Huma Abedin FBI interview of 5 April 2016, FBI 302 transcript of 7 April 2016
nolu chan
November 1, 2016
Huma Abedin FBI interview of 5 April 2016, FBI 302 transcript of 7 April 2016, pages 84-94 of 189, from Hillary R. Clinton Part 03 of 04 (PDF) at:
https://vault.fbi.gov/hillary-r.-clinton/hillary-r.-clinton-part-03-of-04/at_download/file
The document may be viewed at:
https://vault.fbi.gov/hillary-r.-clinton/hillary-r.-clinton-part-03-of-04/view
https://www.scribd.com/document/329597550/Huma-Abedin-FBI-Interview-of-5-April-2016-FBI-302-of-7-April-2016
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At 1:
Present for the interview was ABEDIN's counsel, MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ. Partner at Bryan Cave LLP, KAREN DUNN, Partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP and [redacted] Associate at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP.
At 1:
Prior to the interview RODRIGUEZ, DUNN and [redacted] agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement in anticipation of viewing classified documents during the interview.
At 1-2:
ABEDIN did not know that CLINTON had a private server until about a year and a half ago when it became public knowledge and did not recall any discussion about it during the transition.
At 2:
ABEDIN did not recall any discussions during the transition about whether using a private email account for DoS business was permissible. However, she did recall that they were advised that they could not have personal emails linked to a DoS device. As a result CLINTON elected to use a personal device only because she did not want to carry two devices.
At 2:
ABEDIN had never held a security clearance prior to working at DoS. She received a Top Secret security clearance at DoS but did not remember being read into any Special Access Programs (SAPs) or compartments.
At 3:
ABEDIN's office was located in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) at DoS. At her desk she had both an unclassified and classified computer system. ABEDIN was not sure if the classified computer system was a Secret or Top Secret (TS) system, and she was unfamiliar with the term JWICS. ABEDIN did not receive any formal guidance on what system she should use for the different aspects of her work. She did the majority of her work on the unclassified system and would often go several days, or weeks, at a time without logging into her classified system. She would only use the classified system if she was notified that somebody had sent her a message on that system.
[nc note: JWICS IS Joint Worldwide Intelligence Comunications Systems]
At 3:
ABEDIN provided that she was issued an official DoS email account, abedinh@state gov, which she used for DoS related work. She also had an email account that was provided by CLINTON, huma@clintonemail.com, which she used for matters related to CLINTON's personal affairs and to communicate with CLINTON's personal staff and friends. ABEDIN also had a personal Yahoo email account, [redacted] ABEDIN could access her chntonemaiI.com account and her Yahoo account via the internet on the unclassified DoS computer system. She would use these accounts if her DoS account was down or if she needed to print an email or document. ABEDIN further explained that it was difficult to print from the DoS system so she routinely forwarded emails to her non-DoS accounts so she could more easily print. ABEDIN also had another email account that she had previously used to support her husband's campaign activities.
At 3:
ABEDIN had no knowledge of her accounts ever being targeted by hackers and was not aware of any intrusion attempts. ABEDIN recalled that some people at DoS had issues with their Gmail accounts but she never had a Gmail account.
At 4:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN was shown an email dated September I, 2011, with the subject "Fwd: Calls", which she forwarded from her huma@clintonemail.com account to her DoS email account. ABEDIN did not recall the specific email or why she would have forwarded it. However, she noted that based on the date stamp she knew that she was not in the office when it occurred.
At 4:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN was shown an email dated October 4. 2009. with the subject "Fwd: U.S. interest in Pak Paper 10-04", which ABEDIN received from [redacted] and then forwarded to her Yahoo email account. ABEDIN was not familiar with the document but was not surprised that she forwarded it to her Yahoo account. She explained that she routinely forwarded emails from her state.gov account to either her clintonemail.com or her yahoo.com account so that she could print them. ABEDIN stated that she would typically print the documents without reading them. At the time of the email, [redacted] worked for RICHARD HOLBROOKE who was the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP). ABEDIN was unaware of the classification of the document and stated that she did not make judgments on the classification of material that she received. Instead, she relied on the sender to make that assessment and to properly mark and transmit the document.
At 4:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN was shown an email chain dated August 16, 2010, with the subject "Re: your yahoo acct". ABEDIN did not recall the email and provided that despite the content of the email she was not sure that her email account had ever been compromised. She further provided that the referenced in the email referred to an older campaign volunteer in Westchester, NY.
At 5-6:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN contacted COOPER about getting a Blackberry for CLINTON while CLINTON was still in the Senate. CLINTON then used the Blackberry when she transitioned to DoS. At that time, her primary email address was hr 15@att.blackberry.net. Shortly after CLINTON became the Secretary of State COOPER established the @clintonemail.com domain and CLINTON began using hdr22@clintonemail.com as her primary email. The only other person at DoS to receive an email account on the domain was ABEDIN. Later in CLINTON's tenure she changed her email address to hrodl7@clintonemail.com. ABEDIN was not familiar with the email address hrl5@mycingular.blackberry.net or with @gmail.com.
