The FBI is publicly disputing a report that China hacked Hillary Clinton's private email server after Trump tweeted about it
- The FBI is publicly denying a report claiming China hacked Hillary Clinton's private email server, a claim President Donald Trump amplified on Tuesday night.
- A report published Monday by the Daily Caller alleges a Chinese-owned company hacked Clinton's private email server and obtained thousands of her emails while she was the US Secretary of State.
- A spokesman for the FBI told NBC News that the bureau "has not found any evidence" Clinton's server was compromised by a hostile foreign actor.
The FBI is publicly denying a report that claimed China hacked Hillary Clinton's private email server.
Right-leaning news website The Daily Caller first published that allegation on Monday, and President Donald Trump later amplified it on Twitter.
The Daily Caller article alleges a Chinese-owned company based in Washington, DC, hacked Clinton's private server and added a line of code that made copies of all her emails and automatically forwarded them to the company, citing two unnamed sources The Daily Caller says were briefed on the matter.
Trump addressed the story on Tuesday, writing, "report just out: 'China hacked Hillary Clinton's private Email Server.' Are they sure it wasn't Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!"
An FBI spokesperson told NBC News, "the FBI has not found any evidence the (Clinton) servers were compromised," citing a July report from the Department of Justice's inspector general which reviewed the FBI investigation of Clinton's use of a private email server.
In the inspector general's report, a forensic analyst is quoted as telling Department of Justice investigators he was "fairly confident" Clinton's personal server had not been compromised.
The joke about Russia in Trump's tweet refers to the Russian government's alleged hack of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2016 election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's office, which is probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, indicted 12 Russian security officers in July for those breaches and other charges, including money laundering and identity theft.
Clinton's use of a private email server during the time she served as Secretary of State was the subject of a high-profile FBI investigation spearheaded by the agency's former director, James Comey.
The FBI ultimately cleared Clinton of any wrongdoing in July 2016, but did call her handling of official emails on private accounts "extremely careless." Comey later came under fire for reopening the inquiry just 10 days before the presidential election.