iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The FBI released nearly 200 more pages of documents late Friday from its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, offering further insight into how FBI officials decided that charges were not warranted for the former secretary of state and her aides.
FBI Director James Comey has said repeatedly that while his agency’s investigation found no evidence to indicate Clinton knew classified information was being sent over her home server, the FBI did conclude that Clinton was “extremely careless” in the handling of classified information.
In fact, the documents released Friday show that during a trip to Russia while secretary of state, one of Clinton’s aides brought a pouch with Clinton’s classified briefing book into the hotel suite they were sharing. After Clinton and the aide left the suite, diplomatic security found a classified document had been left behind — and the pouch should not have been brought to the suite in first place, according to the FBI documents.
The 189 pages released today are comprised of summaries of FBI interviews with Clinton aides, State Department officials and other witnesses. They are peppered with redactions.
Many of the documents released today highlight how aides and officials knew they were discussing sensitive matters over email, but indicate they thought they were steering clear of classified information, according to what they told FBI agents.
For example, when Clinton adviser Jacob Sullivan was sent an email about what the FBI called “pending military activities” by North Korea, Sullivan inferred that “the person at [the State Department] who sent the email must have had reason to believe it could be sent on an unclassified system,” FBI agents summarized Sullivan as saying.
“Sullivan had no reason to believe any [State Department] employee he worked with ever intentionally mishandled classified information and did the best they could to make a sound judgment when handling classified information,” the FBI agents wrote.
Similarly, when asked about an email sent discussing a classified drone strike, Sullivan surmised the sender “may have sent this email on an unclassified system because the drone strike could have already hit the news wire.”
While reporting on a drone strike after the fact wouldn’t make the strike “less sensitive,” the email’s sender may not have viewed it that way, Sullivan told FBI agents, according to their summary.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.