Pages 121 to 140 PDF (Overview)
Chapter Five: Investigation Methods Used
This section of the IG Report reviews the FBI/DOJ "Midyear Exam" Team investigation into the email content for the private accounts of Clinton Senior Aides, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills; the Voluntary Interviews of Key Witnesses; Immunity Deals granted to three witnesses including two IT professionals Pagliano and Combetta who oversaw Hillary's email servers and a State Department Official, Bentel; and the attempts to obtain voluntary witness testimony by Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson together with their laptops relating to the process of "culling" Hillary's personal email from her State Department work email transferred from her private email server to the laptops. Investigators were also interested in Mills' own use of Gmail and personal email accounts to communicate classified information in her role as Hillary's Chief of Staff during her tenure at the State Department.
The following general observations can be made:
(1) The Midyear Team (FBI/DoJ investigators and prosecutors) took a very gentle approach to obtaining evidence and witness testimony resulting in gaps in key evidence.
(2) The FBI (including Strzok) were more interested in pursuing strong legal avenues of subpoenas and search warrants to gain the cooperation and evidence from key witnesses, including Hillary's top aides, Abedin and Mills, and White House Liaison Heather Samuelson. The DoJ Prosecutors and other high ranking officials preferred to allow the witnesses to agree to give evidence by consent.
(3) The Prosecutors wanted to prevent any delays in the investigation in order to wrap it up before the election. Thus they did not want to have to go to court to fight any challenges against possible subpoenas or search warrants.
(4) The Midyear Team gave away immunity deals "like candy" and did not require incriminating evidence to be given against the key players or targets (Hillary, Cheryl Mills, Huma Abedin, Jake Sullivan) in exchange.
(5) The Midyear Team gave extraordinary deference to the key witnesses and/or their excuses for not testifying voluntarily or honestly.
(6) There was no mention of any concerns relating to the potential connection between foreign powers/actors accessing Hillary's confidential emails and the impact on Americans in Benghazi or other international hotspots. The investigation was carried out with all the urgency and gravity of an examination of a mere technical breach of intelligence/classified information laws.
Details and key quotes to follow.