FBI investigating security of Hillary Clinton emails: How does it affect her campaign?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the security of the private email server that Hillary Clinton used when she was secretary of state.

|
Rick Wilking/Reuters
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses supporters at a campaign kickoff event in Denver, Colorado on August 4, 2015.

The FBI is investigating the security of the private email server that Hillary Clinton used for official communications when she was secretary of state, as well as the security of a thumb drive containing copies of Ms. Clinton’s emails.

Government and congressional investigators are trying to determine whether the presidential candidate sent or received classified information through an unsecured private server in her home during her time as secretary of state. Clinton maintains that she did not

The Justice Department was alerted to classified information included improperly on email that went through Clinton's private server by the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community last month. The referral to the Justice Department did not seek a criminal probe and targeted the email system, not Clinton herself.  

In breaking the news, the New York Times mistakenly published an article saying that the Department of Justice had been urged to open a “criminal inquiry” into the email controversy.

The Republican National Committee jumped on the situation, as spokesman Michael Short remarked that Clinton "can't help but continue to mislead the American people.” 

The article was quickly corrected, but the damage had already been done. 

“Literally hundreds of outlets followed your story, creating a firestorm that had a deep impact that cannot be unwound,” Clinton’s communication director, Jennifer Palmieri, wrote in an outraged letter to the Times.

The investigation comes at a time when Clinton’s favorability ratings are at a new low. According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Monday night, she’s viewed unfavorably by 48 percent of likely voters. Additionally, a recent CNN/ORC poll showed that 57% of Americans don’t find her honest and trustworthy. 

In March, CBS News Political Director John Dickerson predicted that the stigma of the email controversy would be hard to shake should Clinton decide to run for president. 

"A protracted tug-of-war over these emails could reanimate concerns that the Clintons are secretive, which puts pressure on Hillary Clinton, once she does announce, to have a campaign message that can withstand frequent interruptions,” Mr. Dickerson said. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to FBI investigating security of Hillary Clinton emails: How does it affect her campaign?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2015/0805/FBI-investigating-security-of-Hillary-Clinton-emails-How-does-it-affect-her-campaign
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe