be indicted and plead guilty to a one-count felony related to the so-called “Chairman’s Flight.” The flight in question, a direct United flight scheduled between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina, was alleged to have been created by the airline to curry favor with the influential chairman.
During Hillary Clinton’s appearance with President Barack Obama, eternal Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders sent out an email to his supporters urging them to sign a petition that would add a proposed amendment to the current draft of the Democratic party’s platform. The amendment: A permanent ban on putting the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership to a vote.
“We’re going to work hard for the Democratic Party to forcefully reject this job-killing trade deal, but we need your help to do so,” Sanders’ campaign writes.
The amendment, as written:
It is the policy of the Democratic Party that the Trans-Pacific Partnership must not get a vote in this Congress or in future sessions of Congress.
"Don't boo. Vote!" Obama tells Clinton supporters when Trump's name comes up. My guess is that won't be the last time he uses this line.
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 5, 2016
President Obama closes out his speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, by admitting that while be enjoyed the American fixation on the “new,” Hillary Clinton’s record indicates someone ready to replace him in the Oval Office.
“Hillary’s got her share of critics - that’s what happens when you’re somebody that’s actually in the arena. That’s what happens when you’ve fought for what you believe in,” Obama says. “She never stopped caring, she never stopped crying. We’re a young country, so we like new things, and I benefitted from that culture, let’s face it.”
“But sometimes we take somebody who’s been in the trenches and fought the good fight and been steady for granted,” Obama continues. “As a consequence, that means that sometimes Hillary doesn’t get the credit she deserves. But the fact is, Hillary is steady, and Hillary is true, and she’s been in politics for the same reason I have.”
“We weren’t born with a silver spoon. And we know that behind all the division and sometimes angry rhetoric of this election year… Americans are good, and they are generous, and they are hard-working, and they’ve got an awful lot of common sense.”
“I believe in you, the American people, more than ever,” Obama says. “I have run my last campaign and I couldn’t be prouder of the things we have done together, but I am ready to pass the baton, and I know that Hillary Clinton is going to take it!”
Meanwhile, everyone is trying to figure out what Sasha Obama’s Twitter handle is.
"Anyone can tweet. I mean... Sasha tweets." —@POTUS #ThanksObama
— Alex Wall (@AlexBWall) July 5, 2016
President Obama: 'The other side has nothing to offer you'
“You are going to have a very clear choice to make about two fundamentally different visions of where America should go,” Obama says.
“This is a choice between whether we are going to cling to some imaginary past, or whether we’re going to reach for the future,” Obama says. “This is about whether we have an America that works for everybody, or just a few people. And Hillary is not somebody who fears the future. She believes that it is ours to shape. The same way it’s always been. Hillary Understands that we make our own destiny as long as we’re together. As long as we thin k of ourselves not as a collection of individuals or a collection of different interests or a collection of different states, but as the United States.”
“If your concern is working people, then this is not a choice,” Obama continues. “If what you care is, who’s going to be fighting for ordinary folks who are fighting for a better life for themselves and their children, then I don’t know how you vote for the guy who’s against the minimum wage, against unions... and against all the things that working families care about.”
“If you’re voting for the other team, it’s not because of the economy - you’ve gotta be clear about that,” Obama continues. “Even the guys on the other side don’t know what he’s talking about! They really don’t! You ask them and they’re, like, ‘I dunno.’”
Barack Obama: 'There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton'
“Everybody’s got an opinion, but nobody actually knows the job until you’re sitting behind the desk,” Obama says, before an aside clearly directed at Donald Trump.. “Everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it takes to do the job until you’ve sat behind the desk.”
“I mean, Sasha tweets, but she doesn’t think that she thereby should be sitting behind the desk!”
“That’s the truth.”
“But I can tell you this: Hillary Clinton has been tested,” Obama continues. “She has seen, up close, what’s involved in making those decisions. She has participated in the meetings in which those decisions have been made. She’s seen the consequences of things working well, and things not working well. And there has never been any man - or woman - more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton. Ever.”
“And that’s the truth. That’s the truth.”
President Obama speaks at Hillary Clinton rally: 'I believe in Hillary Clinton'
President Barack Obama, after leading a “Hillary!” chant, asks the crowd if they are fired up and ready to go.
“I’m fired up!” Obama says. “Hillary got me fired up!”
“I’m here for a simple reason,” Obama continues. “I’m here today because I believe in Hillary Clinton, and I want you to help elect her to be the next president of the United States of America! That’s why I’m here.”
A loud “Hillary!” chant immediately erupts.
“We went up to New Hampshire after our primary in 2008,” Obama says. “We went to Unity, New Hampshire, just in case people missed the point… and we had gone through what was one of the longest toughest primaries in history - and primaries are always tough, because you’re arguing with your friends, instead of the people you disagree with.”
“As much as I had admired her, when we served together in the Senate, I came away from that primary admiring her even more,” Obama continues. “Just how smart she was and just how prepared she was, especially since I had to debate her a couple of dozen times. And let’s be clear - she beat me!”
