New York : The F.B.I. interviewed Democratic Party’s presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as part of its investigation into whether she or her aides broke the law by corresponding through a private e-mail server set up for her use as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
The voluntary interview, which lasted for three and a half hours at the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington, largely focused on the Justice Department’s central question: Did the actions of Mrs. Clinton or her staff rise to the level of criminal mishandling of classified information?
It could take weeks or longer to reach a decision, but news that Clinton had been questioned quickly reverberated as the Republican National Committee called the step ‘unprecedented,’ reports the New York Post.
Her opponent in the presidential race, Donald J. Trump, tweeted ” It is impossible for the FBI not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, What she did was wrong!”
After the interview with the F.B.I., Clinton said: “I’ve been eager to do it, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department in bringing its review to a conclusion.”
Clinton has struggled with the allegations of mishandling ‘classified’ information.
The issue came to light last year during a Republican-led congressional investigation into the aftermath of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. More than 30,000 e-mails have been made public since then.
Federal law deems it a crime to “knowingly” mishandle classified information outside secure government channels or to permit the practice through “gross negligence.”
None of the e-mails on Clinton’s private server were marked classified at the time they were sent or received, but the Central Intelligence Agency later determined that some contained material that would be considered “top secret.” (ANI)