Did the FBI contact Clinton? Hillary dodges question and answers that the agency hasn't requested an interview yet  

  • Hillary Clinton side-stepped a question on 'This Week,' answering a variation of the query instead
  • Journalist George Stephanopoulos asked the former secretary of state if she had been contacted by the FBI
  • Clinton replied that she had 'not been asked to come in for an interview,' while doubling down and defending her use of personal email at State

Hillary Clinton side-stepped a question this morning when asked if she had been contacted by the FBI regarding the agency's ongoing investigation into her emails.

'I have not been asked to come in for an interview,' Clinton told ABC 'This Week' host George Stephanopoulos, eschewing answering the original query of whether contact had been made.

'I've said I am more than willing since last August and I would like to do that sooner instead of later and get this matter wrapped up and behind us,' she added. 

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Hillary Clinton was asked on 'This Week' if the FBI had contacted her regarding its email investigation. Clinton replied, but not to that question - saying that The FBI hadn't asked her for an interview yet 

Hillary Clinton was asked on 'This Week' if the FBI had contacted her regarding its email investigation. Clinton replied, but not to that question - saying that The FBI hadn't asked her for an interview yet 

George Stephanopoulos asked the former secretary of state a number of questions about the ongoing email scandal, including bringing up a negative report that came out last week

George Stephanopoulos asked the former secretary of state a number of questions about the ongoing email scandal, including bringing up a negative report that came out last week

Stephanopoulos, who worked in her husband's White House, asked the former secretary of state a number of questions about the ongoing email scandal, including bringing up a negative report that came out last week from the office of the State Department inspector general. 

The inspector general said in the report that Clinton had 'an obligation' to discuss using personal email with State Department officials and a request to use personal email would have been refused 'because of the restrictions in the foreign affairs manual and the security risk in doing so.'  

 
'Do you now accept their conclusion that your exclusive use of a personal account was not allowed, that you broke State Department rules?' Stephanopoulos prodded. 

'You know, look, George, I thought that the report actually made it clear that the practice I used was used by other secretaries, other high ranking State Department officials,' Clinton answered. 

When the journalist pointed out that no other secretary of state had used persona email exclusively, Clinton cut in, saying that in hindsight she wouldn't have done it over again. 

'But I think that the rules were not clarified until after I had left, because it had been the practice of others,' she said.  

She noted that what she did was keeping in line with others' practices. 

'George, I have to tell you that, you know, I will say it was a mistake, I would not do it again,' she said. 

George Stephanopoulos wanted to know if Hillary Clinton would concede and note that she had borken the rules after an inspector general's report came out that criticized her use of personal email

George Stephanopoulos wanted to know if Hillary Clinton would concede and note that she had borken the rules after an inspector general's report came out that criticized her use of personal email

'But I think that the rules were not clarified until after I had left and the first secretary of state to use a government email account was John Kerry some months into his tenure,' she continued. 

'Those are the facts,' she added. 

Stephanopoulos tried again, noting how the report had called Clinton unmindful of the rules in place. 

'Everybody in the department knew I was emailing from a personal address,' Clinton said. 'Hundreds of people knew it.' 

'People around the government knew it and, you know, that was what the practice has been and that's what I did as well,' she added. 

Then when asked if the FBI had contacted her, she answered that the FBI hadn't asked for an interview yet. 

The email scandal has been a perpetual thorn in Clinton's side and still could cause great political damage. 

Not only is there the ongoing FBI investigation, but a number of Clinton's top aides are testifying about the former secretary of state's secret server as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, courtesy of conservative group Judicial Watch. 

On top of that, the House Committee on Benghazi – the panel that uncovered Clinton's private email use – has yet to release the findings of its investigation and could do so before the Democratic National Convention or the November election. 

 

 

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