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<\/a>IMAGE CREDITS: MATTHEW HORWOOD\/GETTY IMAGES.<\/p><\/div>\n
State Dept. offered FBI \u201cquid pro quo\u201d to reclassify Clinton emails<\/h3>\n
Jerome Corsi | Infowars.com<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 A\u00a0\u201cshadow government\u201d within John Kerry\u2019s State Department was constituted to review all FOIA requests to prevent public disclosure of classified information Hillary Clinton may have transmitted over her private email server, FBI documents reveal.<\/strong><\/p>\n The newly released \u201cFBI Vault\u201d release on Hillary Clinton makes clear Clinton \u201cfixer\u201d in the State Department, Deputy Secretary of State Patrick F. Kennedy, pressured the FBI to downgrade the classification status of various Clinton emails from \u201cclassified\u201d to \u201cunclassified,\u201d offering the FBI a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d in exchange for the FBI agreeing to cooperate in the subterfuge.<\/p>\n The Clinton documents released in the FBI Vault are the source documents that led to reports published by the Washington Post in an Oct. 17, 2016\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0that State Department official Kennedy had pressured the BI \u201cto change its determination that at least one of the emails on Hillary Clinton\u2019s private server contained classified content, prompting discussion of a possible trade to resolve the issue, two FBI employees told colleagues investigating Clinton\u2019s use of a private server last year.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading the FBI source documents make clear that Kennedy was determined to recruit not only the FBI but the CIA and other intelligence agencies to engage in a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d cover-up scheme aimed at hiding the truth that Clinton did transmit classified State Department documents over her private unsecured email server.<\/p>\n The FBI source documents make clear the FBI had evidence suggesting Clinton had committed criminal violations of national security laws regarding her transmitting of State Department classified information over her unsecured private email server in July 2015 \u2013 a year and a half before the Nov. 2016 presidential election \u2013 information that had it been made public at that time most likely would have derailed Clinton\u2019s bid to win the DNC\u2019s presidential nomination.<\/p>\n The FBI source documents do not explain why the FBI did not press the Department of Justice to bring charges against Clinton in July 2015 when the FBI had in hand clear evidence State Department officials were engaged in a cover-up of the Clinton email scandal.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cShadow Government\u201d within Hillary\u2019s State Department<\/strong><\/p>\n That memo, dated Aug. 8, 2015, (FBI Vault, Hillary R. Clinton, Part 4, pp. 53-57), contains the following paragraph that makes explicit reference to the \u201cShadow Government\u201d constituted within the Department of State to protect Sec. Clinton from potentially criminal mishandling of classified information.<\/p>\n The paragraph in question reads as follows:<\/p>\n There was a powerful group of very high-ranking STATE officials that some referred to as \u201cThe 7th<\/sup>\u00a0Floor Group\u201d or \u201cthe Shadow Government.\u201d\u00a0 This group met every Wednesday afternoon to discuss the FOIA process, Congressional records, and everything CLINTON-related to FOIA\/Congressional inquiries.\u00a0 The known regular attendees included Jonathan FINER, Jennifer STOUT, Deputy Chief of Staff, Heather HIGGINBOTTOM, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources KENNEDY, Julia FRIFIELD, Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs, [REDACTED] Office of Legal Adviser, [REDACTED] Office of the Legal Adviser overseeing STATE\u2019S [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] and [REDACTED].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Further into the memo, there is a discussion of Patrick F. Kennedy, then Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, requesting the FBI to downgrade from \u201cNational Security Classified\u201d an email from Clinton long-time advisor Sidney Blumenthal that evidently had either potentially embarrassing and\/or suspect criminal implications for Sec. Clinton if made public as a document made secret by a national security classification.<\/p>\n Pressured to change \u201cclassified\u201d to \u201cunclassified\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The memo also suggests that Patrick F. Kennedy, a Clinton \u201cfixer\u201d within the State Department pressured the FBI to change Clinton emails marked \u201cclassified\u201d to \u201cunclassified.\u201d<\/p>\n The memo dated Aug. 8, 2015, continues:<\/p>\n In late April 2015, IPS officials completed the formal review of the Benghazi-related Congressional inquiry.\u00a0 All materials were ready for release at that time.\u00a0 The CIA provided redactions [REDACTED] but none were deemed a B(1) exemption.\u00a0 Most of the items with CIS redactions were emails from Sidney BLUMENTHAL.\u00a0 One was deemed classified according to the FBI and KENNEDY held a closed-door meeting attended by the FBI\u2019s [REDACTED] and IPS\u2019 [REDACTED] among others.\u00a0 In that KENNEDY held a closed-door meeting attended by the FBI\u2019s [REDACTED] among others.\u00a0 In that meeting, KENNEDY asked [REDACTED] to change the FBI\u2019s B(1) upgrade classification, but [REDACTED] did not change the FBI\u2019s stance.\u00a0 On May 22 (2015), it was decided by the IPS team they would keep the upgrade of the one FBI-related email and the IPS officials sent David KENDALL, Attorney, Williams & Connolly, LLC, a letter informing him of the results.