White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Friday said he had “no insight” into whether an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server is criminal in nature.
Earnest was trying to clarify a reference he made Thursday, when he said it was a “criminal investigation.”
Asked whether he had simply misspoken because the comment had “raised some eyebrows,” Earnest shot back: “It seems to have raised some eyebrows at the Republican National Committee.”
He then added: “I have no insight into that because I’m not getting any sort of briefings from the Department of Justice about that ongoing investigation.”
Republicans quickly seized on his Thursday remarks and deemed it a critical slip just moments after President Obama endorsed Clinton for president.
The RNC said the comments were an “admission that the FBI is investigating Hillary Clinton’s email server as a ‘criminal’ matter” and said such an admission “shreds her credibility” that the probe is a routine “security inquiry.”
Earnest said the point he was trying to make when he mistakenly used the word “criminal” was that Obama has “complete confidence” in the DOJ investigators impartiality.
“These are individuals who understand that they should not be swayed by anything the president has to say,” Earnest said. “The president of the United States wants them and has confidence that they will in fact pursue the facts, follow the evidence and lead to the conclusion that is supported by the facts and the evidence.”
Earnest made the reference to a “criminal investigation” during a press briefing Thursday when he was asked whether the FBI might be pressured to go easy on Clinton in the investigation in light of Obama’s endorsement.
“That’s why the president, when discussing this issue in each stage, has reiterated his commitment to this principle that any criminal investigation should be conducted independent of any sort of political interference and that people should be treated the same way before the law regardless of their political influence, regardless of their political party, regardless of their political stature and regardless of what political figure has endorsed them,” he said.
