Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper indicated Monday that Huma Abedin’s decision to forward emails from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to her husband, Anthony Weiner, was an offense that could be referred to the Department of Justice as a possible crime.
Clapper never specifically talked about Abedin and Weiner, but was asked about a hypothetical that fits that case by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Monday.
“What would you expect to happen if you made a referral of an individual who had forwarded hundreds or even thousands of classified information on a non-government computer?” Cruz asked.
“Whatever the transgression, potential transgression was, if there were sufficient evidence of a compromise, we would file a crimes report,” Clapper said. “That’s the standard procedure that we use when there’s the potential for investigating and prosecuting someone.”
Cruz also didn’t mention Abedin or Weiner but seemed to be clearly referring to the controversy. Near the end of the election, the FBI said it was reopening the Clinton email investigation, and reports said it was because many more emails were found on a computer that disgraced congressman Weiner could access. But Republicans were left frustrated with neither Clinton nor Abedin were charged.
Cruz asked if that kind of situation was “ordinary,” to which Clapper said, “hopefully not.”
Cruz asked if this kind of situation could be prosecuted, and Clapper said it’s “difficult to do that,” even though the Obama administration prosecuted many people for improperly leaking information.
Clapper reiterated on multiple instances that because Cruz was only offering a hypothetical that there still would be many judgment calls to make in such an instance.
Last week, FBI Director James Comey testified to the full Senate Judiciary Committee that Abedin had a regular practice of forwarding emails from Clinton to Abedin’s husband, Anthony Weiner. Some of those emails were later found to have been classified.