“You don’t have to rub it in,” he says, turning around to face a laughing Clinton.
“She beat me at least the first half, and then I could barely play her to a draw. I always had to be on my game because she knew every fact - she knew every detail,” Obama says. “We may have gone toe to toe from coast to coast, but we stood shoulder-to-shoulder for the ideals we share.”
Hillary Clinton, introducing President Barack Obama, lauds his tenure, and compares him favorably to his would-be successor from the Republican party.
“I see a leader with heart, depth and humility. Somebody who in spite of the obstruction he’s faced still reaches for common ground and common purpose,” Clinton says, acknowledging that despite their fierce primary battle for the Democratic nomination in 2008, she was “proud to endorse him and campaign for him.”
“President Obama asked me to serve, and I accepted,” Clinton says of her time as secretary of state. “You know why? We both love our country. That is how democracy is supposed to work - we just celebrated 240 years of our indolence! We put coming interest ahead of self-interest.”
“This, my friends, is a president who knows how to keep us safe and strong.”
“Compare that to Donald Trump,” Clinton says, as the audience boos. “Can you imagine him sitting in the Oval Office the next time America faces a crisis? The world hangs on every word our president says, and Donald Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit to serve as commander-in-chief.”
After complimenting the president on his past electoral victories - “He knows a thing or two about winning elections - take it from me” - Clinton lauds President Obama’s tenure as president, and vows to continue his legacy.
“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for saving our economy,” Clinton says.
“We’ve added 14 million private-sector jobs, the auto industry just had its best year ever, 20 million people now have healthcare, clean energy production has soared! I could go on and on, but that is what real leadership looks like.”
And the next president, Clinton says, has one major goal: “Building on the progress that President Obama has made.”
Hillary Clinton, in a pink suit, introduces President Barack Obama - and pokes fun at her presumptive Republican opponent Donald Trump’s insistence that the president’s birthplace is not a matter of established record.
“I feel very privileged because I’ve known the president in many roles: as a colleague in the senate, as an opponent in a hard-fought primary and the president I was so proud to serve as secretary of state,” Clinton says.
“But I’ve also known him as the friend I was honored to stand with in the good times and the hard times - someone who has never forgotten where he came from,” Clinton continues. “And Donald, if you’re out there tweeting, it’s ‘Hawaii.’”
President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have taken the stage at a campaign event Charlotte, North Carolina, just a little more than an hour behind schedule.
After Clinton’s signature campaign song - “Fight Song,” by Rachel Platten - looped its chorus roughly a dozen times, the former secretary of state takes to the lectern as her supporters chant “Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!”
“Thank you so much!” Clinton shouts. “Hello Charlotte!”
President Barack Obama appears with Hillary Clinton
The live video stream of the Obama-Clinton appearance is feeding away. The Guardian’s Dan Roberts is also attending the event:
Updated
They seem happy enough:
If you are looking for a low ebb in the relationship between Clinton and Obama, I would offer this: https://t.co/UPT9kfZ9Lr
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) July 5, 2016
Updated
Following close on the heels of Obama and Clinton in North Carolina will be Donald Trump and Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the foreign relations committee chair said to be on Trump’s short list of potential running mates.
Looking forward to meeting with @SenBobCorker in a little while. We will be traveling to North Carolina together today.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2016
Here they are – in fast forward:
Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts is in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it is a balmy 95 degrees. Dan watches the secret service watch the president’s plane arrive:
Waiting for Air Force One to arrive with the current (and future??) president onboard together for the first time. pic.twitter.com/KtFEgfSAwc
— Dan Roberts (@RobertsDan) July 5, 2016
Politico is in Charlotte for the Obama-Clinton event. Full room:
The #scene pic.twitter.com/ZkQeB3uBWl
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) July 5, 2016
We’ll have a live video stream when the time comes.
With the conventions looming and both campaigns expected to announce vice presidential picks any day now, it seems about time to bid the primary season a fond farewell. Here’s a video tribute to the way we were:
Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who is running for reelection, tweets that the “rule of law has been turned upside down”:
The FBI then announced she would face no charges. This is an outrage and the rule of law has been turned upside down.
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 5, 2016
The appearance is terrible. The decision is astounding. Ppl have gone to jail for less severe classified breaches and national security.
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 5, 2016
RNC: 'they were never going to prosecute'
The Republican national committee questions the impartiality of the FBI in a statement replying to the likely justice department decision not to indict Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information.
“As the Obama administration has repeatedly shown throughout this process, they were never going to prosecute Clinton’s criminal behavior because they are counting on her to deliver their failed agenda a third term”, the statement says:
RNC says FBI investigation shows Clinton's 'complete lack of judgment, honesty, and preparedness' to be president pic.twitter.com/w7laMy5cy7
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 5, 2016
Comey first investigated the Clintons 20 years ago, points out Massimo Calabresi in Time magazine:
Some fascinating Comey/Clinton history here https://t.co/B8ooeY9WaM pic.twitter.com/gvjd7TsgQ8
— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) July 5, 2016
The Clinton campaign has released a new video – an Obama testimonial to Clinton’s steadiness and team spirit.
