Transcripts For CSPAN House Oversight Hearing Focuses On State Department Record Keeping 20160914

And they passed a bill extending Technical Education programs, and a resolution calling for a new agreement with israel about u. S. Military assistance. Also today, the house began debate on a bill to make it easier for the department of Veterans Affairs to fire and promote its employees. Debate on the bill will continue tomorrow and we are expecting a final passage vote. Earlier this afternoon, Republican Congress and john fleming offered a resolution to impeach irs commissioner john costin and. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2a1, i rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the house. The form of the resolution is as follows. House resolution 828, impeaching john Andrew Kosten and, mmissio Revenue Service for high crimes and misdemeanors. Resolved, that john andrew costky anyone, commissioner of the internal Revenue Service is impeached for high crimes and zpheerns and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the senate. Articles of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives of the United States of america in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of america against john Andrew Koskinen, commissioner of the internal Revenue Service. In maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. Article 1. John Andrew Koskinen in his conduct while commissioner of the internal Revenue Service engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties as an officer of the United States as follows. Commissioner koskinen failed in his duty to respond to lawfully issued congressional subpoenas. On august 2, 2013, the economy on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives issued a subpoena to secretary of the treasury jacob lew, the custodian of internal Revenue Service documents. That subpoena demanded, among other things, that all communications sent or received by lois lerner from january 1, 2009, to august 2, 2013, on february 14, 2014, following the senates confirmation of john Andrew Koskinen, as commissioner of the internal Revenue Service, the committee on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives reissued the subpoena to him. On march 4, 2014, internal Revenue Service employees in marksburg, west virginia, magnetically erased 422 back up tapes. Destroying as many as 24,000 of lois lerners emails responsive to the subpoena. This action impeded congressional investigations into the internal Revenue Service, targeting of americans based on their political affiliation. The American People may never know the true culpability or extent of the internal Revenue Service targeting because of the destruction of evidence that took place. Wherefor, john Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial and removing from office. Article 2, john Andrew Koskinen engaged in a pattern of deception that demonstrates his unfitness to serve as commissioner of the internal Revenue Service. Commissioner koskinen made a series ever false and misleading statements to congress in contravention of his oath to tell the truth. Those false statements included the following number one, on june 20, 2014, commissioner koskinen testified that since the start of this investigation every email has been preserved. Nothing has been lost. Nothing has been destroyed, end quote. Number two, on june 23, 2014, commissioner koskinen testified that the internal Revenue Service had, quote, confirmed that backup tapes from 2014 no longer existed because they had been recycled pursuant to the internal Revenue Service normal polcy, end quote. He did policy, end quote. He went to explain, confirmed means that somebody went back and looked and made sure that in fact any backup tapes that existed had been recycled, end quote. Number three, on march 26, 2014, commissioner koskinen was asked during a hearing before the committee on oversight and government reform of the house of representatives, quote, sir, are you or are you not going to provide this committee all of lois lerners emails . End quote. He answered, quote, yes, we will do that, end quote. Each of those statements was materially false. On march 4, 2014, internal Revenue Service employees magnetically erased 422 backup tapes containeding as many as 4,000 of lois lerners emails. On february 2, 2014, senior internal Revenue Service officials discovered that lois learners computer hard drive had crashed rendering hundreds or thousands of her emails unrecoverable. Commissioner koskinens false statements impeded and confused congressional investigations into the internal Revenue Service targeting of americans based on their political affiliation. Wherefore, john Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Article 3, john andrew costinen throughout his tenure as commissioners of the internal Revenue Service has acted in a manner inconsistent with the trust and confidence placed in him as an officer of the United States as follows, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on finance, john Andrew Koskinen promised, quote, we will be transparent about any problems we run into and the public and certainly this committee will know about those problems as soon as we do, end quote. Commissioner koskinen repeatedly violated that promise. As early as february 2014 and no later than april 2014, he was aware a substantial portion of lois lerners emails could not be produced to congress. However in a march 19, 2014, letter to senator wyden, commissioner koskinen said, quote, we are transmitting today Additional Information that we believe completes our production to your committee and the house ways and means committee. In light of these productions, i hope the investigations can be concluded in the very near future, end quote. At the time he sent that letter, he knew that the document production was not complete. Commissioner koskinen did not notify congress of any problem until june 13, 2014 when he included the information on the fifth page of the third enclosure of a letter to the Senate Committee on finance. Wherefore, john Andrew Koskinen, by such conduct warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Article 4, john Andrew Koskinen has failed to act with confidence and forthrightness in overseeing the investigation into internal Revenue Service targeting of americans because of their political affiliations as follows commissioner koskinen stated in a hearing on june 20, 2014, that the internal Revenue Service had, quote, gone to great lengths, end quote, to retrieve all of lois lerners emails. Commissioner koskinens actions contradicted the assurances he gave to congress. The treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found over 1,000 of lois lerners emails that the internal Revenue Service had failed to produce. Those discoveries took only 15 days of investigation to uncover. The treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration searched a number of available sources, including disaster backup tapes. Lois lerners blackberry, the email server, backup tapes for the email servers, and lois learners temporary replacement laptop. The internal Revenue Service failed to examine any of those sources in its own investigation. Wherefore, john Andrew Koskinen by such conduct warrants impeachment, trial, and removal from office. The speaker pro tempore under rule 9, the resolution offered from the floor by a member other than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the house has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the chair within two legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed. Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the gentleman from louisiana will appear in the record at this point. The chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at the time always have cspan on the go. Joining us on the phone is brian fallon, press secretary to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Thank you for being with us here on cspan. Brian its good to be with you. Are there lessons you and your campaign are taking place in the way this matter was handled . Sunday we, theon staff could have done a better job of getting more information or quickly. There was about a 90 minute span where she had left the event at the 9 11 memorial site. We were getting hurt to chelseas apartment, an opportunity to get into in her conditionsentering some water. There was understandably a lot of interest and curiosity about where she was and what her condition was. I think we were trying to be cautious and released the most Accurate Information possible. We couldve done a better job of getting information out more quickly. She is doing better and will probably be back on the campaign trail in the next one or two days. Host there is with secretary clinton said last night on cnn. Shouldvequentin i clinton i probably wouldve been better off if i just pulled down my schedule on friday. Like a lot of people, i thought i could keep Going Forward and power through it and obviously that did not work out so well. Host this story also getting reaction from 70 different people, including david axelrod. Hillary clintons penchant for secrecy. That has been one of the underlying stories. Can you respond to that tweet and storyline . Mr. Fallon i dont think we have the campaign, or she, but that theton pneumonia she was diagnosed with on friday was something that will implicate that issue. She said to Anderson Cooper last night it was not a big deal to her. I think a lot of americans are used to coming down with a severe cold or strep throat, or in this case pneumonia. You take your antibiotics. Often times you will still try to show up to work and power through, and that is what she was intending to do. After sunday we realized she needed more rest and that is what she