Clinton emails: FBI finds 110 held classified information but urges no charges

The FBI has criticised White House hopeful Hillary Clinton for being “extremely careless” over her use of a private email account but stopped short of recommending she be charged. It is even possible that “hostile” forces may have gained access to Mrs Clinton’s personal email account, FBI director James Comey said. “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” Mr Comey said. Her rival Donald Trump, who had called for criminal charges, reacted by tweeting that the “system is rigged”.

Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.

FBI director James Comey

Comey said of the 30,000 emails that Clinton’s team turned over to the State Department, 110 in 52 email chains were determined to have contained classified information “at the time they were sent or received”, Comey said. Eight of those chains contained information considered “top secret”, the highest level of classification. The FBI announcement came three days after agents interviewed Mrs Clinton about the possible mishandling of classified information. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said last week that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI director and of career prosecutors. This means that Mr Comey’s decision almost certainly brings the legal part of the issue to a close and removes the threat of criminal charges.

Clinton FBI