“She could not have been more diligent, more tireless, more loyal, more committed,” he says. He thinks she’d be “an outstanding president”:
In a new interview, @POTUS talks about why Hillary has everything it takes to be president.https://t.co/MRwg5h0LMq
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 5, 2016
Introducing Voices of America
At times when the presidential nominating contest failed to produce substantive debate on issues of concern to US voters, a chasm grew between what matters and what was actually discussed.
Our Voices of America project attempts to fill some of that gap. More than 1,500 American voters have given us insight into the issues they care about most. Now we’re presenting those issues to our readers.
First, reporters covering primary season contests in the snows of February and the sunshine of June interviewed dozens of voters in person – from Trump supporters to Bernie backers. You can see them and read their views on our site:
Climate change: the missing issue of the 2016 campaign https://t.co/lP2H0u3ZtN @GuardianUS begins Voices of America, what matters to voters
— Maria La Ganga (@marialaganga) July 5, 2016
Then we asked visitors to Guardian US to tells us about the single most important issue to them. This part of the exercise was not scientific; it provides a vivid range of opinions, from 1,385 people across all 50 states, but it is not weighted like an opinion poll to mirror the demographics of the US.
With that in mind, we arranged a series of six discussion groups: in swing states Colorado, Florida, Ohio and Virginia; in red state Texas; and in blue state New York. We spoke with white male Republicans in Cleveland, Latinos in Orlando, black students in Virginia, older women in Dallas, millennials in Albany, and working mothers across Colorado, hoping to hear the authentic voices of groups who will help decide the November elections.
This week our reporting takes us to California, Florida, North Carolina and Washington DC, in pursuit of some of the issues raised by voters: the impact of climate change, big money in politics, chronic homelessness, and the squeezing of the middle class.
Where do we go from here?
We want to continue to hear from you, our readers, to be guided by your concerns and to illuminate what really matters. We’ll be inviting you every week to add your voice on the big questions before the US decides on election day.
Clinton’s busy morning in pictures:
Walker to address convention – report
Ladies and germs, it looks like we have a taker: Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, unlike a roll call of other prominent Republicans, has agreed to speak at the Republican national convention in Cleveland in a couple weeks, according to a report by Wisconsin local WKOW:
Walker confirmed news of the speaking engagement to 27 News at an event in Platteville Tuesday morning.
Walker has been an unvarnished critic of Trump. His withdrawal speech from the presidential campaign was a call for other candidates to follow suit so one of them could beat Trump.
Chris Christie: on vacation
With Donald Trump expected to announce the identity of his running mate next week, New Jersey governor Chris Christie is vacationing in Italy, the Washington Post reports:
Per sources, Christie on vacation w/ wife in Italy. So no sched. mtgs or events w/ Trump. Their aides in contact. Christie back later in wk
— Robert Costa (@costareports) July 5, 2016
Will he drop by Alfonso Costa’s place?
Updated
For the occasion of Comey’s announcement of a recommendation of no charges against Hillary Clinton, Texas senator Ted Cruz has gone to the vault and re-upped this campaign ad, playing on a famous Office Space scene, from February:
It feels good to be a Clinton —> https://t.co/fwTCBWhhNq
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 5, 2016
Clinton and aide Huma Abedin are getting comfortable aboard Air Force One in advance of their flight to North Carolina with the president, Time’s Zeke Miller reports:
.@HillaryClinton just boarded Air Force one with @johnpodesta @HumaAbedin. Boarded before press.
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 5, 2016
Clinton camp: 'this matter is now resolved'
Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon has released a statement on the FBI recommendation of no criminal charges against the former secretary of state:
We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the Department is appropriate. As the Secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she would not do it again. We are glad that this matter is now resolved.
That last line echoes Clinton’s statement on the congressional committee report last week on the Benghazi affair. “I’ll leave it to others to characterize this report, but I think it’s pretty clear it’s time to move on,” she said.
Ryan: FBI 'announcement defies explanation'
House speaker Paul Ryan says the FBI “announcement defies explanation” and “it appears damage is being done to the rule of law”.
“Declining to prosecute secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent”, Ryan says:
While I respect the professionals at the FBI, this announcement defies explanation. No one should be above the law. pic.twitter.com/OqctxglquI
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) July 5, 2016
Priebus: Clinton guilty of 'gross negligence'
RNC chairman Reince Priebus has tweeted his reaction to the Comey statement, noting that Comey described the threshold for criminal charges as “gross negligence,” then said Clinton had been “extremely careless”, then said Clinton’s conduct had not met the threshold for criminal charges.
What’s the difference between gross negligence and extremely careless, Priebus would like to know?
Gross Negligence = blatant indifference to one's legal duty. Comey defined @HillaryClinton 's actions as gross negligence in that presser.
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) July 5, 2016
Here’s video of Comey delivering key passages of his statement:
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. [...]
None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Government—or even with a commercial service like Gmail.
Separately, it is important to say something about the marking of classified information. Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked “classified” in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.
