Trump gets new ammo to attack Clinton in FBI email probe notes

In a fresh blow to Hillary Clinton, the FBI has released redacted notes on its probe of her haphazard use of a private email server as US secretary of state, giving new ammunition to rival Donald Trump who accused her of jeopardising national security.

According to the 58 page document, as many as 39 times Clinton told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that she did not “recall” or remember key elements of the training or classified information process. She also seemed repeatedly unable to recall information about her use of the private server.

“Clinton said she received no instructions or direction regarding the preservation or production of records from State during the transition out of her role as secretary of state in 2013,” read the FBI’s notes from its July interview with Clinton.

The FBI also said Clinton, 68, may have used 13 total mobile devices associated with her two known phone numbers that were potentially used to send emails.

Trump, who is trailing Clinton, immediately latched on to the notes to accuse Clinton of compromising America’s national security. His campaign alleged that the Democratic nominee showed bad judgement. “Hillary Clinton’s answers to the FBI about her private email server defy belief,” Trump said in a statement.

“I was absolutely shocked to see that her answers to the FBI stood in direct contradiction to what she told the American people. I really don’t understand how she was able to get away from prosecution,” he said.

“Clinton’s secret email server was an end run around government transparency laws that wound up jeopardising our national security and sensitive diplomatic efforts. On more than 2,000 occasions, classified material was exposed on her private server, including highly sensitive Top-Secret information and intelligence,” said Jason Miller, senior communications advisor to the Trump Campaign.

The FBI has now closed its investigation into her using personal email hosted on a private server as secretary of state during the first term of Barack Obama administration.

Investigations determined Clinton used in succession 11 e-mail capable BlackBerry mobile devices, eight of which she used during her tenure, the FBI documents said.

In March 2015, Clinton had said she never carried more than one device and use her mobile for both work and personal emails. “I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails, instead of two.” 

Clinton deleted her private email archive “a few weeks after” The New York Times disclosed about the private server, according to the FBI notes. There were 17,448 work-related emails that she didn’t turn over to the State Department. The FBI notes indicate they found phishing emails sent to Clinton’s private account on multiple occurrences.

“At one point, she opened an email that ‘contained a potentially malicious link’ and she replied to the email asking if ‘is this really from you? I was worried about opening it,” the Times reported.

According to the Post, the documents found a myriad of new details about the email set-up and show that investigators found multiple attempts by hackers to access Clinton’s system a series of personal devices and servers that the Democratic presidential candidate told investigators she used as a matter of convenience while she was secretary of state.

However, the Clinton Campaign asserted that the report once again proves that there was no justification for a case against her. “While her use of a single email account was clearly a mistake and she has taken responsibility for it, these materials make clear why the Justice Department believed there was no basis to move forward with this case,” Clinton Campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said.