The White House said Tuesday that President Obama wasn’t trying to influence an FBI investigation into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server when he declared that Mrs. Clinton hadn’t harmed national security.
“Of course not,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said when asked if the president was intruding into a federal investigation. He said Mr. Obama “certainly respects the integrity of” an independent probe.
“The president was making an observation about what we know so far,” Mr. Earnest said.
On “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Mr. Obama said Mrs. Clinton had made a “mistake” by using the private server for her official business as secretary of state. But he said she didn’t harm national security.
Two investigations by government inspectors general have concluded that Mrs. Clinton received emails containing highly classified information. The FBI is investigating whether any government secrets were compromised.
“What the president was observing that Secretary Clinton has acknowledged that this was a mistake, but she’s cooperating with the inspectors general” investigations, Mr. Earnest said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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