Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was questioned by the FBI for over three hours Saturday over her use of a private email server for official correspondence while secretary of state. The meeting — characterized as “voluntary” because there was no subpoena — lasted about three and a half hours according to reports, and was conducted at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Via Fox News:
Clinton “is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion” campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. He also said Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will not make further comment about the interview.
Clinton’s use of the private server and email address — particularly whether the setup was used for classified information and how secure they were — has cast a shadow over her campaign from the start.
The FBI investigation is purportedly coming to a close, and the Clinton interview is considered among the final steps in the case.
The Clinton campaign has long characterized the FBI investigation as a “security review” or “security inquiry” in order to downplay the severity of the probe. In what PJ Media’s J. Christian Adams interpreted as a very bad sign, Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently used the same language, calling it a “security inquiry.” But FBI Director James Comey said he wasn’t familiar with such language, saying in May, “we’re conducting an investigation.… That’s what we do.”
“She is the main subject — we believe with good reason — of a criminal investigation here,” said former FBI Assistant Director Steve Pomerantz on Fox News today. “And this interview — interrogation if you will — is the culmination of that lengthy investigation.”
Pomerantz said that “the agents who conducted this interview have prepared for weeks, if not months, and have a list of questions very long to ask her. It’s an adversarial process.” He continued, “These agents — if you’ll excuse the terminology — they want to sweat her. They want to get her under pressure, and they want to get answers to tough questions that they have.”
The former G-man added that “this is not a pleasant process for her.”
The ongoing email scandal blew up earlier this week when Bill Clinton initiated a meeting with Lynch on her airplane on an airport tarmac in Phoenix, prompting calls for Lynch to recuse herself. “There’s no good reason for her to have met with him. None. Zip,” said former U.S. Attorney Joseph DiGenova during an interview with The Daily Caller.
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