An Interesting Glitch in the Overall E-Mails Investigation — Bryan Pagliano, a key witness in the entire investigation of Hillary Clinton's E-Mail-Server System, Is Refusing to Cooperate With Any Government Investigators

Not only is Hillary Clinton’s IT-Aide “Taking the Fifth” With respect to questioning by the Benghazi Committee  —   Bryan Pagliano is also Reportedly Refusing to Cooperate with State Department and FBI Investigators 

HRC’s information tech aide won’t talk to the Benghazi Committee, U.S. State Department Investigators or the FBI about his work on HRC’s E-mail server system and related matters 

 

According to a report by Michael Isikoff for Yahoo News/ Politics:  “The former aide to Hillary Clinton who helped set up and maintain her private email server has declined to talk to the FBI and the State Department inspector general’s office, as well as a congressional committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, sources familiar with the investigation confirmed to Yahoo News....  The move by Bryan Pagliano, who served on Clinton’s 2008 campaign and later as a technology officer in the State Department, to decline to cooperate in two federal probes considerably raises the stakes in the Clinton email investigation, the sources said. It confronts the Justice Department with a decision about whether to grant him immunity in exchange for his testimony — a move that could be taken only were the department to escalate the probe into a full-scale criminal investigation, the sources said....” (See “Exclusive: Former Clinton aide has rebuffed FBI and State Department investigators in email probe” by Michael Isikoff, 9/3/15, Yahoo.com/ Politics [https://www.yahoo.com/politics/clinton-aide-has-rebuffed-fbi-and-state-department-128271848515.html]).

It should be noted that —   “....   Pagliano’s decision this week to decline to testify before a congressional committee investigating the death of the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi was first reported Wednesday night by the Washington Post. But Pagliano’s earlier rebuffs to federal investigators, including the FBI, have not been previously reported.....”

BACKGROUND OF INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING BRYAN PAGLIANO

Pagliano,  was first contacted by the State Department inspector general’s office in June, according to Isikoff's sources.  The State Department's IG was at that point in the early stages of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official business. However, Pagliano declined to speak to the inspector general’s investigators, informing them through his Washington lawyer, Mark MacDougall, that Pagliano would invoke his Fifth Amendment right, again according to Isikoff's sources.

Then, in late July, the State Department inspector general and the inspector general for the director of national intelligence referred the matter to the FBI counterintelligence division to determine if classified information was mishandled through the use of the private email server after finding evidence that classified information was communicated on emails sent through the server.  The FBI also sought to question Pagliano and he again refused. His refusal to answer questions was communicated by his lawyer to senior lawyers in the counterintelligence section of the Justice Department’s national security division.

On August 11th, the House Select Committee investigating Benghazi, subpoenaed Bryan Pagliano to turn over documents and testify at a hearing on September 10th. However, earlier this week, Pagliano's lawyer sent Rep. Trey Gowdy, Chairman of the Committee, a letter informing Gowdy that his client would not answer questions, citing the fact that the issue “is a subject of investigative activity by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.”

PAGLIANO'S JOBS FOR HILLARY CLINTON

According to Michael Isikoff’s reporting,  sources familiar with the Clinton probe have said that Mr. Pagliano is a potentially central figure in any investigation of Hillary Clinton’s E-mail and server system.  Pagliano might be one of the few people who can answer key questions about why HRC’s private email server was set up, what he was told by HRC about its purpose, and who had access to it and what protections existed to guard the system against hackers or any other outside intrusions.

Also according to the Isikoff-Yahoo News piece, Bryan Pagliano had been an information technology director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. Then in due course, he moved over to the State Department office of the chief technology officer but continued to maintain access to the private server “remotely” as well as paying occasional visits to the Clintons’ home to help maintain it, Isikoff’s sources said.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN'S RESPONSE

On Thursday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign spokesman said the former Secretary of State had urged Pagliano to cooperate in the probe.  “We have been confident from the beginning that Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email was allowed and that she did not send or receive anything marked classified, facts confirmed by the State Department and the Inspector General,” said campaign spokesman Nick Merrill in a statement. Merrill added this: “She has made every effort to answer questions and be as helpful as possible, and has encouraged her aides, current and former, to do the same, including Bryan Pagliano....”