is doing now. We have saidneral we are going to release additional medical information about her health condition. It wasbe a top already released over a year ago which is the standard for president ial candidates. When you look at the totality of what is out there, from her Health Records to her tax returns to her emails, to her schedule as secretary of state, there is more information about Hillary Clinton and pretty much any nominee in modern history. The opposite is true for donald trump. He is keeping the minimum standard on disclosure. I think sometimes we lose sight of that in this discussion around transparency. Host realizing these records are being put together today, how much more will be learned about her Health Records and will he have similar records for senator tim kaine . Beenallon i think it has a year or so since we released a comprehensive report from her physician. Mentioned was the standard test that senator i should say president obama and o in 2012ey adhered t when they were running a conference of report with a great deal of medical information about her that we released over a year ago. It has been a year since then. She has obviously seen her physician on a couple of occasions since then. Updated,o provide comprehensive information about her health. That is what we are going to do. We are taking the time to put the material together. I expect it will be out very soon. Kaine isarly, senator looking over the materials. I expect we will have an announcement in the next day or two. That is our intention to continue to be transparent. It will really be going above and beyond because we are confident we met the standard already almost a year ago. Host you say we expect to see Hillary Clinton act on the campaign trail wednesday or thursday potentially . Mr. Fallon were still monitoring how she is doing today. We made the decision on sunday to pull down her plant travel to california planned travel to california. We have not made any additional decisions yet. Exactly when she will resume her schedule is still being sorted out. If not tomorrow, i expected to be thursday. Eminently she will be out there. If she had her druthers, she probably wouldve flown out to california yesterday because she has been rearing to go. About 60 or so days left in this campaign. There is so much at stake and she doesnt want to miss a minute or leave any voter not communicated to any final weeks. Host in addition to resting, is using this time preparing for the debate . Mr. Fallon she has put the focus on resting. Shes had some conversations by phone with staff, but we mostly left her alone and are really trying to honestly have her take the time as her doctor recommended to just rest and recuperate. She has recorded as of this morning she is feeling much better. Yesterday she felt better than sunday. She is feeling much better even more than yesterday. We see steady improvement and i expect her to be back out there soon. We will be separately preparing for the debates. She is looking forward to them. She takes them very seriously. She thinks they are an essential proving ground and any president ial candidate must submit to it and showing you are up for the job. She will be undertaking the usual preparations that she did through the primary or we had a little debate with senator sanders. Opponentsying her positions and ready to make her case. Always acquits herself well because he takes is a seriously. I think donald trump is doing his own preparations. We just want to make sure that its a very High Standard anyone seeking the presidency should have to be able to satisfy in order to prove themselves to the American People and we intend to be judged at High Standard. We want donald trump to be judged by the same standard. Host in terms of the mechanics of preparing for the debates, can you give us any insight or color into how she is doing that, and who is playing donald trump in these preparations . Mr. Fallon we havent gone into great detail about exactly how those preparations are taking place. I can say the team of advisers is working with her is the same as the group that helped with her preparations during the primary. In general, she does a lot of reading, absorbs a lot. She likes to do her homework. That is true in general, but particularly true of the debates. She is pretty fluent in most of the policy areas. We have been very proud of the fact during this campaign we have been very detailed and policy proposals we put forward. Last week we published a book called stronger together, a conference of volume of vision that secretary clinton and senator kaine are running on. She doesnt need to necessarily known up on policy issues, but i think donald trump says so much in the course of his campaign and i think that he will have to open up to some of the hateful, controversial statements hes made in the course of his campaign before it is all said and done, including at those debates. Familiarizing yourself with that is an important step. She will be ready come the first debate at hofstra. Again, is always prepared to be judged at the highest of standards as anyone seeking the highest office in the land should be, and donald trump should be judged by the same standard. Host brian fallon joining us quarters in brooklyn, new york. Thank you for being with us. Mr. Fallon have a great day. Cspan continues on the road to the white house. We are going to get things done, big things. That is who we are as americans. We will have one Great American future. Our potential is unlimited. Live coverage of the president ial adVice President ial debates on spam. The cspan radio app, and cspan. Org. 26, is thetember first president of debate from hofstra university. Then on tuesday, october 4, Vice President of candidate governor mike pence and senator tim kaine debate at Longwood University in virginia. On from sunday, october 9, Washington University hosts the second president ial debate, leading up to the third and final debate between Hillary Clinton and donald trump taking place at university of nevada las vegas on october 19. Live coverage of the president ial and buys president ial debates on cspan. Listen live on the free cspan and cspan. Org. And cspan. Org. Donald trumps running mate, mike pence governor pence said the comments disqualify her from serving as president and that she should apologize for the statement. He made the comments at a press conference that followed a meeting with House Speaker paul ryan and other Republican Leaders at the Republican National Committee Headquarters in washington. I hope you like the new set up. We just left our conference and there was an excitement in the air to have our good friend, governor mike pence back. For many years he let us in our conference, let us into the majority. And a lot of excitement as he travels across the country with a number of members joining him in the future of making America Great again. We have four different bills. We will deal with tax increases to obamacare, changing the veterans administration, transparency in government, and security. Those are issues that mike is been talking about across this country and they are issues americans have been telling him about. We watch the failures. The backlog of disability claims. Its become so bad you cant even fire in employee if they show up drunk. Our chairman has a tilted deal with that. And all americans believe you have transparency lim 20 comes to washington bureaucracy. We will be moving the bill to deal with that. The challenge that we refine security around the world. This is not the time to be releasing those terrorists at gitmo and bringing them to america. We will have a bill that prohibits that as well. Governor mike pence travels this country talking about the future, the house will be leading a better way agenda and look forward to after the selection having a team in the white house that will sign the bills to protect us from attacks increased a tax increase, greater transparency, perform the v. A. System, and give us all the security we need. It was great having our friend join us at the republican Conference Today. Governor, we appreciate you being there. You can tell the enthusiasm in the room, many of him mike served with. It was the same kind of enthusiasm ive seen as ive gone around the country traveling, campaigning for House Republicans. You can sense in those states whether it is a swing state or not that there is incredible momentum around the trunkpence pencet trumptens ticket. While people are losing their houses around this tragic flood, you can see not only how much they lifted people up at an incredibly low time, how much it really gay people spirit to know they were somebody who really cared. The fact that they showed up, with the churches and gave out relief supplies to people. That is the kind of people they are. Itn you look at the momentum shows you people are responding to their message of making America Great again, as we talk about our message of a better way. The agenda we have pushed as House Republicans to show how you can get the country back on track, heidi can create jobs, how you can rebuild the middle class and strengthen a military that is been depleted. It goes hand in hand with the message that Donald Trump Mike Pence have been delivering all around the country. It is why you have such great enthusiasm and why we will win this election and be able to start turning this country around again. It was great seeing might before our conference. The members are excited. More importantly, d. C. People around the country excited about the optimism about their ticket is getting to make America Great again. Rep. Rogers it was a highlight of this year have hence here today addressing our conference. We are very proud to have him on the ticket, proud of the leadership he is bringing. You think