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FBI, State talk about Clinton emails

Team Trump tweets: ‘CORRUPTION CONFIRMED’’

WASHINGTON – A senior State Department official asked the FBI last year to help reduce the classification of an email from Hillary Clinton’s private server, according to FBI investigative files made public Monday. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries, according to the files.

It was not immediately clear whether the State Department official or someone at the FBI first raised the prospect of a bargain over Clinton’s email’s classification.

The bureau records, citing an FBI official whose name was censored, said Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy sought assistance in exchange for a “quid pro quo.”

But the FBI said Monday it was the now-retired FBI official who first asked Kennedy about deploying more agents overseas. The State Department said the same.

The FBI ultimately rejected the idea, which would have allowed the State Department to archive a message related to the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in the basement of its Washington headquarters “never to be seen again,” according to the FBI files.

The email described reports in November 2012 that Libyan police were arresting suspects in the attack. It had been forwarded to Clinton’s private email address by Jake Sullivan, one of her top aides and the department’s director of policy planning, who was using his government email account.

Republicans seized on the report as collusion within the Obama administration to protect Clinton, now the Democratic presidential nominee.

“CORRUPTION CONFIRMED: FBI confirms State Dept. offered ‘quid pro quo’ to cover up classified emails,” read a tweet from Team Trump, retweeted by the candidate.

Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said the campaign had never been part of any such discussion about email classifications.

Kennedy was a close aide to Clinton during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat between 2009 and early 2013. He had served in his position since November 2007 under President George W. Bush.

According to the FBI records, a bureau official said Kennedy “asked his assistance in altering the email’s classification in exchange for a ‘quid pro quo,’” and that in exchange, “State would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.”

“Although there was never a quid pro quo, these allegations were nonetheless referred to the appropriate officials for review,” the FBI said in a statement Monday.

The State Department said Kennedy had been trying to understand the FBI’s classification decisions.

“This allegation is inaccurate and does not align with the facts,” department spokesman Mark Toner said. He added that there was never an increase in the number of FBI agents assigned to Iraq as a result of the conversations.



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