Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has claimed that she told the truth to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) when she was interviewed last month about her private email server and her mis-handling of classified information.
However, discrepancies between what she told the FBI that former Secretary of State Colin Powell told her about using private email while in office, and what Powell himself says that he told her, indicate that she did not tell the truth to the FBI.
For months, Democrats have tried to deflect controversy over Clinton’s private email server, and her destruction of emails her attorneys deemed “personal,” by arguing that her predecessors used private email addresses. But none used a private email server in their own homes, or deleted correspondence.
The FBI’s report of its interview with Clinton suggests that she told investigators that Powell actually advised Clinton to use a private email address — a conversation Powell does not recall.
The New York Times notes that Powell may have written an email to Clinton advising her to use a personal email address for unclassified messages, but to use a government computer for classified information, and never mentioned a private server.
For his part, Powell is pushing back: “Her people have been trying to pin it on me … The truth is, she was using [the private email server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did,” he told People magazine.
That suggests Clinton lied to the FBI.
In his testimony before the House Oversight Committee last month, FBI director James Comey said: “We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.” Clinton has cited that as proof that she told the truth in general about her private email server, though Comey also presented evidence that she willfully misled the public and Congress.
Powell’s new statements suggest that Comey will have to revisit his conclusions.
It is a crime to lie to the FBI.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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