about this election, it has been anything but status quo. Clearly this country is hungry for new, fresh, dynamic leadership. And what we see being offered by the other side is a defense of the status quo. Since the beginning of this year it has been bottomup. Empowering people. Making sure we have a government that reflects the consent of the governed. Governed. Because at the end of the day, we need to be about the farmer, the builder, the statehome at the stayathome parents. It should not be a government that inks it knows what is best. We are excited about the leadership of donald trump and mike pence, that they are bringing to america to help make America Great again. We had our last Conference Today and we were joined by someone who needs no introduction. For hoosiers, mike pence is their governor. Are americans, mike pence is americas next Vice President. Press, he is our colleagues. Us toworking with all of make sure we put the country back on the right track will stop we are offering an agenda to show how we can get the country back on top. To show how we can get jobs, fight poverty, rebuild the military, restore Self Government and constitution. Honored to we are have our friend and colleague who we believe is going to be the next Vice President of the United States. Mike hence. We are excited to have him. We are excited to move the agenda. Bettergopore, go to and see what we have in store. With that, i would like to introduce mike pence. Mr. Pence thank you so much for this whole leadership theme. It is a great privilege for me. To be back among summary men and women who live out every day a dedication to this nation that is truly an spiral. Im grateful for the hospitality. It was, for me, and emotional return to a group of men and women i served with for 12 years and have so admired. I know donald trump and i are so grateful for the support that we are receiving not just from this but members all across the country who are rallying to the cause to make America Great again. To be but members all across at the House Republican Conference Today was a great privilege. I particularly want to express my appreciation to Speaker Paul Ryan. His development of the better way agenda. Its so aligns with Donald Trumps vision to make America Great again. The American People should be confident that 56 days from now we can elect a president and reelect majority sunni house and senate that will be ready on day one to restore american strength at home and abroad. The house commitment to and plans to rebuild our military, reduce taxes, and the war on american energy, rollback jobkilling regulations, repeal obamacare, and support the kinds of policies that will result in prosperous more america. It represents an extraordinary start. The important work we have to do as a country, seven and half years of the leadership of barack obama and Hillary Clinton ofing her years as secretary state have weakened americas place in the world and stifled americas economy and with the strong leadership that donald trump will bring to the white house, with our strong partners in the house and in the senate, the members of which i will be meeting later today, we are confident we can bring real change in realtime to the American People and i leave here today with a grateful heart to be among my friends and those men and women that i hope and pray we have the opportunity to Work Together to make this country great again. Questions . We dont do it that way. We dont do it that way. Go ahead. What you call deplorable to agree some of your supporters governor pence let me say first and foremost, i think millions of americans were shocked and saddened to see Hillary Clinton referred to people across this country as a basket of deplorables in a prepared speech before wealthy donors in new york city on friday night. Halfaid that at the time of the people supporting donald trump and i were redeemable, were notamerica redeemable, were not american. I have never heard a major Party Candidate in the United States become of the American People is such contempt. Campaign am out on the trail every day campaigning with donald trump and for donald trump and with Hillary Clinton, she apparently does not know the people supporting this campaign are hardworking americans who come onto to our rallies, come out to our town halls and stop us in diners to visit with us at meetings, at factories. They are people that work with their hands, run businesses, they are veterans, members of the armed forces, Law Enforcement officers, moms, dads, farmers. For Hillary Clinton to express such disdain for millions of america i think is just one more reason that disqualifies her to serve in the highest office in the land. Anyone who has that low opinion of the American People should never serve as president of the United States of america. As i said this week and i will say again. Donald supporters are not a basket of anything. They are americans and they deserve the respect of the democrat nominee for president of the United States. Donald trump, his ambition is to all the people of the United States of america and as he said this weekend and we believe from our hearts, even those who do not support us, even those who are critical of us or have strongly different views, have our respect. Because they are americans in we respect their real right to their reviews and to their respect them. I was asked yesterday once again a question that i am i continue to for all the world i had no idea why this man keeps coming up. I mean, donald trump and i have. Enounced david duke repeatedly we have said that we do not want his support and we do not want the support of people who think like him. And yesterday i was asked a question about that and i repeated that again. And the simple fact is that i am namecalling business. My colleagues in the house of the representatives know that i believe that civility is essential in a vibrant democracy and it has never been my practice but i am also not going to validate the language that Hillary Clinton used to describe the American People. I mean, look, millions of americans now and frankly, you all know, Hillary Clinton was not talking about that that man. She was talking about that. Ad man she was talking about people who are coming out in record numbers to stand with donald trump and his vision to make America Great again. We will call on her again to apologize and retractor comments. I mean, the only thing she main the only thing she said so far was she was wrong about the math. She said have. The truth is, her remarks were deeply insulting to people all across the country know we can do better. You know we can be stronger. And we call on Hillary Clinton and her campaign once again to offensiveact those statements and apologize to the American People as she should. Governor, do you have any [indiscernible] today david duke talked about you specifically. Are you concerned there is something about the trump [indiscernible] governor pence we live in a free country and i would draw no more conclusion then that mans ipressionss of support than wouldve the father of the terrorist to killed 49 americans Hillary Clinton rally cheering her on and said he was there because she was good at National Security. I mean, look folks. There are two people on the ballot here. And Donald Clinton trump. One of them is going to be president of the United States of america and i would submit to you this is a late distraction. I understand why Hillary Clinton and her Campaign Want to change the subject. On friday speech night. I mean, we all have recognized, the media has recognize, this a catastrophic insult to the people of america and it is important the people around america know this was a planned speech. It is not the first time she called millions of americans a basket of deplorables. Anyone that has that low of an opinion of the American People should never serve in the highest office in the land. Let me hear your thoughts on the naacp decision to ban some of the championship over what is seen as a law. It is similar to the allstar game. Governor pence i just heard about at this morning and dont have the details to comment other than to say the end of ca is located in los angeles and we have a great relationship with them. Donald trump leaves his thesions are best made at state level and when a dispute arises it should be in resolved in the courts. This guy here. He was patient and not shouting out. Data. Pence, [or scernible] governor pence ok, somebody else. [laughter] governor pence i can tell where youre going. Forcefullyryan has repudiated Donald Trumps remarks. I wonder that is difficult for you reaching out to some republicans. Governor pence my and Donald Trumps respect and appreciation for Speaker Paul Ryan is boundless. Look, you and any Majority Party you are going to have disagreements. What was so inspiring to me to be at the house Conference Today and the meeting with the speaker consistency there is between Donald Trumps vision to rebuild our military, revive the american economy, uphold the rule of law, and the agenda that House Republicans have put forward in a better way. I mean, i really do believe we have a historic opportunity before us today with the enormous talent here in the house of the representative led by Speaker Paul Ryan. With the energy and the vision of a President Donald Trump and a reelected Republican Senate to turn this country around and turn it around very quickly. I mean, i said at the Conference Today, this is the most dramatic choice in in election in my lifetime. This is not a choice between one candidate who will grow america this much and another candidate who will grow america this much, this is literally a choice as to whether we are going to continue to go downhill to a weaker america at home and abroad. Whether we are going to continue to walk away from the constitutional liberties the interpretation by the Supreme Court. Whether we are going to walk away from the highest standards of integrity in highest office of the land or plan to our feed and march back uphill to a greater freedom, greater american strength, greater prosperity. House republicans, senate republicans, are deeply committed to marching back up that hill and when we elect donald trump is the next president of the United States of america, they will have a team and a partner in the white house to march back up to a stronger and greater america. So, thank you very much. Announcer eight weeks from tonight tuesday, november 8, we will be here at cspan with election results, Congressional Election results, and more. Your calls, your comments, your tweets and more coming up on tuesday, november 8. It seems like not a day goes by when there is not a election poll coming up. The hill review this one. Surveymonkey saying Hillary Clinton is leading donald trump i four points. 