Major news broke Tuesday when FBI Director James Comey held a press conference to announce his recommendation to not prosecute Hillary Clinton for her E-Mail practices. The recommendation comes even as Comey read off a laundry list of questionable activity by Clinton and her people, and excused it because he did not see any intent to break the law. Yet the “big three” news networks ran with the recommendation without asking if that is what the law required for there to be a conviction.
“The FBI Director called Clinton's e-mail arrangement "extremely careless" but said she did not obstruct justice and was not motivated by disloyalty to the US, factors in previous prosecutions,” reported Nancy Cordes on CBS Evening News. Cordes also noted that, “Eight [E-Mail] chains contained top-secret information, one of the highest levels of classification.” Something Clinton claimed never happened.
NBC’s Pete Williams on Nightly News stated that Clinton actually had two private servers that were weakly protected. In the press conference Comey stated that they were less protected than Gmail accounts, and that it is possible that foreign actors hacking into her account.
But as ABC Pierre Thomas said on World News Tonight, “the decision whether to charge Hillary Clinton comes down to one question. Did she intentionally violate laws governing classified information?”
The networks covered Comey’s decision as if it was the end-all be-all of Clinton’s E-Mail woes. They never asked the important question of, is intent required to prosecute someone for being “extremely careless” with top secret information? It is arguable that intent is not needed, 18 US Code 793(f) makes the distinction between what is exposed through intent and what is exposed through negligence, and both are punishable.
CBS came the closest to admitting this with an interview with former New York City Mayor and former U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani. He argued that Clinton did show negligence with the information given to her saying, "People usually don't tell us they intend to commit a crime."
The Spanish-language networks also failed to question if intent was needed, and ran with Comey’s decision as the final word.
Transcripts below:
CBS
Evening News
July 5, 2016
6:31:19 PM EasternMAURICE DUBOIS: This was the biggest day of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign since she locked up the democratic nomination. The FBI recommended she not be charged with a crime in the e-mail scandal, though director James Comey was sharply critical of her. And just hours later, President Obama hit the trail with Clinton for the first time to sing her praises. Nancy Cordes begins our coverage.
[Cuts to video]
JAMES COMEY: Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a chase.
NANCY CORDES: The FBI Director called Clinton's e-mail arrangement "extremely careless" but said she did not obstruct justice and was not motivated by disloyalty to the US, factors in previous prosecutions.
COMEY: In looking back at our investigation into the mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts.
CORDES: But still, he gave a scathing assessment of Clinton's decision to use a home-brew server as secretary of state, apparently out of the desire for privacy.
COMEY: Any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton's position or in the position of those with whom she was corresponding about those matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.
CORDES: He noted that 36 of Clinton's e-mail chains contained information that was secret at the time it was sent. Eight chains contained top-secret information, one of the highest levels of classification. That directly refutes a claim Clinton has made many times.
CLIPS OF HILLARY CLINTON: I never sent or received any classified material. There is no classified material. There was no transmission of any classified information.
CORDES: Director Comey added that Clinton's server, housed in her Chappaqua basement, lacked the kind of round-the-clock security staff guarding government accounts or even commercial accounts like Gmail.
COMEY: She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account.
CORDES: Still, it was a political victory for Clinton, who stumped with president Obama for the first time today.
CROWD: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!
CLINTON: Thank you so much.
CORDES: After campaigning under the cloud of a potential indictment for a year.
CLINTON: He knows a thing or two about winning elections. Take it from me.
CORDES: Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, both avoided any mention of the FBI announcement.
BARACK OBAMA: Hillary doesn't get the credit she deserves. But the fact is Hillary is steady, and Hillary is true.
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: It is highly unusual for an FBI director to announce his recommendations before DOJ prosecutors decide what to do with those recommendations. Director Comey said this is an unusual case that demands more transparency and, Maurice, many Clinton allies are hoping that Republicans take the news better coming from him because he is a Republican.
...
CBS
Evening News
July 5, 2016
6:34:35 PM Eastern [1 Minute 49 Seconds]MAURICE DUBOIS: The reaction from Clinton's opponents, as you would imagine, came quickly. Major Garrett has that.
[Cuts to video]
DONALD TRUMP: We're all in a rigged system, folks. I'm going to break up the rigged system, believe me.