While not the focus of our investigation, we also developed evidence that the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified e-mail systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.
With respect to potential computer intrusion by hostile actors, we did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence. We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account. We also assess that Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent. She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account. [...]
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. [...]
In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here. [...]
As a result, although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.
Ryan: Trump's image 'anti-Semitic'
House speaker Paul Ryan has acknowledged that a graphic Donald Trump sent from his Twitter account Saturday was “anti-Semitic” and he calls on the Trump campaign “to fix that” – “the point is I think he has to clean this up”.
FLAG: Paul Ryan calls Trump's tweet "anti-Semitic" to @SykesCharlie: https://t.co/lkt2ZVNRNc pic.twitter.com/sqotaTiF7a
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 5, 2016
Comey acknowledges 'administrative sanctions' may be typical in other cases
Many commentators have zeroed in on a strange twist in Comey’s statement, when he admitted that “in similar circumstances”, “this actvity” would prompt “security or administrative sanctions”, “but that is not what we are deciding now”.
Comey did not say that “in similar circumstances” “this activity” would have prompted criminal charges. In fact, he said that “we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts” (full Comey statement here):
In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.
To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.
Comey does not go on to explain. His next paragraph:
As a result, although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.
One year ago: Clinton 'confident' email material not classified
Here’s a throwback to July 2015, when Clinton told reporters that she was “confident that I never sent or received any information that was classified” at the time:
Today Comey said the FBI investigation found that “110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received,” and “Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent.”
If you believe Comey's findings, it means Clinton publicly lied on key points on multiple occasions. But whatever. https://t.co/SkGmZMYQVw
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 5, 2016
Sanders’ official Twitter account is not apparently interested in the FBI’s assessment of Clinton’s “extremely careless” handling of top-secret information:
It is clear that we need to fundamentally reject our “free trade” policies and move to fair trade. https://t.co/WxKxmnKxgj #StopTPPNow
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 5, 2016
Updated
Kaine on Comey: 'I'm not surprised'
Virginia senator Tim Kaine, who’s thought to be on Clinton’s shortlist of potential running mates, says that he is “not surprised” by Comey’s decision not to recommend charges against Clinton. “I never believed this was going to be something in the criminal realm or even close to it,” Kaine tells CNN:
Full @timkaine reaction to FBI not recommending charges against Hillary Clinton: pic.twitter.com/8s505Jnbla
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) July 5, 2016
Comey: 'hostile actors gained access'
Comey’s statement made it sound likely that foreign hostile actors got a peek at at least some some of the top-secret material in the eight email chains that passed through Clinton’s unsecured private account:
this is pretty damning however pic.twitter.com/Ea9v6fmQo4
— Tim Dickinson (@7im) July 5, 2016
Some strong opinions on the right:
Trump is the only Republican who could possibly lose to this crook and the GOP is about to nominate him.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 5, 2016
Updated
As Comey was speaking at the FBI headquarters in Washington, across the city Clinton was making his first speech since she was interviewed as part of the investigation, writes Guardian Washington correspondent David Smith:
Smiling with arms aloft, the candidate entered a National Education Association (NEA) conference to a thunderous greeting from 7,500 delegates, many of whom cheered and clubbed blue plastic batons together. “We are hearing those thunder sticks all across Washington!” Clinton said. “The NEA is in town and people should pay attention.”
Clinton, wearing a pink jacket and dark trousers, gave an assured performance at the cavernous Walter E Washington Convention Center with no hint of the drama unfolding elsewhere. “I want to say right from the outset that I’m with you,” she told delegates, who chanted: “Hillary! Hillary!”
She ended her half-hour speech with an attack on her Republican rival, saying: “Donald Trump has a very different idea about all this. For starters, he wants to ‘largely eliminate’ the Department of Education, but maybe he’ll ‘leave some tentacles’ out there, whatever that means.
“He’s even said that America spends too much on education, and this is coming from someone who wants to give millionaires a $3tn tax cut over the next decade... If you want to know how Donald Trump approaches education, look at his so-called Trump University.”
She also warned of a “Trump effect”, noting that “bullying and harrassment is on the rise in our schools”. Clinton was warmly cheered as she left the stage to the strains of her campaign theme, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten.
Sanders: FBI decision will not affect mine
A Bernie Sanders spokesperson tells ABC News that Sanders’ decision to stay in the race will not be affected by Comey’s announcement of a recommendation of no charges against Clinton.
Sanders spokesperson says FBI announcement re Clinton emails will not impact the senator's decision to stay in the race
— MaryAlice Parks (@maryaliceparks) July 5, 2016
Spox added that @BernieSanders did indeed watch FBI Director Comey's televised statement today from Burlington. https://t.co/ZhRaXA0nZN
— Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) July 5, 2016
So what was that decision again?
@jacobperry He's ready if need be pic.twitter.com/0J4JQ8UlLF
— NICKinNOVA (@NICKinNOVA) July 5, 2016
Updated
Trump on Comey: the system is rigged
Donald Trump has tweeted a reaction to Comey’s statement:
The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2016
In April 2015, General David Petraeus was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $100,000 for mishandling classified information.