4844 . Week. Wo points from last meanwhile, Hillary Clinton recovering from the bout of pneumonia over the weekend. Said to return to the campaign trail. It from cnn, the traveling press secretary on the thaton campaign saying Hillary Clinton will resume her travel on thursday. Today she watched the president that Hillary Clinton will resume her travel on thursday. Today she watched the president speech, briefings, and calls. So back on the trail thursday. President obamas first appearance on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton today in philadelphia. Here is the reporting of the wall street journal saying obama stumps for hillary. Hillary knox donald trump sans putin. The president accuses trump of a ducting russian president Vladimir Putin esses role model. The president on a sunny day near the museum speaking to a large crowds, spoke for about 50 minutes. Thank you. Thank you so much. It is an honor to be here today in my hometown on this beautiful day. I am so proud to be here because so much that they should not be here today. The poverty, me and my 11 siblings, the values ,nstilled of hard work persistence, integrity, and community empowered me to build avenues of alleviation from the difficult circumstances into which i was born. Why my story is unique, there are fundamental similarities that links it to your stories. If itd not be here today were not for the contributions of people around me. , it was myamily family who taught me that pride does not always come from the light but from the structure you mold from it. Supporthe collaborative of my fellow americorps volunteers in response to Hurricane Sandy that showed me the power of positive participation. It was my coworkers who informed me about the Medicaid Expansion in pennsylvania, thanks to the Affordable Care act that enabled me to get health care for the first time in my life at the age of 21. [cheers and applause] it was the community of college of philadelphia a blocks m here who challenged here me to explore the intellectual depth of my capabilities. And, it is in daily engagement with my classmates and mentors at force till College Forest hill college where i got the courage to get between academics and action. Myues of social justice in community. Finally, it is leaders who demonstrate sound moral judgment. The courage to hope for a brighter future. Initiative to affect change in their communities to inspire the change ito be want to see in the world. That is why it is my utmost todayto introduce to you a man who embodies these exemplary characteristics, the president of the United States. F America President obama [cheers and appli lause] [cheers and applause] pres. Obama hello philly applause] pres. Obama hello philadelphia illy. Good to be back in ph good everybody please give patrick a big round of applause for that great introduction . Oh it is good to be back on the campaign trail. , i know i amtand not the first person from the white house to come to philadelphia this week. Some of you may have seen joe biden at the eagles game. He told me, barack you have got to get on. We have a new quarterback, we y. Ve hope in phillo and i explained, joe i am a bears fan. Myi have got to stick with team, but i am going to go to philly and scout out what all of thes is about. I am also here because you have got some of the best Public Servants in america. A work their hearts out every day for you. Got scrantons favorite son, senator bob casey. One of the best senators in the house. For outstanding governor, thomas here. Your wonderful mayor is here. Membersour outstanding of the house of the representatives, tom brady is an the house. Your candidate for the United States senate, this they special woman, she is going to do a great job. And, your candidate for attorney general, an old friend of mine who was with me early on. Give them a big round of applause. Now, i love you too. Some business to do here. We have got some business to do. This will be this will be one of the last times i visit philly as president. And so, my first order of is this is to say thank you for all of the support you have given me these years. Got incredible memories here in philly. Most recently the Democratic National convention. Prouder of not the the leader that we have nominated to take my place. Even though i have run my last campaign, i am going to work as hard as i can this fall as ourt Hillary Clinton next president of the United States of america. Applause] [chanting hillary] obama now, in election season youll often hear crazy stuff. Year have got to say, this it has been a little more crazy than usual. That, after almost two terms as your president , i am here to tell you i am more optimistic about our future they and i have ever been. Because i have seen an america that for all the challenges and noise, we still have the capacity to come together and do great things. Think about it. We fought our way back from the worst recession in 80 years. Decliningaround a economy. We helped our Auto Industry set new records. 15 millions new jobs. We slashed dependence on foreign oil. Doubled our clean energy. Made Marriage Equality a reality and all 50 states. We brought more of our troops home to their families. We brought justice to a summer bin laden. Diplomacy rather than war we shut down Irans Nuclear programs. Opened up a new chapter with the people of cuba. Brought nearly 200 nations together around a climate agreement that could save this planet for our kids and our rent kids. That is what we have done. By so many measures, america is stronger and more prosperous than when we started out on this journey together. In fact some of you may have saw there was a new report out just year showing that last across every age, every race, in incomes rose, poverty rates fell. The typical Household Income of americans rose by 2800 which is the single biggest oneyear increase on record. 3. 5 Million People out largestty, that is the oneyear drop in poverty since 1968. Is the lowestrate it has been since they kept records. The pay gap between men and women shrank to the lowest level ever. Now lets face it. Republicans do not like to hear good news right now. But it is important to understand this is a big eel. More americans are working. More have health insurance. Incomes are rising. Poverty is falling. Gallon. Is two dollars a thank you for reminding me. Thanks obama ] heers and applause pres. Obama said the steps we have been taken over the shares have paid off. We have shown progress is possible and of course none of this was easy. We knew all along the change was not going to be quick. We knew we would not need all of our challenges in one term or one presidency. We are here because we know we have more work to do. For every worker who still needs a raise were a decent retirement. For every child who still needs a worldclass education. For every family that has not yet held progress these past eight years. We have done more work, we know that. The choice that you may, that we may, just eight weeks from today will determine the direction of this country for a long time. And i have already said this. This is not a choice. Usual choicehe between parties and policies and left and right. This is more fundamental. This is a fundamental choice about who we are as a people. This is a choice about the very meaning of america. [applause] and. Obama democrats republicans, we have always had our differences. Theres nothing wrong with that. That is how the country moves forward. We have debate, different ideas, we compete, we see what will work. But, what we have seen from the other side in this election, this is not abraham lincolns republican party. Is not even a division of freedom that Ronald Reagan talked about. This is a are, pessimistic dark, this is a pessimistic vision of a country where we turn away from each other, turn away from the rest of the world. Theyre not offering serious solutions. They are fanning resentment and blame and anger and hate. Not the america we know. That is not the america i know. The america i know is full of courage and optimism and generosity and ingenuity and innovation. Yes, we got real concerns. We worry about the bills, protecting our kids, caring for innovation. Sick parents. Lord knows we get frustrated by washington and all of the gridlock. We worry about racial division. There are pockets of america fromnever fully recovered the factories closing down. There are parents worried about whether the kids will have the same opportunities they had. But, look, i have traveled in every state. And i have seen more then anything all that is good and right about america. I see people working hard. I see folks starting businesses. Digging in their own pockets to buy School Materials and teaching kids just because they love kids. Inave seen men in women