The FBI concluded that a computer technician working on Clinton's email was not engaged in an illicit cover-up when he asked on the Reddit website for a tool that could delete a "VIP" email address throughout a large file, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday.
Republican lawmakers have suggested that the July 2014 Reddit post from a user believed to be Platte River Networks specialist Paul Combetta showed an effort to hide Clinton's emails from investigators.
However, at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Comey said FBI agents concluded that all the computer aide was trying to do was replace Clinton's email address so it wouldn't be revealed to the public.
"Our team concluded that what he was trying to do was when they produced emails not have the actual address but have some name or placeholder instead of the actual dot-com address in the 'From:' line," Comey said.
Comey of course said this in front of a GOP led committee that was fired up after some pro-Trump folks on Reddit thought they had discovered some kind of smoking gun:
In the 2014 Reddit post, user "Stonetear" described "a very interesting situation where I need to strip out a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived email that I have both in a live Exchange mailbox, as well as a PST file."
This inspired the Right Wing conspiracy machine to start cranking out headlines like, "How Reddit Ruined The Hillary Clinton Campaign," Clinton's Email Scandal Is Back In The News Again — Because Of Reddit," and "Reddit Busts Hillary Clinton Email Cover-up."
I actually visit Reddit several times a day, and I watched this whole thing start to take off.
In the beginning there were a few voices of reason essentially pointing out that this in no way pointed to proof of any conspiracy or coverup, however they were quickly shouted down by the Reddit crowd's fascination with conspiracy theories, and of course a sort of overriding dislike for Hillary Clinton.
Anyhow before you knew it folks were talking indictment, dusting off the Bernie Sanders campaign again, and of course talking cover up, cover up, cover up.
At this point I am essentially finished with all things e-mail, private server, or Clinton criminality.
EVERY SINGLE "explosive" new detail about any of these subjects has eventually turned out to be a nothing burger.
I have watched time and time again as the Right Wing has wound themselves up into a mouth frothing frenzy over some supposed "nail in the coffin" factoid only to have an investigation find nothing, or next to nothing worthy of their celebratory chest beating.
Perhaps John Oliver said it best about all of these Hillary Clinton "scandals" last weekend. "It's not good, but it's not as bad as it looks."
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