FBI investigators have interviewed several of Hillary Clinton’s top aides from her tenure as secretary of state as the bureau makes preparations to question the Democratic front-runner herself.
Huma Abedin, Clinton’s former deputy chief of staff and one of the highest-paid members of her campaign team, was among the aides interviewed by FBI officials, according to a report Thursday by CNN.
Although investigators brought some Clinton staffers in for multiple rounds of questioning, the probe has yet to uncover evidence that Clinton intentionally defied the law.
FBI agents are reportedly winding down their months-long investigation in preparation to hand their recommendation over to the Department of Justice, a move that could bring Clinton one step closer to indictment.
The bureau may also decline to recommend an indictment, depending on the details of its security inquiry.
Clinton has faced months of scrutiny for the FBI’s probe, mostly from potential GOP rivals who used her private email server as evidence the former secretary of state is unfit for the White House.
Officials are reportedly working with Clinton’s legal team to arrange a private meeting , a long-awaited step in the investigation.
News of the interviews came the same week a Romanian hacker purported to have broken into Clinton’s private server and accessed her emails, a claim that would contradict Clinton’s previous assertions that her system was never breached if proven true.
FBI officials are looking into whether Clinton violated federal records laws by handling classified information in an unsecured environment.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, pointed to the interviews as another indication of Clinton’s “gross negligence.”
“This reckless attempt to skirt government transparency laws put our national security at risk, and underscores just how big of a risk a Hillary Clinton presidency truly is,” Priebus said.