uniform serving their country, making incredible sacrifices. I see engineers inventing new stuff. Doctors coming up with nook years. In most of all i see the Younger Generation that is so full of energy and ideas. Not going to be held back. Imagine what it can be and stead of just what it is. I see americans of every party, every back on, every faith who ultimately believe we are stronger together. Us, young, old, men, women, black, white, latino, asian, native american, folks with disabilities. All pledging allegiance to the same proud flag. That is the america i know. That is the america you know. And theres just one candidate in this race whose devoted her life to building that america. A mother and a grandmother who would do anything to help our children do better. A leader who has got role plans flyreak down barriers and through glass ceilings and provide an opportunity for every single american. The next president of the United States of america Hillary Clinton [cheers and applause] hillary ] pres. Obama can i just say, i am really into electing Hillary Clinton. Like, this is not me going through the motions here. Want to, really, really elect Hillary Clinton. [cheers and applause] president obama sometimes folks are kind of surprised by that because i remember, man, you were fighting eight years ago. And, it was tough. Hillary is tough. Every time i thought i had that raise one, i was going up the rocky states. Like i was about to celebrate. And then i look and she is right there. And i got whipped here in pennsylvania. Whooped me. In, you did make it up to me november when i want. But i have seen what she could accomplish. I have seen how savvy and top she was. So i said, joint my team. She was not sure about it at first, but she ultimately knew that what was at stake was bigger than either of us. That is the kind of patriot she is. For four years i had a frontrow seat. I watched her angelic her intelligence, i watched her argue for the mission for bin laden. I watched her pursuit diplomacy to open up her ships. To help promote democracy. To help reduce the nuclear threat. Tirelessly,s hard, flying around the world again and again i dont know how many times but she went around a long time. Because she had never forgotten what she was fighting for. To make sure every child has the same opportunities as her granddaughter and her daughters. I can theres one thing tell you, philadelphia, nobody fully understands the demand for my job. This job of the president. Until you actually sit behind that desk. You know, folks, look, i did not understand before he had the job. You think you do. Chanting thank you] president obama now hold on, i appreciate that. But im not gone yet. They dont have to say thank you. I am not interested yet. I have a few more months. The what you come to realize when you are in this job is, anybody can pop up. Anybody can fire off a tweet. Everybodys a critic. But that does not mean you know what it is like to manage a normal crisis. You do not know what it is like to send a group of young people to war knowing someone come back. Will not come back. But the closest you can come to understanding what it is like to do this is to be where hillary has been. To have been part of those decisions. She knows what it means for working families and Senior Citizens and Small Business owners and soldiers and veterans when we make policy in the white house. And in the middle of crisis you will listen to people and she will keep her goal and she treats everybody with respect and no matter how many times people knock her down, or mess with her, she does not quit. She doesnt quit. She doesnt quit. That is the hillary that i know. And that is why i really want to get her elected. That is the hillary i have come to admire. I believe there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as our president. ] heers and applause president obama now, hillary actually has plans to address the things that she has Heard Campaign trail. Specific ideas to invest in new jobs and help workers share in the company profits. To help put kids in preschool so they get a good start. To put students through College Without taking on a mountain of debt. That these days the campaigns sometimes the plants get ignored by they are there. They make sense. They add up. And then there is the other guy. Donald trump. Do ot dont boo. Vote. Booing is easy. Vote. You to look, lets talk about mr. Trump. Plan guy. Really a he calls himself a business guy. But, america has got a lot of businessmen and women who succeeded without hiding their tax returns, leaving a trail of lawsuits, workers who did not get paid, people feeling like. Hey got cheated i mean, look, i keep on reading this analysis that, well, you gets poor and working people votes. Really . This is the guy you want . To be championing . Working people . This guy who spent seven years on this 70 years on this earth that showing no concern for working people. This guy is suddenly going to be your champion . Mean, hes spent most of his life trying to stay as far away from working people as he could. And now this guy is going to be the champion of working people . Mean, hes knocking let you all on his golf course. Hes not going to let you buy any of his condos. And now all of a sudden hes going to be your champion . So yes, if you oppose raising the minimum wage you should vote for trump. You should also vote for pat toomey. Have a trumpto me economy. So if youre actually concerned about paying your bills, growing the economy, creating trendunity, keeping the of rising incomes and wages go in, and uninsured going down in poverty going down. If that is what youre looking for, it should not even be close. Wages, bettergher benefits, a fair tax code, a better place for worker, stronger regulations on wall street, then you should be clinton andillary Katie Mcginty and bob brady to stand up for you. And if youre concerned about who is going to keep your family safe in this dangerous world, then the choices even more clear. Look, i just came from overseas. Talk to the other leaders around the world. They dont even understand how this is happening. Ourary has worked with intelligence teams, diplomats, military. She is the judgment, and talent to meet any threats. There is no scenario she will not have seen before. She will see to it that our troops finish the job of defeating isil. Defeating isil. Doing at the right way without resorting to torture. Without [indiscernible] [crowd chanting hillary] then, we havend got the donald. On just last week went Russian State Television to talk down our military into curry favor with Vladimir Putin. ]crowd booing he loves this guy. He loves his guy. The about what is going on in the republican party. Right . They used to be opposed to andia and authoritarianism they were fighting for freedom, fighting for democracy. And now, their nominee is out , saying heing a guy is a strong leader because he invades smaller countries, jails his opponents, controls the press, and drives his economy into a long recession. Look, think about this. When the interviewer asked him, well why do you support this guy . Look, he has an 82 poll rating. 90 pollssein had a rating. , mean if you control the media then you have taken way everybodys Civil Liberties and you jail dissidents, that is what happens. Calls you up and says, do support the guy who if you dont support them he might throw you in jail, you say yes, i love that guy. The about the fact that that is Donald Trumps role model. I mean, you know, i have to do business with Vladimir Putin, have to do this is with russia, that is part of foreign policy. But i dont go around saying, that is my role model. Could you imagine Ronald Reagan analyzing somebody like that idolizing somebody like that . He saw america as a shining city on a hill. Donald trump sees us as a crime scene. He is not offering any real policies or plants, heres just offering sedition and fear. That if he scares enough people he might scare up enough votes to win this election. Mean, look, i believe americans are not a fearful people. We do not look for being rolled. Our power comes from those ideals we first put a place right here in philadelphia. That all of us are created equal, that we the people can form a more perfect union. We believe in democracy. That is what we believe in. And we do not believe that one person is going to do it for us. It is what we can do together. Achieved by us. And yes, it is hard and sometimes frustrating to persuade people and work with people and form coalitions. Workhat is the necessary of selfgovernment and that is what Hillary Clinton understands. Because she has been through it. She knows that it is a democracy. In a big diverse country like this one, it does not work if we just demonize each other and call each other names. She knows that love trumps eight. Applause and chanting] president obama she knows that most issues are not just black and white, the you have to come from eyes. She knows that for progress to happen we have to listen to each other and we have to see ourselves and each other. Our rights but also fight to find common ground. Politics does not always lend itself to those ideals. Impatient, we want progress right away. We do not want to compromise. We do not want to listen to other folks. Stay promise you, when we added, progress does happen. If you do not believe in, ask those 20 Million People who have health care today who did not have it. As that renew Services Country without having to hide the husband he loves. That marine who serves his country without having to hide the husband he loves. Somebody fainted, they will be ok. Give them a little room. Everybody and their knees one time. Dont lock your needs. Keep on ending them. We will do a little exercise right now. Drink some water. I love you, too. But then