Justice Department Grants Immunity to Clinton Staffer Who Set Up Personal Email Server
Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign and set up the infamous personal email server in her home in 2009, has been given immunity by the Justice Department as it continues its criminal investigation into whether that email server ever hosted classified information, the Washington Post reported last night.
Pagliano accepting an offer of immunity means that he has decided to cooperate with the investigation, and the New York Times reported this morning that Pagliano has already been interviewed by the FBI. Pagliano plead the fifth in advance of a congressional hearing in September regarding Clinton’s involvement in the attack on Benghazi.
Per the Post’s Adam Goldman, there is no indication that the investigation has—or will—reach the grand jury stage. A source told him that the FBI plans to finish its inquiry in the next few months, and the Times reports that the target date is somewhere in May. The FBI will likely ask to interview Clinton and several top aides first and upon the conclusion of the investigation the DOJ will decide whether or not to file charges.
The Clinton camp has maintained that no classified information was stored on the server. The section of her website dedicated to the email controversy reads in part:
Clinton said she did not use her email to send or receive classified information, but the State Department and two Inspectors General said some of these emails do contain classified information. Was her statement inaccurate?
Clinton only used her account for unclassified email. No information in Clinton’s emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them.
But recent reports maintain otherwise, including that emails stored on the personal server revealed the identities of overseas undercover agents. In any event, Donald Trump continues to float the notion that Hillary Clinton may be unable to run for President, which is standard Trump hot air that nonetheless will be a nuisance for the presumed national frontrunner until the investigation into her email server mercifully dissipates.