At 7:
(U//FOUO) When CLINTON left DoS she stopped using the clintonemail.com system and started using hrcoffice.com to formalize her transition. During this same time period, an outside IT company, PLATTE RIVER NETWORKS (PRN), was hired to maintain CLINTON's email system. ABEDIN stated that PRN was initially hired to manage President CLINTON and [redacted] emails. it was then later decided that PRN should also manage CLINTON's email as well.
At 7:
(U//FOUO) Prior to the transition to hrcoffice.com, ABEDIN was advised that the clintonemail.com system was "going away". ABEDIN stated that she lost most of her old emails as a result of the transition. She had only accessed clintonemail.com through a web portal and did not have a method for archiving her old emails prior to the transition. ABEDIN did not know if the system administrator had archived the mailboxes before the system was taken down.
At 8:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN remembered having discussions with HANLEY about creating an archive of CLINTON's emails. ABEDIN believed that the archive was placed on a laptop so that it could be referenced while CLINTON worked on her book. ABEDIN did not know that the laptop was sent to PRN, nor did she know what ultimately happened to the laptop. ABEDIN was not aware that a copy of the email archive may have been placed on a thumb drive.
At 8:
Review and Production of ABEDIN Emails
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN provided that she learned that DoS was seeking her emails after she read about it in the newspaper. DoS wanted ABEDIN's emails as part of an effort to ensure that DoS had a complete record of documents from CLINTON's tenure. ABEDIN contacted DoS and confirmed that it was seeking her emails. She noted that DoS' prior attempts to contact her were unsuccessful because DoS had an old email account and an old mailing address on file. ABEDIN then turned over her laptop and Blackberry to her attorneys so that they could conduct the review. ABEDIN was not directly involved in the review and relied on the judgment of her attorneys. RODRIGUEZ and DUNN stated that they sought additional guidance from DoS on how the review should be conducted but they never received a response. RODRIGUEZ and DUNN therefore erred on the side of caution and opted to include anything that they were unsure about. It was also noted that ABEDIN had previously responded to a similar request from the Benghazi Committee.
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN was shown an email chain dated April 2, 2012, with the subject "May-Asia". ABEDIN confirmed that the email was related to her activities while at DoS and that it would be considered a relevant record with respect to the DoS request. ABEDIN explained that this email was not produced by her team during the review because she did not have access to her clintonemail.com account when the review was conducted. RODRIGUEZ and DUNN stated that the request from DoS only sought records currently in ABEDIN's possession so they did not contact PRN to request other relevant records. (U//FOUO) ABEDIN was not involved in the review and production of CLINTON's email, in response to a similar request that CLINTON received from DoS. ABEDIN stated that the review was conducted by CLINTON's attorneys and that she was not consulted during the process.
At 8:
Private Residences
(U//FOUO) CLINTON's residence in Washington, DC (Whitehaven) had a small office on the third floor that was converted to a SCIF by DoS. DoS removed the original door and replaced it with a metal door with a key code lock during the conversion. Inside the SCIF there was a desk where CLINTON worked and a computer, printer, facsimile machine and a television. DoS also installed a STE, a "yellow phone" and a video teleconference (VTC) system. ABEDIN provided that the door to the SCIF was not always locked and that ABEDIN, HANLEY and the [redacted] had access to the SCIF.
At 9:
(U//FOUO) CLINTON's residence in Chappaqua, NY, was also outfitted with a small SCIF that had the same equipment as the Whitehaven SCIF, less the television set. ABEDIN provided that CLINTON was the only person to use the SCIF and that she routinely used the Cisco telephone to make calls from Chappaqua because the cellular coverage was not very good there. ABEDIN, HANLEY and [redacted] all had access to the SCIF.
At 10:
(U//FOUO) ABEDIN provided that when CLINTON needed to contact the President she would have call the oval office to coordinate the meeting or call. ABEDIN believed that CLINTON had the President's email address but ABEDIN did not know what it was. ABEDIN noted that the President could only receive emails from approved addresses. She recounted that when CLINTON changed her primary email address they had to notify the White House so that CLINTON's emails would not be rejected by the server. ABEDIN was not sure how often CLINTON emailed the President. ABEDIN was shown an email chain dated June 28, 2012, with the subject "Re: Congratulations!" ABEDIN did not recognize the name of the sender. Once informed that the sender's name is believed to be a pseudonym used by the President, ABEDIN exclaimed "How is this not classified?" ABEDIN then expressed her amazement at the President's use of a pseudonym and asked if she could have a copy of the email. ABEDIN provided that she did not go on the trip to St. Petersburg and noted that security protocols in St. Petersburg were not necessarily the same as they were in Moscow, where they were not allowed use to their Blackberries.