Fmr. Clinton Aide to Plead the Fifth to Questions on Private Server

Monica Sanchez | September 3, 2015
DONATE
Font Size

Image via Twitter

A former aide to Hillary Clinton who helped set up her private server plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment right in response to questions about the former secretary of state's email practices.  

The New York Times reports:

The former aide, Bryan Pagliano, was subpoenaed to testify before a House committee, but a lawyer for Mr. Pagliano has told the panel that his client will assert his right to remain silent and decline to answer their questions.

“The subpoena was issued by the House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. As part of its inquiry, the panel is examining Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email account while she was secretary of state, which shielded her correspondences from congressional inquiries.

Mr. Pagliano was the information technology director for Mrs. Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and then worked at the State Department as an adviser and special projects manager for its chief technology officer, according to his LinkedIn page. He left the State Department in February 2013, the same month Mrs. Clinton stepped down as secretary of state.

“It is not clear why Mr. Pagliano is refusing to answer questions about the server. The F.B.I. is investigating how classified information was handled in connection with the account, but no evidence has surfaced that Mr. Pagliano had anything to do with those materials.”

In response to the news, a Clinton campaign aide said that Pagliano’s decision was “both understandable and disappointing to us, because we believe he has every reason to be transparent about his I.T. assistance.

“We had hoped Bryan would also agree to answer any questions from the committee and had recently encouraged him to grant the committee’s request for an interview,” the aide said.

“Bryan is an utter professional and a wonderful young man who does not live in the public eye and understandably may not wish to be drawn into a political spectacle.

Clinton and her campaign must be thrilled. 

donate