journeys. Knees. Bend your listen. You have got to want it. You have got to want democracy not just on election day but on all the days in between. This is where you come in. We can close the inequality gap in our economy. Hillary has got plans to make sure that everybody has a shot. Not just those at the top. But you have got to help her by voting for democrats up and down the ticket. We have got to get a congress back. We have got to hold everybody we elect accountable for getting the job done. We can reform our criminal Justice System but you have got to vote, not just for president but for mayors in sheriffs and state attorneys and state legislators. We have got to work with police and protesters until laws and back to says have changed. We can fix our broken immigration system but we cannot keep sending republicans to congress who stand in the way. We have got to vote for leaders who see immigrants not as criminals or rapists, but as families who came here. For the same reason hours did. To work, to study, to contribute. We need leaders in congress who know the American Dream is not something that a wall can contain. We can keep making progress against climate change. This month was the hottest on record. This year will be the hottest on record. This is not somebodys imagination. This is not a liberal plot. It is a problem. We have got to vote for people who understand it is real. And we have got to engage not just young people on college campuses, but also single moms who are worried about gas prices, homeowners worried about their kids, and hillary has got plans to do that. If you do not think the stakes are high enough, remember for months now the republicans in the senate have refused to do their job and fill a vacancy for the Supreme Court. Even though i nominated somebody with more federal judicial experience than any nominee and history, they want to see donald trump fillet with somebody who sees the world as he does. Imagine that. Who will that person be . The Supreme Court should be above politics. The people on the bench make monumental decisions that affect every aspect of our daily life. A womans right to choose. Youre right to vote. So, my most important messages, we cannot take this election for granted. We have got to fight for this thing will stop there are serious issues at stake in this election. Behind all of the frivolous stuff getting covered every day. And, let me just make a comment about that. Not i look, i am but i sure do get frustrated with the way the campaign is covered. I am just telling the truth. Guys in the back, i am just telling you the truth about how i feel about this. Do you mind if i just vent for a second . [crowd cheering] know, youobama you do not grade the presidency on a curve. This is serious business. And, when we see folks talking want toansparency, you debate transparency . Youve got one candidate in this who has relieved released decades worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all. Want to debate foundations and charities . Pause Family Foundation has saved countless lives around the world. s foundationdidate took money other people gave to his charities and then bought a six foot tall painting of himself. I mean, you know, i dont know why he didnt go for the 10 foot version, but you want to debate to a smart president . Our one candidate who has traveled to more countries than any , hastary of state ever has more qualifications then putting much anyone who is ever run for this job, and the other who was not fit to in any way, shape, or form to represent this country as its commanderinchief. [applause] president obama so, somehow as things go on, because with so soap partisan partisan, our standards for what is normal has changed. And, donald trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president. Yet, because he says it over and over and over again, the press just gives up and says, well yeah, ok. I was supposed to be worn around. Wasally, he he says he opposed to the war in iraq. Actually he was not. The reality is, we cannot afford to treat this like a reality show. We cannot afford to act as if there is some equivalence here. Pres. Obama to be president you have to do your homework and you have to know what you are talking about and you have got to apply steady judgment even when things do not go your way and you have got to make the tough calls even when they are not popular. Pay when they take years to off. Income a you got to be up to handle criticism without taking it personally. Just rush it off and then go ahead and get the job done. And, that is something i learned. And, that is what hillary learned as a senator in does a secretary of state. And as a first lady. Yes, she has her share of critics just like i do and she has been caricatured by the right and sometimes by the left in it she has been accused of everything you can imagine. And has been subjected to more scrutiny and what i believe is and unfair criticism they anybody out here. , she does not complain about it. And you know what . That is what happens when you are under the microscope for 40 years. But, what sets hillary apart is that through it all she keeps on going. She does not stop caring. ,he does not stop trying. And she never stops fighting for us even if we have not always appreciated it. Look, i understand. We are a young country. We are a restless country. We like the look, newshiny thi. I benefited from that when i was a candidate. We take for granted sometimes what is steady and true. Hillary clinton is steady. And she is true. And the young people who are here, who all of you who been seeing the nonsense that has you may beevision, do not remember all the work she has had to do. And, all of the things she has had to overcome. And all of the good that has happened because of her efforts. But you need to remember, you need to understand this. If you are serious about our democracy, then you have got to be with her. She is in the arena. You cant leave for in their i herself. Cant leave her in there by herself. Yescannot stay home because shes been around for a long time. You know what . Tv. Is not reality democracy is not a spectator sport. You dont tweak in your vote tweet in your vote. He can. It is can. Yes we we can bring about real change and real progress. The time has come for me to pass the baton on, but i know that hillary is going to take it and run that race and she will finish that race. And that is why i am with her. That is why am iron up. That is why i am ready to go. Join me. D you to i need you to work as hard for hillary as you did for me. I need you to knock on doors. I need you to make phone calls. You have got to talk to your friends, including your republican friends. Iwillvote. Com to and register to vote by october 11. And then you got to go the polls and get people to go to the polls and if you will do that with me, we will win in november. We will elect Hillary Clinton as next resident of the United States. We will continue on this journey to create a better america and a fairer america, a more just america, a more loving america, a brighter america. That is what we are fighting for. That is why i need you. Lets get busy. Lets get to work. Thank you, philadelphia. God bless you. God bless the United States of america. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] [applause] [applause] [cheering] [applause] washington journal, with news that affects you. Coming up, the congressional funding debate the 20 september 30 deadline. The zika virus, and the campaign 2016. Then congressman benno orourke will discuss changes to the veterans accountability first bill. After that, the Foreign Affairs editor will look at how the military is adapting to the changing battlefields. Be sure to watch washington journal, at 7 a. M. Eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Joining us on the phone from brooklyn, new york, is brian fallon, press secretary to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Thank you for being with us here on cspan. Brian its good to be with you. Steve a couple of days after the number on your story has unfolded, are you taking lessons away from the way in the way this matter was handled . Brian i think on sunday we, the staff could have done a better job of getting more information or quickly. Out more quickly. There was about a 90 minute span where she had left the event at the 9 11 memorial site. We were getting hurt to chelseas apartment, an opportunity to get into an airconditioned space and drink water, and as soon as she did, she felt fine. But there was understandably a lot of interest and curiosity about where she was and what her condition was. I think we were trying to be very cautious and released the most Accurate Information possible. At i think we could have done better job of getting more information out quickly. The important thing is she is doing better, and will probably be back out on the campaign trail in the next one or two days. Steve here is what secretary clinton said last night on cnn. Hillary clinton i am feeling much better. Obviously, i should have gotten rest sooner. I probably would have been better off if i had pulled down my schedule on friday. But like a lot of people, i thought i could keep Going Forward and power through eight, and obviously, that did not work out so well. Steve of course, this getting reaction from manysteve different people, including david axelrod, who tweeted Hillary Clintons penchant for secrecy. That has been one of the underlying stories for the past couple of days. Can you respond to that tweet and storyline . Mr. Fallon i dont think we have the campaign, or she, secretary clinton, but that the pneumonia she was diagnosed with on friday was something that implicates that issue. She said to Anderson Cooper last night, it was not a big deal to her. I