Likely Green Party nominee Jill Stein on Wednesday ridiculed Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state, saying in a written statement that “all the elements necessary to prove a felony violation were found by the FBI investigation.”
The investigation concluded Tuesday with an announcement from Director James Comey, who described Clinton’s handling of classified information while the nation’s top diplomat as “extremely careless” but recommended no charges against her.
“His statement undermined the defenses Clinton put forward, stating the FBI found 110 emails on Clinton’s server that were classified at the time they were sent or received; eight contained information classified at the highest level, ‘top secret,’ at the time they were sent,” Stein’s statement noted. “That stands in direct contradiction to Clinton’s repeated insistence she never sent or received any classified emails.”
Clinton has said that it was a mistake to use a personal email server and that she would not do it again, but she has long maintained that she did not receive or passe on information that was marked classified at the time. Her campaign released a statement on the issue Tuesday saying, “We are glad that this matter is now resolved.”
Stein — like many who have criticized Comey’s decision — cited Title 18 Section 793 of the federal penal code, stating that even if Clinton did not intend to harm the United States, her actions constituted “gross negligence,” which is a prosecutable offense under the law.
Feeding into the line of attack that Clinton is corrupt, Stein’s statement also slammed Clinton for mixing the business with the personal — noting that she deleted 30,000 emails that she said were “personal.”
“This is equal to the volume of her emails designated as department business,” the statement reads. “If half of an employee’s email volume is for their personal business, they are not using their time for their job. If Secretary Clinton was conducting personal business for her family foundation through the secretary of state’s office, this is a matter the American public deserves to know about.”