FBI director said Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. No charges. Wow! #RiggedSystem
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 5, 2016
Updated
Here’s some further reaction to the Comey statement:
Imagine this announcement from the FBI landing in a race where Republicans nominated someone other than Donald Trump
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) July 5, 2016
Here's the key quote from Comey explaining no-charges recommendation:https://t.co/kGJGtVCzoi pic.twitter.com/lZsdZQBP5U
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 5, 2016
Based on the facts Comey lay out, any other person would be indicted in a heartbeat.
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) July 5, 2016
Make no mistake.
There are two sets of laws in America.
Two sides of Hillary reaction on here:
— Willie Geist (@WillieGeist) July 5, 2016
1. "Case closed. Let's move on."
2. "Laundry list of violations, but no charges? Fix is in."
.@FBI Director: "Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." #ClintonEmailhttps://t.co/2vvzQJks0g
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 5, 2016
Clinton, meanwhile, has taken the stage at the national education association rally:
Updated
Reactions to Comey
Here’s a quick roundup of a first tranche of reactions to the Comey statement:
Well I suspect Comey's comments will put the matter entirely to rest and everyone on all sides will now be satisfied.
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) July 5, 2016
A news cycle in which a long and damaging investigation of a grievous Clinton mistake came to nothing. Now I’ve seen everything!
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) July 5, 2016
Well that's the end of the email story.
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) July 5, 2016
Question is: Can Trump effectively prosecute (as it were) case vs Hillary, sustain a few news cycles in which story is about her not him.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 5, 2016
Should make for an interesting Air Force One ride between Obama and Clinton later today.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) July 5, 2016
(Maybe Comey could have picked a day when Clinton and Obama weren't campaigning together for the first time?)
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) July 5, 2016
Who was watching this more intently, Republicans or Bernie Sanders? Close call.
— David Kochel (@ddkochel) July 5, 2016
If your Presidential election plan included any scenario where HRC was indicted, you weren't paying attention.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 5, 2016
This Comey presser will be used in campaign ads against Clinton for the rest of the year.
— Shawna Thomas (@ShawnaNBCNews) July 5, 2016
If Trump were to run ads, that is. https://t.co/OyNUDprAdP
— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) July 5, 2016
Clinton 2016: careless but not criminal
— Conn Carroll (@conncarroll) July 5, 2016
Once again, the Clintons play by their own rules & get away with it without consequence
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) July 5, 2016
Comey announces Clinton will receive a four-year sentence of house arrest, close government monitoring. pic.twitter.com/VageBgEudS
— David Freddoso (@freddoso) July 5, 2016
Updated
How damaging was that for Clinton? The FBI just made a liar of her when she said that she never handled any information on her personal email that was “classified at the time”. Comey’s characterization of Clinton as “extremely careless” in handling top-secret information raises serious questions about her judgment.
Yet it does not appear as if criminal charges are in the offing.
But how damaging was that?
Full text of Comey statement
The full text is here. It’s 2,317 words long:
Good morning. I’m here to give you an update on the FBI’s investigation of Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail system during her time as Secretary of State.
After a tremendous amount of work over the last year, the FBI is completing its investigation and referring the case to the Department of Justice for a prosecutive decision. What I would like to do today is tell you three things: what we did; what we found; and what we are recommending to the Department of Justice.
This will be an unusual statement in at least a couple ways. First, I am going to include more detail about our process than I ordinarily would, because I think the American people deserve those details in a case of intense public interest. Second, I have not coordinated or reviewed this statement in any way with the Department of Justice or any other part of the government. They do not know what I am about to say.
I want to start by thanking the FBI employees who did remarkable work in this case. Once you have a better sense of how much we have done, you will understand why I am so grateful and proud of their efforts.
So, first, what we have done:
The investigation began as a referral from the Intelligence Community Inspector General in connection with Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail server during her time as Secretary of State. The referral focused on whether classified information was transmitted on that personal system.
Our investigation looked at whether there is evidence classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on that personal system, in violation of a federal statute making it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way, or a second statute making it a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information from appropriate systems or storage facilities.
Consistent with our counterintelligence responsibilities, we have also investigated to determine whether there is evidence of computer intrusion in connection with the personal e-mail server by any foreign power, or other hostile actors.
I have so far used the singular term, “e-mail server,” in describing the referral that began our investigation. It turns out to have been more complicated than that. Secretary Clinton used several different servers and administrators of those servers during her four years at the State Department, and used numerous mobile devices to view and send e-mail on that personal domain. As new servers and equipment were employed, older servers were taken out of service, stored, and decommissioned in various ways. Piecing all of that back together—to gain as full an understanding as possible of the ways in which personal e-mail was used for government work—has been a painstaking undertaking, requiring thousands of hours of effort.
For example, when one of Secretary Clinton’s original personal servers was decommissioned in 2013, the e-mail software was removed. Doing that didn’t remove the e-mail content, but it was like removing the frame from a huge finished jigsaw puzzle and dumping the pieces on the floor. The effect was that millions of e-mail fragments end up unsorted in the server’s unused—or “slack”—space. We searched through all of it to see what was there, and what parts of the puzzle could be put back together.
