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Morning Joe Mocks Hillary Clinton's FBI 'Security Inquiry' Talking Point

May 13, 2016

Morning Joe's Friday panel mocked Hillary Clinton's talking point that the FBI is performing a "security inquiry" into her use of a private server during her time as Secretary of State.

"Everyone says it's not about Hillary, it's a security inquiry," host Joe Scarborough said. "We have heard that non-stop, 'this is a security inquiry.' Which I didn't know, the FBI did security [inquires] and I am really glad to know they are a full-service Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is a good thing. Do you think that they would check my alarm system around my house?"

In an off-camera briefing, FBI Director James Comey told reporters that the FBI does not do security inquiries and he does not know what that means.

"We're conducting an investigation," Comey said. "That's the bureau's business. That's what we do. . . . It's in our name."

Comey also said that he does not feel pressure to complete the investigation based on political events.

"Ok, there goes that line that they've used for nine months," Scarborough said. "That sort of undercuts the talking point from the Clintons and their supporters over the past nine months."

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza said that there has not been any other Secretary of State that has exclusively used a personal email server. Cillizza said that the FBI and the State Department are investigating the situation surrounding Clinton and her home-brewed server and that the investigation is not a "right-wing conspiracy." He added if a Republican candidate was under federal probe, Clinton would continually bring the issue up on the campaign trail.

On Monday, the State Department said that it could not find any of Bryan Pagliano's emails from the time he served as Clinton's IT staffer. Pagliano has been granted immunity from the Justice Department for his cooperation.

State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said Monday that it does have access to emails between Pagliano and other department officials but could not locate direct email files from the time that he served with Clinton.

Scarborough called the situation an unfortunate coincidence.

"In terms of an indictable offense, that may be lurking here is the obstruction of justice or whether there was deliberate concealment," the Washington Post's David Ignatius said.

Ignatius said the problem for Clinton comes after the FBI makes their criminal referral to a prosecutor who would then make the decision to prosecute and it would come before the Democratic National Convention in July.