https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/congressional-investigators-find-irregularities-in-fbis-handling-of-clinton-email-case/ar-BBHNylS?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
The FBI believed there was evidence that laws were broken when the former secretary of State and her top aides transmitted classified information through her insecure private email server.
Clinton and her aides had transmitted more than 110 pieces of classified information through her insecure email server, some of it at the "top secret" and "secret" levels. The FBI's own documents stated there was evidence laws had been broken.
Large amounts of highly classified information - eight top secret passages and 37 secret passages - that passed through Clinton's private server suggested criminality.
FBI documents stating the "sheer volume" of classified information that flowed through Clinton's insecure emails was proof of criminality.
The FBI "did have evidence of statutory violations".
"The sheer volume of information that was properly classified as Secret at the time it was discussed on email supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information," the FBI's original draft read.
The FBI began drafting a statement exonerating Clinton of any crimes while evidence responsive to subpoenas was still outstanding and before agents had interviewed more than a dozen key witnesses. Those witnesses included Hillary Clinton and the computer firm employee who permanently erased her email archives just days after the emails were subpoenaed by Congress.
An admission of false statements by one key witness in the case, an employee of a computer firm that helped maintain her personal server, belatedly admitted he had permanently erased an archive of her messages in 2015 after they had been subpoenaed by Congress.
On May 3, 2016, the employee in a subsequent FBI interview told agents he had an "oh s*** moment" and in late March 2015 deleted Clinton's email archive from the server.
Lying to the FBI is a federal felony, a crime that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently pleaded guilty to. But the FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against the witness, and instead gave the technician an immunity deal so he could correct his story.
Comey was also drafting a statement exonerating Clinton before much of the investigative interviewing and evidence gathering was even done. 17 interviews that were conducted after the drafting effort began, included figures who would have key information about intent or possible destruction of evidence, including the immunity deals on June 10, 2016, with Clinton advisers Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson, and Hillary Clinton herself. They locked into a theory and then edited out the facts that contradicted it.
Comey's original May 2, 2016, draft included the words "grossly negligent" - the language supporting a criminal charge for mishandling classified information - but it was later changed to the softer "extremely careless." Comey has told Congress he made the decision not to charge Clinton after she was interviewed on July 2, 2016.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said the bureau official confirmed that the investigation and charging decisions were controlled by a small group in Washington. Bureau hierarchy controlled both the investigation and the charging decision from Washington. The Clinton email server in question was based in New York.
There are also the violations of the Federal Records Act, which requires the preservation of all of Clinton's work-related emails. The FBI admits it recovered thousands of State emails that originated or passed through Clinton's private server - some which had been deleted - that were never turned over to the State Department as government records by Clinton's team. The Records Act allows for a misdemeanor charge in each instance where a government document is destroyed carelessly. The Clinton email case did not address the destruction of federal records.
The FBI did not pursue criminal charges when Clinton's email archives were permanently deleted from her private server days after a subpoena for them was issued by a congressional committee. The deletion occurred on the same day Clinton's former chief of staff and her lawyer had a call with the computer firm that handled the erasure using an anti-recovery software called BleachBit. The emails were State Department records under subpoena by Congress.
What did the FBI do to investigate this apparent obstruction? According to affidavits filed in federal court - absolutely nothing.
FBI leadership rigged the outcome to clear Clinton. Hillary Clinton obviously benefited from people taking actions to ensure she wasn't held accountable.
There are also growing questions about the role the Obama Justice Department played in the case including an Attorney General Loretta Lynch meeting with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac during the closing days of the probe in June 2016, the immunizing of witnesses in June 2016, as well as whether agents and supervisors had political connections, ethical conflicts or biases that affected their work.