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FBI Blasts Hillary Clinton's Use Of Personal Email, But Recommends No Charges

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FBI Director James Comey at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, said the FBI will not recommend criminal charges in its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state. (Cliff Owen/AP)
FBI Director James Comey at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, said the FBI will not recommend criminal charges in its investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state. (Cliff Owen/AP)

After a nearly year-long investigation, the head of the FBI says Hillary Clinton should not face federal charges in connection with her use of a personal email server while she was secretary of state.

“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," FBI Director James Comey said in a statement Tuesday.

The findings hinged on whether Clinton and her staff intended to circumvent or break federal laws about the handling of classified information.

"Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information," Comey said, "there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information."

Comey said that more than a hundred emails contained classified information at the time they were sent and received, and that Clinton and her staff should have known that information should not have been on an unclassified system.

And while investigators found no evidence Clinton's emails were hacked, the FBI director said it is possible that her account could have been accessed by "hostile actors" given the lack of security and widespread knowledge of Clinton's use of the personal email account both in the United States and while traveling abroad.

Guests

Donald Stern, former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and currently the managing director of corporate monitoring and consulting services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

Annie Linskey, national political reporter for The Boston Globe. She tweets @AnnieLinskey.

This segment aired on July 5, 2016.

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