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Clearly, the FBI insisted the email remain with its \u201cclassified\u201d national security classification.<\/p>\n The \u00a0B(1) exemption under the Freedom of Information Act\u00a0is designed<\/a>\u00a0to protect from public disclosure information that has been deemed classified \u201cunder criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy\u201d and is \u201cin fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order.<\/p>\n The State Department\u00a0operates<\/a>\u00a0its FOIA program through the Office of Information Programs and Services (\u201cIPS\u201d), a part of the Bureau of Administration; the Assistant Secretary for Administration serves as the State Department\u2019s Chief FOIA officer.<\/p>\n State offers FBI a \u201cquid pro quo\u201d to cover-up Clinton email scandal<\/strong><\/p>\n Proof that Clinton operatives in the State Department were trying to recruit FBI officials to participate in their arguably illegal scheme to change the classification status of various Hillary emails is clear from \u201cclassified\u201d to \u201cunclassified\u201d can be found in a FBI memo dated July 30, 2015 (FBI Vault, Hillary R. Clinton, Part 4,\u00a0pages 25-27<\/a>).<\/p>\n In that document, the key paragraph reads as follows:<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, [REDACTED] received a call from [REDACTED] of the International Operations Division (IOD) of the FBI, who \u201cpressured\u201d him to change the classified email to unclassified. [REDACTED] indicated he had been contacted by PATRICK KENNEDY, Undersecretary of State, who had asked his assistance in altering the email\u2019s classification in exchange for a \u201cquid pro quo.\u201d [REDACTED] advised that, in exchange for making the email unclassified, STATE would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more Agents in countries where they are presently prohibited.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The next paragraph of the memo provided a description of a meeting during which Kennedy openly pressed his declassification scheme in an \u201call agency\u201d meeting that included CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency representatives.<\/p>\n The next paragraph reads as follows:<\/p>\n Following the above exchange, [REDACTED] was summoned to an \u201call agency\u201d meeting at STATE to discuss matters pertaining to the classification review of pending CLINTON FOIA materials. [REDACTED official from STATE, along with representatives from CIA, DIA, and other government agencies were present.\u00a0 PATRICK KENNEDY presided over the meeting.\u00a0 During the conversation, a participant asked whether any of the emails in question were classified.\u00a0 Making eye contact with [REDACTED] KENNEDY remarked, \u201cWell, we\u2019ll see.\u201d [REDACTED] believed this was reference to the FBI\u2019s categorization of SECRET\/NOFORN emails which KENNEDY was attempting to influence. In a private meeting with KENNEDY following the all agency meeting, Kennedy asked [REDACTED] whether the FBI could \u201csee their way to marking the email unclassified.\u201d\u00a0 According to [REDACTED] KENNEDY spent the next 15 minutes debating the classification of the email and attempting to influence the FBI to change its markings. Since [REDACTED] continued to assert that the email was appropriately marked SECRET\/\/NOFORN, KENNEDY asked who else in the FBI he could speak with.\u00a0 [REDACTED] referred KENNEDY to MICHAEL STEINBACH, Assistant Director of CTD.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n NOFORN (No Foreign Nationals) is a designation in the FBI classification system that indicates the document is not to be disseminated to foreign nationals.<\/p>\n Michael Steinbach, the executive director who\u00a0heads<\/a>\u00a0the FBI\u2019s National Security Branch, also served as the\u00a0assistant director<\/a>\u00a0of both the FBI\u2019s Counterterrorism Division (CTD).<\/p>\n The next paragraph makes clear that Kennedy met a stone wall in his attempt to recruit the FBI into his cover-up scheme.<\/p>\n [REDACTED] was then present during a conference call involving KENNEDY and STEINBACH in which KENNEDY continued to pressure the FBI to change the classified markings on the email to unclassified.\u00a0 STEINBACH refused to do so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The controversy over Blumenthal emails<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>An FBI report made public in Aug. 2016\u00a0concluded<\/a>\u00a024 memos sent by Blumenthal to Sec. Clinton had been identified as containing \u201cinformation currently classified as CONFIDENTIAL.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the cache of Blumenthal emails to Clinton release by Wikileaks is an email sent by Blumenthal to Sec. Clinton in March 2011, that contained a highly classified intelligence memo that\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0then French President Nicholas Sarkozy\u2019s motive in deposing Libyan dictator Qaddafi involved a desire for Libyan oil.<\/p>\n Sidney Blumenthal emails to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made public by WikiLeaks\u00a0made clear<\/a>\u00a0Obama and Clinton armed he Free Syrian Army rebels in an effort to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, mirroring a strategy already underway in Libya to help al-Qaida-affiliated militia overthrow Muammar Gadhafi.<\/p>\n A consequence of the strategy was the emergence of ISIS out of the loosely coordinated Free Syrian Army coalition as well as the disastrous Benghazi attack in which a U.S. ambassador was murdered.