Comey Obliterated These Three Hillary Talking Points
While FBI Director James Comey announced in a surprise press conference on Tuesday that he will recommend that charges not be filed against Hillary Clinton and her aides for mishandling classified information, the Obama appointee torched talking points that the former secretary of state has used in defense of her email practices.
Clinton talking point No. 1: Her emails were not classified
Clinton has in the past said that her emails were not classified when they were sent and received. Her campaign has also questioned the integrity of the Intelligence Community’s inspector general, which assessed last year that some of Clinton’s emails were classified at the “Top Secret” level when they were originated. (RELATED: Clinton Campaign Spokesman Questions Intel Community IG’s Integrity)
But Comey settled the question in decisive fashion on Tuesday, demolishing Clinton’s claims.
“From the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the State Department, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received,” Comey said.
“Top Secret” information was contained in eight of those email chains. “Secret” information was in 36 chains, and eight held “confidential” information.
Clinton talking point No. 2: She returned all work-related emails
Comey said that Clinton failed to turn over “several thousand” work-related emails to the State Department in December 2014.