Hillary: Retroactive Classification Raises ‘Serious Questions’ About Email Investigation

Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” while discussing the FBI investigation into her handling of classified material on an unsecured email server during her tenure as secretary of state, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the thousand emails being classified retroactively “really raises serious questions about this whole process.”

Partial transcript:

DICKERSON: Let me ask you question about something that was in the news this week. Brian Pagliona was granted immunity from prosecution in the criminal investigation into your e-mail server. When this happened I talked to Democrats they worry that somebody is going to get indicted.

CLINTON: Well, there is no basis for that, it’s a security review I’m delighted that he had agreed to cooperate as everyone else has. And I think that we’ll be moving toward a resolution of this.”
DICKERSON: “You see this as good news?

CLINTON: Yeah, I do. Absolutely. I think we’re getting closer and closer to wrapping this up. I also know that there were reports today about hundreds of officials and thousand emails that they were sending back and forth that have been looked at and classified retroactively. This really raises serious questions about this whole process I think. Colin Powell sums it up well when he was told that some of his emails from more than ten years ago were going to be retroactively classified. He called it an absurdity. I’m hoping we’ll get through this then everybody can take hard look at the inner agency disputes and arguments over retroactive classification. I’m the one that asked that all my emails be made public. I’ve been more transparent than anybody I can think of in public life. But it’s also true that when something is made public fresh across the government gets to weigh in that’s what’s happening here. We need to get it sorted out and then take action from there.

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