<\/p>\n Various WikiLeaks emails examined by WND indicate the Free Syrian Army was among the first splinter rebel groups Clinton and Obama armed. The Obama administration apparently was hoping to replicate the regime-change strategy in which it armed al-Qaida-affiliated militia in Libya, including Ansar al-Sharia, the group responsible for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack at Benghazi.<\/p>\n The WikiLeaks email evidence shows a shift in policy in which Clinton and Obama appear to have decided in 2011 to topple the governments of Gadhafi in Libya and Assad in Syria, even if it meant arming radical Islamic terrorist groups that traced back to al-Qaida.<\/p>\n On June 20, 2011,\u00a0Blumenthal sent a confidential email to Clinton<\/a>\u00a0at the State Department that included\u00a0an article by David W. Lesch,<\/a>\u00a0a professor of Middle Eastern history at Trinity University in San Antonio. Lesch argued a strategy of regime change could be effected in Syria if the U.S. could find opposition groups in Syria capable of establishing \u201ca Benghazi-like refuge from which to launch a rebellion and to which aid can be sent.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent confidential email July 24, 2012<\/a>, Blumenthal further advised Clinton that the \u201cgrowing success of the rebel forces of the Free Syria Army\u201d caused him to believe the Assad regime was increasingly vulnerable to being toppled.<\/p>\n In an email\u00a0dated Feb. 24, 2012, Blumenthal characterized the FSA as \u201cloosely organized and uncoordinated,\u201d noting it was \u201cfor the most part, local militias, many of them civilian-based, that are simply calling themselves the FSA to appear to be part of a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n Blumenthal commented in the email that the armed resistance to Assad \u201cis not well-funded or well-armed.\u201d<\/p>\n On Feb. 28, 2012,\u00a0Jacob Sullivan, a State Department senior policy adviser to Secretary Clinton, forwarded to Clinton<\/a>\u00a0an\u00a0opinion piece published in the New York Times by foreign correspondent Roger Cohen<\/a>\u00a0suggesting the strategy Obama and Clinton had used to topple Gadhafi in Libya should be used to bring down Assad in Syria.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Bosnian war showed, the basis for any settlement must be a rough equality of forces. So I say step up the efforts, already quietly ongoing, to get weapons to the Free Syrian Army. Train those forces, just as the rebels were trained in Libya,\u201d Cohen wrote. \u201cPayback time has come around: The United States warned Assad about allowing Al Qaeda fighters to transit Syria to Iraq. Now mat\u00e9riel and special forces with the ability to train a ragtag army can transit Iraq \u2013 and other neighboring states \u2013 into Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, on Sept. 18, 2012, one week after the Benghazi terror attack,\u00a0Blumenthal, in a confidential memo<\/a>, alerted Clinton to the possibility of the FSA military taking over Damascus.<\/p>\n The prospect caused Assad\u2019s wife and close relatives to urge Assad to flee Syria to avoid \u201cthe fate of Assad\u2019s former ally Muammar al Qaddafi of Libya, who was captured and killed by rebel forces while attempting to flee his home territory in Sirte.\u201d<\/p>\n The controversy over David Kendell<\/strong><\/p>\n In May 2015, a senior State Department official informed<\/a> Clinton lawyer, David Kendell, that government reviewers had found at least one classified email among the emails Clinton transmitted over her private email system she used as Secretary of State.<\/p>\n The suspect email was found in a State Department FOIA search to respond to a House committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attack on U.S. officials in Benghazi that ended up with the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.<\/p>\n Attorney David Kendell of Washington-based law firm Williams & Connolly, LLC,\u00a0began representing<\/a>\u00a0President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 during the Special Prosecutor investigation into the Whitewater scandal; Kendell continued to represent the Clintons \u201cin a variety of matters, including independent Counsel, Senate House of Representatives, FDIC, RTC {Resolution Trust Corporation}, and bar counsel investigations, civil litigation, and the 1998-99 impeachment hearings.\u201d<\/p>\n On Aug. 23, 2015, the New York Times\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on a controversy that developed when Kendell, then representing former Sec. Clinton had in his possession a thumb drive containing Clinton State Department emails that Kendell may not have secured properly to prevent public disclosure of national security classified information.<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than 20 years, Mr. Kendell has been on the front lines for Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton as their personal lawyer, battling investigators and litigants in the superheated environment where law and politics meet,\u201d wrote Peter Baker in the Times report.\u00a0 \u201cSo as Mrs. Clinton faces questions about her use of a personal email server as secretary of state, no one is surprised she turned to Mr. Kendall.\u201d<\/p>\n In August 2015, Kendall\u00a0turned over<\/a>\u00a0the thumb drive to the Justice Department and gave copies to the FBI, after the thumb drive, believed to hold copies of some 55,000 Clinton emails, after a\u00a0report to Congress<\/a>\u00a0by the intelligence community inspector general reported to Congress that Clinton\u2019s State Department emails were found to contain classified material.<\/p>\n