FBI investigators have also read all of the approximately 30,000 e-mails provided by Secretary Clinton to the State Department in December 2014. Where an e-mail was assessed as possibly containing classified information, the FBI referred the e-mail to any U.S. government agency that was a likely “owner” of information in the e-mail, so that agency could make a determination as to whether the e-mail contained classified information at the time it was sent or received, or whether there was reason to classify the e-mail now, even if its content was not classified at the time it was sent (that is the process sometimes referred to as “up-classifying”).
From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Eight of those chains contained information that was Top Secret at the time they were sent; 36 chains contained Secret information at the time; and eight contained Confidential information, which is the lowest level of classification. Separate from those, about 2,000 additional e-mails were “up-classified” to make them Confidential; the information in those had not been classified at the time the e-mails were sent.
The FBI also discovered several thousand work-related e-mails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton to State in 2014. We found those additional e-mails in a variety of ways. Some had been deleted over the years and we found traces of them on devices that supported or were connected to the private e-mail domain. Others we found by reviewing the archived government e-mail accounts of people who had been government employees at the same time as Secretary Clinton, including high-ranking officials at other agencies, people with whom a Secretary of State might naturally correspond.
This helped us recover work-related e-mails that were not among the 30,000 produced to State. Still others we recovered from the laborious review of the millions of e-mail fragments dumped into the slack space of the server decommissioned in 2013.
With respect to the thousands of e-mails we found that were not among those produced to State, agencies have concluded that three of those were classified at the time they were sent or received, one at the Secret level and two at the Confidential level. There were no additional Top Secret e-mails found. Finally, none of those we found have since been “up-classified.”
I should add here that we found no evidence that any of the additional work-related e-mails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them. Our assessment is that, like many e-mail users, Secretary Clinton periodically deleted e-mails or e-mails were purged from the system when devices were changed. Because she was not using a government account—or even a commercial account like Gmail—there was no archiving at all of her e-mails, so it is not surprising that we discovered e-mails that were not on Secretary Clinton’s system in 2014, when she produced the 30,000 e-mails to the State Department.
It could also be that some of the additional work-related e-mails we recovered were among those deleted as “personal” by Secretary Clinton’s lawyers when they reviewed and sorted her e-mails for production in 2014.
The lawyers doing the sorting for Secretary Clinton in 2014 did not individually read the content of all of her e-mails, as we did for those available to us; instead, they relied on header information and used search terms to try to find all work-related e-mails among the reportedly more than 60,000 total e-mails remaining on Secretary Clinton’s personal system in 2014. It is highly likely their search terms missed some work-related e-mails, and that we later found them, for example, in the mailboxes of other officials or in the slack space of a server.
It is also likely that there are other work-related e-mails that they did not produce to State and that we did not find elsewhere, and that are now gone because they deleted all e-mails they did not return to State, and the lawyers cleaned their devices in such a way as to preclude complete forensic recovery.
We have conducted interviews and done technical examination to attempt to understand how that sorting was done by her attorneys. Although we do not have complete visibility because we are not able to fully reconstruct the electronic record of that sorting, we believe our investigation has been sufficient to give us reasonable confidence there was no intentional misconduct in connection with that sorting effort.
And, of course, in addition to our technical work, we interviewed many people, from those involved in setting up and maintaining the various iterations of Secretary Clinton’s personal server, to staff members with whom she corresponded on e-mail, to those involved in the e-mail production to State, and finally, Secretary Clinton herself.
Last, we have done extensive work to understand what indications there might be of compromise by hostile actors in connection with the personal e-mail operation.
That’s what we have done. Now let me tell you what we found:
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 e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. These chains involved Secretary Clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails from others about the same matters. There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. In addition to this highly sensitive information, we also found information that was properly classified as Secret by the U.S. Intelligence Community at the time it was discussed on e-mail (that is, excluding the later “up-classified” e-mails).
None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Government—or even with a commercial service like Gmail.
Separately, it is important to say something about the marking of classified information. Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked “classified” in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.
While not the focus of our investigation, we also developed evidence that the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified e-mail systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.
With respect to potential computer intrusion by hostile actors, we did not find direct evidence that Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail domain, in its various configurations since 2009, was successfully hacked. But, given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved, we assess that we would be unlikely to see such direct evidence. We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial e-mail accounts of people with whom Secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account. We also assess that Secretary Clinton’s use of a personal e-mail domain was both known by a large number of people and readily apparent. She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal e-mail account.
So that’s what we found. Finally, with respect to our recommendation to the Department of Justice:
In our system, the prosecutors make the decisions about whether charges are appropriate based on evidence the FBI has helped collect. Although we don’t normally make public our recommendations to the prosecutors, we frequently make recommendations and engage in productive conversations with prosecutors about what resolution may be appropriate, given the evidence. In this case, given the importance of the matter, I think unusual transparency is in order.
