FBI orders State Dept. to halt review of Clinton emails
By Pete Kasperowicz (@PeteKDCNews) • 4/1/16 2:55 PM •Updated: 04/01/16 3:58 PM
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fbi-orders-state-department-to-halt-review-of-clinton-emails/article/2587440The State Department said Friday that the FBI has asked the department to halt its internal investigation into emails sent or received by Hillary Clinton while she led the department, emails that are now deemed to contain "top secret" information.
State had been reviewing whether the information was deemed top secret at the time it was sent, or whether the information only became top secret later. But State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said the FBI asked the department to stop so as not to interfere with the FBI's own investigation.
She said State asked the FBI for a ruling in February on whether it should proceed, and that the FBI told State to stand down on its review sometime in March.
"We contacted the FBI to solicit a judgement from them as to the best path forward," Trudeau told reporters when asked about the review of the 22 emails that included "top secret" information. She didn't clarify if the decision affected hundreds of other emails that included classified information.
"The FBI communicated to us that we should follow our standard practice, which is to put our internal review on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation underway," she said.
"Of course, we do not want our internal review to complicate or impede the process of their ongoing law enforcement investigation," she added. "Therefore, the State Department at this time is not moving forward with our internal review."
Trudeau had no comment on whether the move might be a sign that the FBI is preparing criminal charges against Clinton or any of her aides.
"I wouldn't read anything into it," she said.
She also said the internal review would continue once the FBI's investigation is completed.
