NYT - Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter.
Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the
information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend
charges, according to the law enforcement officials. But to
investigators, it sounded as if Mr. Obama had already decided the
answers to their questions and cleared anyone involved of wrongdoing.
A
spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. But Ron Hosko, a former
senior F.B.I. official who retired in 2014 and is now the president of
the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said it was inappropriate for
the president to “suggest what side of the investigation he is on” when
the F.B.I. is still investigating.
“Injecting
politics into what is supposed to be a fact-finding inquiry leaves a
foul taste in the F.B.I.’s mouth and makes them fear that no matter what
they find, the Justice Department will take the president’s signal and
not bring a case,” said Mr. Hosko, who maintains close contact with
current agents.
Several
current and former law enforcement officials, including those close to
the investigation, expressed similar sentiments in separate interviews
over several days. Most, however, did so only on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Since the existence of Mrs. Clinton’s account was revealed in March, she
has provided a series of different explanations about whether she sent
or received classified information from the account.
