The US State Department’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report to lawmakers on Wednesday, ruling that former Secretary of State and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton violated a slew of department regulations with regards to her private email server.
According to the 80-page report on email record management and cybersecurity, Clinton violated the Federal Records Act when she failed to submit all work-related emails carried on the server to the State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State or upon her departure from the position.
The report also chides Clinton for failing to receive authorization to use her private email address and server, stating that the Inspector General’s Office “found no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server.”
Notably, Clinton refused to speak with the Office of the Inspector General, while current Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretaries Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Madeleine Albright were all interviewed as part of the report. Clinton staff members including ex-chief of staff Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, and Jake Sullivan also refused to be interviewed.
While the document does not constitute a criminal indictment, nor does it have direct bearing on the ongoing Justice Department investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server to send and receive classified government documents, the report highlights the threat of a potential indictment and emboldens supporters of Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who has pledged to continue his fight for the party nomination.
Clinton’s standing in the polls has taken a hit in recent weeks even as her campaign moves closer to securing the nomination.
While the presumptive Democratic nominee led her likely November opponent Donald Trump by 11.4 points one month ago according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, today her lead has evaporated and the former Secretary of State now trails the New York real estate developer by 0.2% on average.