MAJOR GARRETT: Donald Trump found vindication in his condemnation of an allegedly rigged legal system that quote, "Holds the American people to one standard and people like Hillary Clinton to another. It does not look like she will be facing the criminal charges that she deserves."
Trump accused Clinton of compromising national security, adding, "Our adversaries almost certainly have a blackmail file on Hillary Clinton, and this fact alone disqualifies her from service." Trump also questioned whether Clinton should lose the right to handle classified information, an issue some non-partisan analysts said might be valid. House Republicans echoed Trump. Texas congressman Blake Farenthold.
BLAKE FARENTHOLD: I think “extremely careless” comes to “gross negligence,” and I encourage the FBI and prosecutors to continue to look at this and do what's right.
GARRETT: House Speaker Paul Ryan said FBI Director Comey's decision “defies explanation” and that “damage is being done to the rule of law.” Trump supporter, former New York Mayor and former U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani told CBSN Clinton's careless use of private e-mail servers should have triggered an indictment.
RUDY GIULIANI: All of that evidence of how negligent they were and how careless they were, that's what we as prosecutors usually use as evidence of intent. People usually don't tell us they intend to commit a crime.
[Cuts back to live]
GARRETT: Trump's criticism of the FBI director is unlikely to last. Maurice, Trump and fellow Republicans will focus instead on the many contradictions Comey laid bare between Clinton's benign description of her e-mail servers and the far more serious and compromised reality.
6:36: 24 PM Eastern [2 Minutes 24 Seconds]
DUBOIS: Major Garrett, thank you. Joining us now are John Dickerson, our CBS news political director and anchor of "Face the nation," and our Chief Legal Correspondent, Jan Crawford. Jan, let's start with you. Director Comey said Clinton and her staff should have known that an unclassified system was no place for many of those e-mails. So, we learned today that 100— more than 100 of them were, in fact, classified at the time they were sent. Begs the question, why isn't that a crime?
JAN CRAWFORD: Well, I mean, director Comey's bottom line seems to be just because you were extremely careless or you should have known better, that doesn't mean you've committed a crime that’s going to be prosecuted. The law says it's a felony to mishandle classified information intentionally or in a grossly negligent way.
Now, extreme carelessness, which Director Comey said that Clinton and her team did, that sounds like gross negligence, but historically prosecutors have required something more to bring charges, something like intentional or deliberate mishandling of classified information.
And that's what we saw in the case of former CIA Director of David Petraeus. He pleaded guilty after admitting that he had given his biographer, who was also his girlfriend, eight binders of highly classified information. He knew it was classified. He told her it was. That is the kind of level intent and knowledge that we've seen in these past cases.
DUBOIS: John Dickerson, this sounds like a win and a loss at the same time for Mrs. Clinton. What's the political fallout likely to be?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, the Clinton campaign says the matter is resolved, Maurice, but FBI director undermined a lot of what Hillary Clinton has said about her private server during the campaign. She said she didn't send an e-mail that was classified, as Jan mentioned. The director said that wasn't so, there were more than 100. Secretary Clinton has said her staff was careful. The FBI director said that wasn't so. He said the system was not as secure even as Gmail. He also says a number of work e-mails weren't turned on over, undermining Secretary Clinton's claims of transparency.
When we think about trusting a president, there are two important qualities to look for in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: How will they behave when no one is looking, and will they be truthful when everyone is looking? As the state department inspector general found, the Hillary Clinton's server was set up outside the spirit and letter of the law and her answers after it was disclosed have not stood the test of examination. So on those two fronts, voters will have a lot that has been left unresolved.
...
ABC
World News Tonight
July 5, 2016
6:31:15 PM EasternDAVID MUIR: Good evening. And we hope you had a great 4th of July. It was the dark cloud hanging over Hillary Clinton's campaign for a year. Would she be indicted for using a private server for her e-mail as secretary of state? And would it end her campaign?
Today, without revealing his findings to the White House, the director of the FBI walked out, stood alone at that podium and delivers a blistering rebuke. And then, recommending no criminal charges. Hours later, Hillary Clinton walking off air force one in Charlotte with the support of her one-time rival, President Obama.
CLIP OF BARACK OBAMA: I believe in Hillary Clinton.
MUIR: Tonight, Donald Trump calling the system rigged. Republicans outraged. And we have new reporting here, was Hillary Clinton watching the FBI director as he delivered his words? And how they're really feeling inside her campaign, after the stinging words you're about to hear. We begin tonight with ABC's Pierre Thomas.