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. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before bringing charges. There are obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent. Responsible decisions also consider the context of a person’s actions, and how similar situations have been handled in the past.
In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.
To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.
As a result, although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.
I know there will be intense public debate in the wake of this recommendation, as there was throughout this investigation. What I can assure the American people is that this investigation was done competently, honestly, and independently. No outside influence of any kind was brought to bear.
I know there were many opinions expressed by people who were not part of the investigation—including people in government—but none of that mattered to us. Opinions are irrelevant, and they were all uninformed by insight into our investigation, because we did the investigation the right way. Only facts matter, and the FBI found them here in an entirely apolitical and professional way. I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this organization.
Comey: 'no charges appropriate'
Comey says the FBI looked at the effort by Clinton’s lawyers to sort her emails. He has “reasonable confidence there was no intentional misconduct in connection with that sorting effort.”
“Although we did not find clear evidence that secretary Clinton” or her aides willfully broke a law, “there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of classified information”.
Seven of the eight chains that included top-secret information included emails sent by and received by secretary Clinton, he says. “Extremely careless,” he called it.
“Any reasonable person in secretary Clinton’s position” “should have known” the information was sensitive, Comey says, and should have acted differently.
“None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified system.” But the servers were “not even supported by any kind of full-time security staff,” like commercially available email would be.
Comey says the security culture at the state department was weak in general.
They did not find evidence that Clinton’s email was hacked directly, but “we do assess that hostile actors did gain access to private personal email accounts” that corresponded with Clinton’s account.
She used her personal email extensively while outside the United States, including in countries with sophisticated hacking capabilites, he said.
“It is possible that hostile actors gained access to secretary Clinton’s personal email account.”
The prosecutors make decisions about whether charges are appropriate, Comey notes.
Comey says that on the question of willful mishandling of classified information, “Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Comey says.
“In looking back at our investigations...we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts,” he says.
There was no evidence of “clearly intentional or willful mishandling of classified information,” he says.
“We do not see those things here.”
“We are expressing to justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.”
“Only facts matter, and the FBI found them here in an entirely apolitical and professional way.”
Updated
Comey describes an effort to recover work-related emails not accounted for in the 30,000 provided to the state department.
“Three of those were classified at the time they were sent or received.” One secret, two confidential.”
“We found no evidence that any of the additional work-related deleted in an effort to conceal” their presence, Comey said.
“There was no archiving at all of her emails, so it’s not surprising that we found emails that were not on her system... when she produced emails for the state department.”
Comey says that lawyers sorting out personal email from business email before the business email was turned over to the state department had a “highly likely” chance of missing emails that in fact were business email.
Comey: Eight Clinton email chains had 'top-secret information'
Hard to imagine worse news for Clinton.
Comey says that Clinton used successive servers. He describes a “painstaking” effort of thousands of hours to go back through and linking each decommissioned email server to the next as Clinton switched servers.
Thousands of email fragments ended up in each server’s unused or slack space, Comey says.
The prosecutors read all 30,000 emails provided by Clinton, he says. He says that each email was referred to the appropriate agency for a determination about whether the email contained classified information.
110 emails in 52 email chains were determined to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received, Comey says.
Eight of those chains had top-secret information. 36 had secret information, and eight contained confidential information.
Updated
Comey: Clinton used multiple servers
Comey says the justice department does not know what he’s about to say.
He says he’ll describe what was done.
The investigation began as a referral from the inspector general. Was classified information transmitted on Clinton’s personal email system? Was the focus of the probe.
It’s a federal felony to mishandle classified information intentionally. It’s a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information.
The FBI also investigated whether there was a hack.
But there was more than one server involved. She “used several different servers and administrators of those servers.”
FBI refers Clinton inquiry for prosecutive decision
Comey says the FBI has completed its investigation of Clinton’s use of a personal email system and is “referring the matter to the department of justice for a prosecutive decision.”
He says he wants to describe what was done, found and recommended.
FBI director Comey addresses media
The video feed is now live:
T minus five minutes until the Comey presser scheduled start and nary a leak. A really rare Washington phenomenon.
— Byron Tau (@ByronTau) July 5, 2016
Updated
Clinton’s appearance at the national education association gathering appears to have been delayed.
FBI director Comey, meanwhile, is scheduled to appear before cameras in just 10 minutes.
To discuss what?
What if James Comey just wanted to tell everyone that he had a great Fourth of July weekend y'all
— Gary He (@garyhe) July 5, 2016
FBI may clear Clinton of crimes. Can't forgive subversion of FOIA, legislative oversight & historical record -- nor deceptive explanations
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) July 5, 2016
Hillary Clinton is due soon to address a gathering of the national education association in Washington, DC. Here’s a live video stream:
Tom Brady to sit out convention
Mike Ditka, Mike Tyson – now Tom Brady – are any of the boldface names floated by the Trump campaign as potential razzle-dazzle speakers at the national convention actually going to attend? Bobby Knight, the former Indiana basketball coach, appears still to be on board.
