Along with the FBI doing its part for the Clinton campaign by dumping on the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend its notes from their interview of Hillary Clinton concerning her e-mail scandal, MSNBC swept some of the most disturbing elements under the rug in its first two segments on it and concluded that they’ve helped them see “a little bit better why Director Comey” didn’t recommend charges.
NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker provided both of the initial segments on what she and her producers found both at 1:53 p.m. and 2:01 p.m. Eastern with the first one setting the scene after the story broke earlier when Welker only read from the FBI’s summary page explaining why they were releasing them.
The first factoid that Welker plucked was how “Clinton told the FBI she requested a secure Blackberry device when she arrived at the State Department, similar to the one used by the president” while “[a]t least one State Department employee expressed concerns that Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server violated the Federal Records Act according to these new records.”
Welker admitted that this is “significant” but added that Clinton wasn’t aware of an employee expressing concerns about the server but, in their books, it wasn’t criminal because “Clinton told agents she did not intend the use of the server to evade the Records Act.”
The second and final nugget didn’t include nods to Clinton not knowing that e-mails marked with a “C” wasn’t classified or that her server was wiped not long after the initial New York Times story on Clinton’s server habits became public, but how the FBI couldn’t conclude that her devices or servers were ever hacked but those she interacted with were.
“So a lot of headlines coming in, Craig, but we are understanding a little bit better why Director Comey said her use of a personal e-mail was careless but not criminal,” Welker shamelessly concluded.
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Just after the top of the hour, Welker returned to speak with host Thomas Roberts doing the hosting duties and she regurgitated the same two points before reading of a statement from State Department spokesman John Kirby:
Now, we're just getting a statement from the State Department, which I'll read you now. According to State Department spokesman John Kirby: “The State Department does not have full insight into the FBI's investigation so it would be inappropriate to comment on their findings or recommendations. They are best suited to speak to their own assessment. It's important to remember that the FBI memo and 302s are not transcripts.” The 302s refer to the notes. “They are summaries. Further more it is not appropriate to consider pieces of evidence outside of the broader context, so the State Department is not going to parse every individual piece of evidence that may be characterized through the media. As Director Comey noted in his July press conference, the FBI's view was that no charges are appropriate in this case.”
Once again, Welker tossed back by opining that all this shows “we're getting a much better understanding of why he came to that conclusion” of no charges.
Another finding that Welker didn’t spot was one that this writer saw from Phil Kerpen that Clinton confidante Cheryl Mills made sure that an employee whose name was redacted had wiped Clinton’s private server in the time since the NYT exposed the server for the world to see.
One final fact was that the FBI notes revealed Clinton had 17,448 work-related e-mails that she did not turn over to the State Inspector General even though she’s claimed on numerous occasions that she’s provided her work-related e-mails.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. Eastern hours of MSNBC Live on September 2 can be found below.
MSNBC Live
September 2, 2016
1:53 p.m. Eastern
KRISTEN WELKER: Well, first of all, Craig, these are notes that the FBI took about Secretary Clinton's interview with them over the summer. These notes were officially requested by lawmakers. The Clinton campaign asked that these notes be made public. Ultimately, FBI Director James Comey decided to do that. So, here's a look at the notes. 50 pages. We have a team of reporters and producers going through the notes as we speak. Let me read you the headlines we have uncovered so far, Craig. Clinton told the FBI she requested a secure Blackberry device when she arrived at the State Department, similar to the one used by the president. At least one State Department employee expressed concerns that Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server violated the Federal Records Act according to these new records. That's significant, Craig, because of course, you'll recall that FBI Director James Comey said Secretary Clinton had been careless in her use of a private e-mail. Then FBI notes Clinton was not aware of State employee redacted, part of that e-mail was redacted, expressing concerns Clinton’s e-mail server was not compliant with the Federal Records Act and Clinton told agents she did not intend the use of the server to evade the Records Act. So all of that important and then there's one more important piece, Craig, which I’ll read to you which is the FBI’s investigation and forensic analysis did not find evidence confirming that Clinton’s e-mail e-mails or mobile devices were compromised by cyber means. Of course, this was one of the bug questions throughout all of this investigation. Was Hillary Clinton's e-mail hacked? But that is caveated by saying this investigation is inconclusive and also, the FBI did find that hostile foreign actors gained access to accounts of individuals with whom Clinton was in regular contact. So a lot of headlines coming in, Craig, but we are understanding a little bit better why Director Comey said her use of a personal e-mail was careless but not criminal.
(....)
2:01 p.m. Eastern
WELKER: Well, first of all, take a look at the documents, Thomas. About 50 pages. We are pouring through them as we speak. I'm going to give you some of the top headlines right now and then we’re also just getting a statement from the State Department. Some of the headlines so far, the administration — well, actually let me start here. “Clinton told the FBI she requested a secure Blackberry device when she arrived at the State Department similar to the one used by the President.” Now this is an important one. At least one State Department employee expressed concerns that Hillary Clitnon’s use of a private e-mail server violated the Federal Records Act. That's according to these documents. Now, that's significant because, of course, you'll recall that FBI Director James Comey said she was careless in her use of this private e-mail. So there you have one employee who actually expressed concerns about this. Now, the FBI notes that Clinton was not aware of the employee expressing concerns about her e-mail serve and that Clinton told the agents she did not end the use of the server to evade the Records Act, which requires government records to be properly archived. Now, another important point, Thomas. We’ve talked a lot about whether or not her e-mail was hacked.
According to these notes, the FBI’s investigation forensic analysis did not find evidence confirming that Clinton’s e-mail accounts or mobile devices compromised. But there's a caveat here. According to these notes, this investigation was not conclusive and it did determine that the FBI did find that individuals with whom Clinton was in regular contact were breached by hostile foreign actors. Now, we're just getting a statement from the State Department, which I'll read you now. According to State Department spokesman John Kirby: “The State Department does not have full insight into the FBI's investigation so it would be inappropriate to comment on their findings or recommendations. They are best suited to speak to their own assessment. It's important to remember that the FBI memo and 302s are not transcripts.” The 302s refer to the notes. “They are summaries. Further more it is not appropriate to consider pieces of evidence outside of the broader context, so the State Department is not going to parse every individual piece of evidence that may be characterized through the media. As Director Comey noted in his July press conference, the FBI's view was that no charges are appropriate in this case.” So we're getting a much better understanding of why he came to that conclusion.