PIERRE THOMAS: In the dramatic hastily arranged press conference, FBI Director James Comey walked out alone. The stakes incredibly high. The news so sensitive, Comey says even the White House was kept in the dark.
JAMES COMEY: They do not know what I'm about to say.
THOMAS: What came next, an extraordinary rebuke of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of her private e-mail server to conduct government business. From the very beginning, Clinton has insisted she never sent or received information that was classified at the time. But Comey says his investigators uncovered many classified e-mails, including some that were marked.
COMEY: 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. Only a very small number of the e-mails here containing classified information bore markings that indicated the presence of classified information.
THOMAS: His conclusion? Blistering.
COMEY: Although we did not find clear evidence that secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton's position should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.
THOMAS: Investigators found no evidence that Clinton's sensitive e-mails were hacked, but Comey does not give her a pass.
COMEY: She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries. Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account.
THOMAS: But ultimately, Comey insists the decision whether to charge Hillary Clinton comes down to one question. Did she intentionally violate laws governing classified information?
COMEY: Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.
[Cuts back to live]
MUIR: And Pierre Thomas live with us tonight outside the FBI. And those words from the FBI Director Comey there, “that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” that now serves as a formal recommendation to the justice department, Pierre?
THOMAS: Yes, David. He's recommending that no charges be filed, and career prosecutors at the justice department will help make the final call. But no one is expecting them to disagree, so, the notional of a criminal case is effectively over. David?
...
NBC
Nightly News
July 5, 2016
7:01:21 PMLESTER HOLT: Good evening, Hillary Clinton got some very welcome news today from the head of the FBI but it came along with a virtual public shaming. James Comey said today he's not recommending criminal charges against Clinton over her use of personal e-mail servers when she was secretary of state. But he also said she should have known better, calling her handling of classified material over personal e-mail “extremely careless.” The announcement lifts a dark legal cloud hanging over the Clinton campaign, but may still leave her under a political one. Pete Williams begins our coverage.
[Cuts to video]
PETE WILLIAMS: There's never been anything quite like it. The director of the FBI publicly announcing his agency's recommendation after investigating whether classified information was mishandled while Hillary Clinton used a private e-mail server as Secretary of State.
JAMES COMEY: Although the Department of Justice makes final decisions on matters like this, we are expressing to justice in our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.
WILLIAMS: Comey disclosed that Hillary Clinton used more than one e-mail server. And that FBI technicians spent months going through all of them finding fragments of e-mails to reassemble. Discovering in all 113 e-mails containing classified information, eight of them top secret. A picture very different from the one she has described, a blistering attack of her handling of government secrets. Was the material marked classified?
HILLARY CLINTON: I am confident that I never sent nor received any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received.
COMEY: Any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton's position or anybody with whom she was communicating about those matters should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.
WILLIAMS: Was her private server safe from hacking?
CLINTON: It was on property, guarded by the secret service and there were no security breaches.
COMEY: All of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff.
WILLIAMS: Comey said she sent and received private e-mails to and from her staff while outside the US, in countries where hackers thrive, though no conclusive prove of hacking was found.
Even so, Comey said the sloppiness did not meet the standards of bringing criminal charges in past cases. Against her or any of the former staff members who e-mailed her. Past prosecutions he said involved willful mishandling or disloyalty to the US or vast quantities of classified material. A former federal prosecutor agrees.
PETE WHITE: No charges have ever been brought when there wasn't evidence that someone intentionally mishandled classified information or gave it to someone who wasn't entitled to have it.
[Cuts back to live]
WILLIAMS: The FBI's recommendation now goes to the justice department. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said she will follow the advice of career prosecutors there. And officials tonight say it's a virtual certainty they will go along with Comey's recommendation.
...
UNIVISION
NOTICIERO UNIVISION
7/5/16
6:31:04 PM - 6:34:49 PM ESTMARÍA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Good evening, tonight we begin with the FBI’s conclusion to no recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for having used a private email server when she was Secretary of State. The FBI Chief, James Comey, however, said that Clinton and her team were “extremely negligent” in their management of sensitive information. Donald Trump did not delay in criticizing the decision in harsh terms. The report was made public just as President Barack Obama and Clinton appeared for their first campaign rally together for the ex-First Lady in North Carolina. From there Janet Rodriguez report, let’s go to her.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: Hand in hand, today Hillary Clinton and President Obama today united efforts on the campaign trail. The presumptive nominee, with a big weight on top of her.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: [In English] …that no charges are appropriate in this case.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: This morning, FBI Director James Comey recommended that no criminal charges be imposed on Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server during her years as Secretary of State, although he said that Clinton and her personnel were extremely reckless with the use of these servers. In fact, out of the 30,000 emails handed over to investigators, it was found that more than 100 of them had classified information, 8 e-mail chains were considered top secret and 36 secret. Highlighting her judgement and moral character, Obama and Clinton did not mention the results of the federal investigation in their joint campaign rally.
