As Hillary’s status as Democratic frontrunner increases the pressure on investigators to decide whether or not her infamous email scandal violated the Espionage Act, the Department of Justice had decided to grant immunity to Hillary’s server technician.
IT technician Bryan Pagliano invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to talk when Hillary’s server was seized from a data center in New Jersey last summer. But when bribed with full immunity, he finally decided to cooperate. “There was wrongdoing. But was it criminal wrongdoing?” asks one DOJ official. As the FBI’s investigation into whether or not classified information was mishandled on Hillary’s homebrew server continues, Pagliano may be the key to answering that question.
Mr. Pagliano was hired onto Hillary’s first presidential campaign in 2008 as IT Director. The following year he was hired as Deputy Chief Information Officer for the State Department. His duties included managing the former Secretary of State’s server, which was kept at Hillary’s home in New York. Hillary’s off-the-books system contained both work-related and personal emails, including hundreds of messages that contained sensitive information.
Mr. Pagliano, the center of the FBI’s probe last December, has already been interviewed by the agency. According to the New York Times, Hillary herself might be interviewed during upcoming weeks. The entire investigation might be wrapped up by the end of April.
Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign spokesperson, told the Washington Post that his team was “pleased” to hear Bryan had decided to cooperate. “As we have said since last summer, Secretary Clinton has been cooperating with the Department of Justice’s security inquiry, including offering in August to meet with them to assist their efforts if needed,” Fallon added.
The fact that Pagliano has been granted immunity in exchange for information, however, suggests that this investigation is far more than a mere “security inquiry.”
More than 2,000 classified emails have been found on Hillary’s secret server – at least 22 of them have been deemed TOP SECRET. While the State Department and the FBI continue to investigate the specifics, many worry (and some hope) that Hillary will be slammed with an indictment before she can claim the presidency.