Hillary’s Quid Pro Quo With the FBI
A State Dept. official attempted to get the FBI to change email classification.
News has surfaced of an attempted “quid pro quo” from one State Department official to an FBI agent involved in the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Not just any State Department official, either. FBI documents state, “[Redacted FBI agent] indicated he had been contacted by Patrick Kennedy, Undersecretary of State, who had asked his assistance in altering the email’s classification in exchange for a ‘quid pro quo’… [I]n exchange for marking the email unclassified, State would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more Agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said this latest discloser “bears all the signs of a cover-up.” House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) wrote letters to Secretary of State John Kerry calling for Kennedy’s removal and an immediate investigation. They said, “We find Under Secretary Kennedy’s actions extremely disturbing. Those who receive classified intelligence should not barter in it — that is reckless behavior with our nation’s secrets. Someone who would try to get classification markings doctored should not continue serving in the State Department or retain access to classified information.”
This latest revelation only goes to further support what many have been speculating ever since FBI Director James Comey’s decision not to advise prosecution of Hillary Clinton — that Comey’s decision was influenced by political considerations rather than by the evidence of the investigation. Beyond Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s private meeting with Bill Clinton, one wonders what “quid pro quo” the Clintons presented to Comey in exchange for his compliance.
Update:
The Washington Post reports:
> FBI official Brian McCauley had been trying for weeks to get his contact at the State Department to approve his request to put two bureau employees back in Baghdad. Around May 2015, Patrick Kennedy finally called back.
> “He said: ‘Brian. Pat Kennedy. I need a favor,' ” McCauley recalled in an interview Tuesday. “I said: 'Good, I need a favor. I need our people back in Baghdad.’ ”
> Then Kennedy, a longtime State Department official, explained what he wanted: “There’s an email. I don’t believe it has to be classified.”
McCauley and the Bureau rejected the request, but that’s at the heart of this latest kerfuffle.