But the Patriots quarterback can’t make it after all, ESPN reports:
Despite speculation to contrary, Pats QB Tom Brady will not be attending Republican National Convention in Cleveland this month, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 5, 2016
Presumably Trump and Brady remain friends.
Congratulations to Tom Brady on yet another great victory- Tom is my friend and a total winner!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2015
FBI director to address media
FBI director James Comey will make a statement at 11am ET, the justice department has announced.
The FBI interviewed Hillary Clinton Saturday as part of its investigation into her email practices while secretary of state.
Of Clinton’s many potential vulnerabilities as a presidential candidate, none seems more threatening than a prospective criminal indictment, conceivably over the mishandling of classified information, which she has always denied.
It’s possible that Comey’s statement will not pertain to Clinton at all.
Could this be it? FBI director Comey to make statement at 11 am today...
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) July 5, 2016
Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House. After a (nearly) four-year hiatus, Barack Obama returns to the presidential campaign trail on Tuesday, for a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on behalf of and alongside Hillary Clinton. The pair is scheduled to fly together aboard Air Force One from Washington this afternoon.
Donald Trump is crying foul over the president’s use of the presidential plane.
Why is President Obama allowed to use Air Force One on the campaign trail with Crooked Hillary? She is flying with him tomorrow. Who pays?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2016
Good question, and here’s the congressional research service with the answer (h/t @ktumulty):
When a trip is for political or unofficial purposes, those involved must pay for their own food and lodging and other related expenses, and they must also reimburse the government with the equivalent of the airfare that they would have paid had they used a commercial airline.
While Trump is raising questions this morning about decades-old regulations governing presidential travel, his director of social media, Dan Scavino Jr, is defending himself against charges of antisemitism:
For the MSM to suggest that I am antisemite is AWFUL. I proudly celebrate holidays w/ my wife's amazing Jewish family for the past 16 years.
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) July 5, 2016
Scavino claimed responsibility Monday for a graphic tweeted from Trump’s account that showed Clinton’s head, a pile of $100 bills and a Star of David. The image in Trump’s original tweet was traced by the news site Mic to a white supremacist message board. Trump’s tweet was deleted on Saturday and replaced by a similar image featuring a circle rather than a star.
Trump changed his Star of David to a circle. I took a screenshot of the original. pic.twitter.com/TkBxTaAORc
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 2, 2016
Trump got his Fourth of July started by saying that the star in question was a “sheriff’s star, or plain star”:
Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2016
In a statement later Monday, Scavino explained that he had “lifted” the image “from an anti-Hillary Twitter user”:
The social media graphic used this weekend was not created by the campaign nor was it sourced from an anti-Semitic site. It was lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user where countless images appear.
The sheriff’s badge – which is available under Microsoft’s “shapes” – fit with the theme of corrupt Hillary and that is why I selected it.
As the Social Media Director for the campaign, I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image.
But Scavino did not stop with his statement. In an angry defense of his work as Trump social media director, Scavino bragged about having run the online strategy that won the Republican primaries. His tweet, since deleted, was captured by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski:
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) July 5, 2016
That tweet caught the attention of Stuart Stevens, a top strategist for Mitt Romney in 2012. The Trump and Romney camps have never gotten along. Scavino’s exchange with Stevens, in which Scavino ended up slamming the entire Romney operation, is not likely to help matters:
Welcome to NFL. Talk of college glory never goes far. https://t.co/WZYdbSRNW2
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) July 5, 2016
Thanks Mr. Stevens! Hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to be as successful as you...and Mr. Romney. https://t.co/vCOBclpbR8
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) July 5, 2016
FiveThirtyEight’s Harry Enten jumped in to note:
At this point in 2012, Romney was down 1 and at 45%. At this point, Trump is down 6 and under 40%. https://t.co/rSKMIqqHxL
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 5, 2016
A brief history of previous Scavino fuck ups. This: https://t.co/TJ0JHH7O2u pic.twitter.com/U4Tg4YOsTc
— andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) July 5, 2016
Trump's campaign team has turned what should have been a two-hour social media kerfuffle into a three-day shit show. Just a tremendous team.
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) July 5, 2016
Read further:
Trump will also be in North Carolina today. Tennessee senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the foreign relations committee, will campaign with him in Raleigh this evening. Trump was expected to announce his selection for vice president prior to the national convention, which starts 18 July. He met Monday with Iowa senator Joni Ernst and on Friday with Indiana governor Mike Spence, and he tweeted praise of Arkansas senator Tom Cotton.
Two new polls Monday have Clinton up only five points on Trump nationally. (Polling averages have her up by 4.6 points and by six points.) A USA Today/Suffolk University poll has Clinton ahead of Trump 45.6-40.4. The latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey tracking poll had Clinton up 48-43 – but showed Ohio governor John Kasich leading Clinton by eight in a hypothetical matchup in which Trump dropped out and Kasich slid in.
Obama sang Happy Birthday to his daughter Malia at the weekend:
President Obama sings 'Happy Birthday' to Malia https://t.co/prZBWME2ls
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) July 5, 2016
Thank you for reading and please join us in the comments.
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