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CNN Fact Check Confirms Clinton Aide Destroyed Mobile Devices With Hammers

September 2, 2016

CNN confirmed live on air Friday that a Hillary Clinton aide destroyed some of the former secretary of state’s used mobile devices with hammers, affirming information contained in the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s private email server.

The discussion of mobile devices being destroyed by State Department personnel came after the FBI released on Friday files from its investigation, including notes from a lengthy interview with Clinton.

A former Clinton pollster, Bernard Whitman, called the hammering a good method of disposal on CNN.

"They destroyed Blackberrys with hammers in the State Department," Donald Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn charged.

Whitman tried to interrupt and defend Clinton until Brooke Baldwin had to pause the conversation and go to CNN correspondent Evan Perez to confirm what Epshteyn said.

"Evan, Evan, Evan, hold on, can you fact check? Hang on, hang on, hang on, Evan Perez, hammers?" Baldwin said. "Fact check that for me please, on the fly,"

"Yes, they did, Brooke," Perez said. "As you mentioned there were 13 devices, mobile device and five iPads that the FBI said that in some way were used with her private email server and they did, in some cases, just destroy them with hammers when they were done using them."

"That’s a pretty good way of destroying a device," Whitman said.

"No, it’s not," Epshteyn said. "That is absolutely not following the rules and regulations of the State Department, you know it."

The FBI documents reveal that Clinton aide Justin Cooper destroyed the then-secretary of state’s Blackberry cell phones on multiple occasions.