An investigation into possible mishandling of classified information on Hillary Clinton’s private email server has expanded to consider whether Clinton’s work as Secretary overlapped with her work for the Clinton Foundation run by her family.
Fox News‘ Catherine Herridge published the report, citing unnamed FBI sources, Monday morning. The report indicates the initial security referral looking into whether or not classified information was mishandled has expanded to look at possible public corruption involving the Clinton Foundation.
The report paints a picture of an internal struggle within the FBI over whether or not to prosecute Clinton. Herridge quotes an unnamed FBI source saying, “many previous public corruption cases have been made and successfully prosecuted with much less evidence than what is emerging in this investigation.”
One parallel said to be weighing on the FBI is the prosecution of David Petraeus. Petraeus pled guilty to a misdemeanor for sharing highly classified information with his biographer and lover Paula Broadwell and also for lying to the FBI. A two-year investigation concluded that none of the classified information ever appeared in Broadwell’s book. Nevertheless, Petraeus’s treatment was considered a slap on the wrist by some agents within the FBI.
As many as 100 special agents are said to be working on the investigation, including about 50 assigned to work the case on a temporary basis. Herridge reports the agents have been asked to sign new non-disclosure agreements, possibly to prevent leaks or because of the classified information being handled in the examination of Clinton’s server.
Over 1,300 documents on Clinton’s server have been deemed classified thus far, with more to come as the State Department continues to release new emails each month. Two of the emails have been judged to have contained “top secret” material at the time they were sent. The State Department initially suggested the information in those emails may have come from a parallel intelligence source but, apparently, dropped that claim. The Department then asked for a review of those classifications in an attempt to have them downgraded, but a final determination by the Director of National Intelligence found the emails did contain “top secret” information at the time they were sent.
Clinton’s former IT person, Bryan Pagliano, chose to plead the 5th rather than answer questions about his involvement with Clinton’s unique email arrangement.