think a lot of americans are used to coming down with a severe cold or strep throat, or in this case pneumonia. You take your antibiotics. Often times, you will still try to show up to work and power through. That is what she was intending to do. After sunday, we realized she needed more rest and that is what she is doing now. But i think in general, we have said we are going to release additional medical information her health condition. What wel be a top already released over a year ago, which by itself is the standard for president ial candidates. When you look at the totality of already, fromere her Health Records, to her tax returns to her emails, to her , schedule as secretary of state, there is more information about Hillary Clinton and pretty much any nominee in modern history. The opposite is true for donald trump. He has failed to meet even the minimum standard on disclosure. I think sometimes we lose sight of that in this discussion around transparency. Steve realizing these records are being put together today, but how much more will be learned about her Health Records , and willy has similar records for senator tim kaine . Mr. Fallon i think it has been a year or so since we released a comprehensive report from her physician. That, as i mentioned, met the standard test that senator i should say president obama and mitt romney adhered to in 2012 when they were running a report, withnsive a great deal of medical information about her that we released over a year ago. It has been a year since then. She has obviously seen her physician on a couple of occasions since then. And has been examined. We want to provide updated, comprehensive information about her health. That is what we are going to do. We are taking the time to put the material together. I expect it will be out very soon. And similarly, senator kaine is looking over their materials. I expect we will have an announcement in the next day or two. That is our intention to continue to be transparent. It will really be going above and beyond because we are confident we met the standard already almost a year ago. Saying, weyou are expect to see Hillary Clinton back on the campaign trail wednesday or thursday this week, potentially . Mr. Fallon were still monitoring how she is doing today. We made the decision on sunday to pull down her planned travel to california. That was to take place yesterday. And today, we have not made any additional decisions yet. Exactly when she will resume her schedule is still being sorted out. If not tomorrow, i expected to i would expect it to be thursday. Eminently she will be out there. If she had her druthers, she probably wouldve flown out to california yesterday because she has been rearing to go. We have about 60 or so days left in this campaign. There is so much at stake and i dont think she wants to miss a minute, or she doesnt want to leave any voter not communicated to in the final weeks. Steve in addition to resting, which you need to do with pneumonia, is she using this time preparing for the debate . Mr. Fallon she has put the focus on resting. Shes had some conversations by phone with staff, but we mostly left her alone, and really trying to honestly have her take the time as her doctor recommended to just rest and recuperate. She has recorded as of this reported as of this morning, that she is feeling much better. Yesterday she felt better than sunday. Today, she is feeling much better even more than yesterday. We see steady improvement and i expect her to be back out there soon. We will be separately preparing for the debates. She is looking forward to them. She takes them very seriously. She thinks they are pretty essential of a proving ground that any president ial candidate submit to, in terms of showing you are out for the job for the American People. She will be undertaking the usual preparations that she did through the primary, where we had multiple debates with senator sanders. She is studying her opponents positions and ready to make her case. I think we feel like she always acquits herself well because he she takes itself seriously. I just think that donald trump is doing his own preparations. We just want to make sure that its a very High Standard anyone seeking the presidency should have to be able to satisfy in order to prove themselves to the American People and we intend to be judged at High Standard. We want donald trump to be judged by the same standard. Steve and let me conclude on that point, brian fallon. In terms of the mechanics on preparing for the debates, can you give us any insight or color into how she is doing that, and who is playing donald trump in these preparations . Mr. Fallon we havent gone into great detail about exactly how those preparations are taking place. I can say the team of advisers that is working with her is the same as the group that helped with her preparations during the primary. In general, she does a lot of reading, absorbs a lot. She likes to do her homework. That is true in general, but particularly true of the debates. She is pretty fluent in most of the policy areas. We have been very proud of the fact during this campaign we have been very detailed and policy proposals we put forward. Last week, we published a book called stronger together, a conference of volume of vision that secretary clinton and senator kaine put forward that we are running on. She doesnt need to necessarily known up on policy issues, but i think donald trump says so much in the course of his campaign , and i think he will have to own up to some of the hateful, controversial statements hes made in the course of his campaign before it is all said and done, including at those debates. So just familiarizing yourself with that is an important step. She will be ready come the first debate at hofstra. And again, i think she is always prepared to be judged by the highest of standards, as anyone seeking the highest office in the land should be, and donald trump should be judged by the same standard. Steve Brian Fallons press secretary to Hillary Clinton, joining us from the Campaign Headquarters in brooklyn, new york. Thank you for being with us. To have subcommittees will hold a joint hearing tomorrow morning, focusing on the Health Care Law and the stability of the state Insurance Exchange marketplaces. The hearing is happening as state officials are announcing new higher premium rates, for example, Affordable Care act ohio. Are up 13 in we will have live coverage at 9 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. Later, Veterans Affairs secretary Robert Mcdonald testifies about implementing recent recommendations from the commission on veterans care aport, including developing process for vets to appear appeal Clinical Health decisions. The head of veterans organizations will also weigh in. That is that 2 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan3. Aides of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton refused to testify at a hearing on capitol hill. One former adviser did not attend the hearing, despite being issued a subpoena. The man who set up Hillary Clintons email on a private justin cooper, did testify, taking questions on security issues. This House Oversight Committee Hearing is about two and a half hours. Rep. Chaffetz the committee on oversight reform, is coming without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Its a very important hearing were having examination state department and federal records as we know. Now, Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, for nearly four years, roughly four years, helped create one of what is reported to be one of the biggest Security Breaches in the history of the state department, and is an absolute mess. Here that areses thel to understanding problem, how we got into the mess, and how we are potentially going to clean it up. Joining us will be mr. Justin cooper, a former employee of bill clinton and the clinton foundation. Mr. Cooper purchased the first server used by secretary clinton and had it installed in the basement of private residence in chappaqua, new york. He also register the email name , clintonmail. Com the same day. The same day the secretary clintons confirmation hearings began in the United States senate, mr. Cooper described his role managing secretary clintons private server as the, Customer Service face, he explained to the fbi he helped secretary clinton set up her mobile devices. When she finished with them, he would break them in half or destroy them with a hammer. Interesting mr. Cooper was never employed by the state department while he managed the server she used to conduct the business of the government. Mr. Cooper needed upgrading to the server for better service. He turned to mr. Bryan pagliano , who works for secretary clintons 2008 president ial campaign, and was in the process of closing out the campaigns i. T. Assets when mr. Cooper called to discuss a new server for the secretary. To put that new server together , mr. Pagliano used one from her campaign. Anything he needed was evidently bought off the shelf. In march 2009, they met in the clintons home in new york and installed the new server, reportedly in the basement. Unlike mr. Cooper mr. Pagliano , went on to become a state department employee. Just a few months after installing the server, mr. Pagliano was hired at the state department as gs 15 schedule c. Public reports suggest mr. Pagliano received a state Department Check and was paid by clintons, none of which he reported on his Public Disclosure forms as required. A recent office of Inspector General report plrks paglianos mr. Paglianos supervisor at the state department, questioned whether he could support a private client during work hours given his capacity as a fulltime government employee. Mr. Pagliano left the state department 2013 just as Hillary