But Republicans did come out on the defensive. Donald Trump tweeted “FBI Director said Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. No charges. Wow! #RiggedSystem”. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, through a press release, said in part “this announcement defies explanation. Nobody should be above the law. Not processing Secretary Clinton sets a terrible precedent. The American people will reject this pattern of dishonesty.”
For months, the Clinton campaign has been overshadowed by the investigation, and the surveys seemed to demonstrate it. In North Carolina, both candidates are tied in North Carolina, according to a survey by the network CBS. A panorama reflected at a national level. The latest USA Today survey reflects that the lead Clinton has over Trump continues to shrink, and with the margin of error they’re technically tied. Clinton now looks to turn the page, and together with the President, give a new twist to her campaign.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: The Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said that she will abide by the recommendations of the FBI while now for Clinton the challenge remains to redefine the perception of lack of judgement and credibility that this investigation has thrown at her. Maria Elena.
MARÍA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISION: Janet, the controversy that surrounds this announcement today by the FBI about Hillary’s emails, did it overshadow in any way the event in North Carolina, that looked pretty excited with the presence of President Obama there.
JANET RODRÍGUEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, UNIVISION: That’s right, Maria Elena. The idea of the Democratic Party was for them to come here to North Carolina, a state that will be a battleground over the next couple of months, the Democratic Party lost here in the last elections, President Obama lost in 2012, and no they hope to recuperate them. Today, while the topic of the emails was not touched on here at this rally, it did not go unnoticed. It was know that the topic was being touched on here, many in the electorate wanted to know what they were going to say on the subject beyond trying to get votes here in North Carolina, but we also know that the Hispanic vote will play a big role here in this state, so yeah, the message from the President and Hillary Clinton was overshadowed.
...
TELEMUNDO
NOTICERO TELEMUNDO
7/5/16
6:30:43 PM - 6:33:38 PM ESTMARÍA CELESTE ARRARÁS, ANCHOR, TELEMUNDO: The FBI recommended to the Department of Justice not to present charges against Hillary Clinton for using her private email server while she led the Department of State. It is great news for Clinton, who has been chased by this black cloud for many months. Lori Montenegro has more.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Amidst applause and smiles, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama arrived at their first campaign event where neither one mentioned the decision of the FBI to recommend that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton for having used her personal email for official business when she was Secretary of State.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: [in English] …that they were extremely careless…
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: And despite having found no evidence that Clinton and her advisors had the intention of violating the law, they were very negligent said the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations James Comey. However, the Clinton campaign welcomed the news.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: [Translating Brian Fallon, Clinton campaign spokesperson] “As the Secretary has said many times, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she won’t do it again. We’re delighted that this matter is resolved.”
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: The FBI studied 30,000 emails, 110 were categorized as classified, and 8 were top secret.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: [in English] … the hostile actors gained access…
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: He said that hostile actors to the United States may have had access to government classified information through the email account, even though they had not found proof of intrusion by internet pirates. Though his Twitter account, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said “FBI Director said Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. No charges. Wow! #RiggedSystem”. Defending his recommendation, Comey said that no reasonable prosecutor would have presented a formal accusation.
LORI MONTENEGRO, CORRESPONDENT, TELEMUNDO: Now the Department of Justice will have to decide if it accepts that recommendation of the FBI, the Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, has said that she would abide by it. Meanwhile, the announcement from the FBI overshadowed what many were waiting for months, and it was seeing Barack Obama campaigning with Hillary Clinton giving her his support and as you can see there, it wasn’t a coincidence that she was speaking at the podium with the presidential seal because one picture is worth more than a thousand words. Before 7,000 people in North Carolina, Obama highlighted the integrity of the Democratic nominee and her dedication to the country, and said that he was ready to pass the baton [to her]. This is also a show of unity among Democrats.
