Politics

Hillary: One Of The Laws I May Have Broken Is ‘A Mouthful’ [VIDEO]

Steve Guest Media Reporter
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Hillary Clinton, in attempted to de-emphasize one of the laws she may have broken while secretary of state, told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Saturday it’s “a mouthful.”

In a phone interview with MSNBC the same day she was interviewed by the FBI for almost four hours, Clinton said that her interview with the FBI was both civil and business-like, adding, “It was something I had offered to do since last August. I’ve been eager to do it, and I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department in bringing its review to a conclusion.” (RELATED: Hillary Clinton Interviewed For Nearly Four Hours At FBI Headquarters)

Todd asked Clinton, “[O]bviously the central question here is whether you violated the law in the handling of classified information. 18 US Code 1924, unauthorized removal or retention of classified documents or material. Why do you believe you did not violate this law. It says here, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant in the United States and by virtue of his or her office, if they become possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removing such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location. How did your private server where you kept this classified information, some of which was retroactive I understand, after your term as secretary of state, how is that not a violation of this code?” (RELATED: Report: FBI Agents Are ‘Livid’ That Lynch And Bill Clinton Met [VIDEO])

“Well Chuck, that’s a mouthful,” Clinton replied. “Let me just repeat what I have repeated for many months now. I never received nor sent any material that was marked classified and there is a process for the review of material before it is released to the public and there were decisions made that material should be classified. I do call that retroactively classifying. So therefore it would not be publicly released. But that doesn’t chance the fact as I’ve explained many times.” (RELATED: White House: Obama’s ‘View’ On Hillary Investigation Is ‘Not Relevant’ [VIDEO])

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Todd followed up, “Who advised you that it was perfectly legal for you to have a private server and have this information on there as secretary of state. Who gave you that advice?”

“I’m not going to go into any more detail then I already have in public many times, as you certainly know, out of respect for the process that the department is conducting,” Clinton claimed. “So, I’m not going to comment any further on the review but I’ve been answering questions now for over a year… I will continue to, you know, be as forthcoming as I can and my answer that I first gave more than a year ago, I stand by.” (RELATED: Was Bill Clinton Plea Bargaining With The Attorney General?)

Regarding Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s meeting in Arizona this past week, Clinton said, “I learned about it in the news and it was a short, chance meeting at an airport tarmac and on both of their planes, as I understand it, were landing on the same tarmac at about the same time and the Attorney General’s husband was there. They said hello. They talked about grandkids, which is very much on our minds these days, golf, their mutual friend and former attorney general Janet Reno. It was purely social. They did not veer off of speaking about those kinds of, you know, very common exchanges.”

The former secretary of state went onto claim the meeting “was a short, chance meeting that occurred, and they did not discuss the Department of Justice’s review. And I know that some, nonetheless have viewed the meeting in a different light, and both the Attorney General and my husband have said they would not do it again, and the bottom line, for me, is I respect the professionalism and integrity of the officials at the Department of Justice handling this process. I was pleased to have a chance to sit down and answer their questions today to try to help to bring this review to a conclusion.”

“So you don’t, do you understand why many in the public, many, some of them are political opponents of yours, some are supporters, who thought that was a bad decision by your husband, that that was a mistake and he should have known better,” Todd replied.

“Well I think, you know, hindsight is 20/20. Both the Attorney General and my husband have said they wouldn’t do it again, even though it was from all accounts that I have heard and seen, an exchange of pleasantries,” Clinton said. “But obviously no one wants to see any untoward conclusions drawn, and they’ve said, you know, they would not do it again.” (RELATED: Loretta Lynch Regrets Private Meeting With Bill Clinton [VIDEO])

Later, regarding the reports that suggesting Clinton will not face charges and that the results of the investigation will be made public in a couple of weeks, Clinton said, “I am not going to comment on the process. I have no knowledge of any timeline. This is entirely up to the Department.”

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