Clinton, secretary clinton, left. When responsibility for the servers turned over left. When the responsibility for the servers turned over to our next two witnesses, things started to get a little bit more complicated. Thornton and mr. Paul come better both worked for plat River Networks. Plat river was hired by secretary clinton in early 2013 to host the email server after mr. Pagliano had been working on it. Plat River Networks, managed on the managed server to its own server, which was located at a data center in secaucus, new jersey. Things with plat River Networks get complicated in march 2015 according to fbi report. In early march 2015, New York Times revealed secretary clinton used a private email account while at the state department. The House Select Committee on benghazi sends a request and subpoena following the news. According to the fbi report, that preservation request is forwarded to prn, platte River Networks, by cheryl mills, the former secretary clinton chief of staff and current attorney. In his first interview with the fbi, evidently, had no memory of the request. In a subsequent interview, he not only remember the request, but stated he understood it meant not to delete any of secretary clintons emails. Around the end of march, a number of things happened. There is a Conference Call between River Networks, mills, of mr. Kendall, another one secretary clintons private attorneys. Then again his story changes. , in his first fbi interview he said he deleted no emails of secretary clinton at the time. Later on he stated he not only deleted archives of email on the server, but also used a product called bleach bit to delete her files on the server. At the same time, a number of manual deletions made on the backups of platte river server. We appreciate the witnesses that are here today. We hope they can illuminate the situation and allow us to better understand it. As i said before, this is one of the biggest breaches in the history of the state department. We have a duty and obligation to investigate it. Now recognize the Ranking Member mr. Cummings for his Opening Statement. Representative cummings thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Today is our third third emergency hearing about secretary clintons emails in four business days. The third in four days. Emergency. Iselieve this committee abusing taxpayer dollars and the in anity of congress astonishing onslaught of political attacks to damage secretary Clintons Campaign for president of the United States of america. This is the first time in my 20 years of congress i personally witness the oversight power of this committee used in such a transparently political manner to directly influence a president ial campaign. The point of todays hearing is to investigate baseless republican accusations that secretary clinton or her aides ordered destruction of emails to conceal them from investigators. The most important fact for the past todays hearing is that the fbi already investigated these accusations and thoroughly debunked them. They interviewed witnesses, examined forensic evidence, and concluded that these accusations have no merit. Fbi director comey stated, and i quote, we found no evidence that any of the additional workrelated emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them, end of quote. He went on to say, we did not find any evidence of evil intent, intent to obstruct justice. Now, that is the fbi director, a man who had been a lifelong republican, a man who was applauded by republicans as one of the most honorable Public Servants that ever existed. So he went on and emphasized in a memo to staff just last week, the case itself was not a cliffhanger. Of course, the republicans did not like the answers that the fbi director gave, so they simply manufactured todays hearing out of thin air. This entire hearing is a contrived campaign photoop. Here is a playbook the republicans are using. Step one, wubly lypublicly we publicly accused the witnesses of criminal activity no matter how ludicrous, then refer them to Attorneys Office for investigation. Step one. Step two, the next day invite the same witnesses to an emergency hearing on those criminal accusations and rush to issue a flurry of unilateral subpoenas demanding they testify. No vote. Step three. Express false outrage when these witnesses this is a playbook. Express false outrage when these witnesses, who you just accused of criminal activity, take advice from their counsel to assert their fifth amendment right to not testify. There you have it. Presto, instant photo op. To them,hat happened despite the fact that a team of career Law Enforcement agents at the fbi just unanimously recommended against bringing any criminal charges in this case. Keep in mind director comey said this was an Allstar Group of fbi agents, an Allstar Group of fbi agents said unanimously that these gentlemen should not be charged. Then theres Bryan Pagliano, the i. T. Specialist who worked on secretary clintons email system. Mr. Pagliano has already been interviewed by the fbi. The fbi provided us the results of his interview. But the republicans disagree with the fbis conclusions, so here we are. Mr. Pagliano has already asserted his fifth amendment right before congress. He did this when chairman gowdy issued his own unilateral subpoena to force him to appear before the Benghazi Committee on the same issue. Of course, i sat as a Ranking Member on that committee. Obviously, mr. Pagliano was concerned about the criminal accusations republicans were making, so his attorney advised him to assert the fifth amendment. Theres no legitimate reason for republicans to force mr. Pagliano to appear yet again before Congress Just to assert his fifth amendment rights one more time. How many times will republicans do this . Will they force them to take the fifth in front of the Science Committee next . How about the Homeland Security committee and Intelligence Committee . Should we have them go to those committees, too . This is an absolute abuse of authority. Now, chairman gowdy and i disagree about many things, but i give him full credit for the things he did. Mr. East when he subpoenaed pagliano, he did it in a private session. He did not force mr. Pagliano to assert the fifth in public just to humiliate him and i respect mr. Gowdy for that. Let me say this as plainly as i can. Committees goal were just to if this committees goal were just to get mr. Pagliano other other witnesses on the record asserting their fifth amendment rights, we could do that easily in a private session just like mr. Gowdy did with mr. Pagliano a year ago. Theres no legitimate reason to force mr. Pagliano or the other witnesses who were subpoenaed to assert theg fifth in open session. There is only one legitimate reason to get a photo op, a public hearing that republicans think could harm Hillary Clintons president ial campaign. Finally, some may argue that they should testify because they received limited use of immunity for their statement to the fbi. Saltno lawyers worth their are going to let their clients testify before congressional committees, whose chairman just said another referral sent another referral of criminal prosecution. No matter how frivolous the accusations are. They just arent going to do it. Pursuing these kinds of blatantly political attacks undermines the integrity of our committee, the congressional process and Constitutional Rights that are supposed to protect our citizens against unsubstantiated accusations just like these. So with that, mr. Chariman, i yield back and thank you. Rep. Chaffetz all the record open for five legislative days for any members who would like to submit a written statement. Id also ask unanimous consent to allow lamar smith, science space and Technology Committee to join our committee and would be happy to also entertain a request for uc from the democratic side if they would like to join us as well. Without objection, so ordered to allow mr. Smith to join us today. We now like to recognize our witnesses. I do note the absence of mr. Pagliano. Let me address that. Let the record reflect mr. Pagliano is not present at the witness table. The committee invited him in a ler letter. Mr. Pagliano informed the committee through his attorneys he might assert his fifth amendment privilege. I authorized the subpoena for mr. Paglianos testimony. On september 8th, 2016, the committee transmitted a subpoena to mr. Paglianos attorney and the subpoena required his presence here today. Mr. Pagliano is uniquely qualified to provide testimony that will help the committee better understand secretary clintons use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary at the state department among other things. The committee invited him to appear with the expectation his testimony will advance the committees investigation which seeks further investigation about the setup and management of secretary clintons account and other technical aspects of the account. I take my responsibility as a Committee Chairman seriously, especially the decision to issue a subpoena. Its a serious matter. Paglianoy on a mr. Chose to not appear. I will consult with colleagues to consider full range of options available to address mr. Paglianos failure to appear. It is vital to hear from us because its our understanding while mr. Pagliano worked in the i. T. Department at the state department for nearly four years, virtually every single email mr. Pagliano had has suddenly disappeared. Theres Something Like less than 20 emails this is a guy who worked at the i. T. Department at the state department. Things that make you go hmm. Really . All his emails suddenly disappeared. Mr. Pagliano is important because he was receiving a paycheck from the clintons but failed to disclose that on his financial forms. Wed like to give him an opportunity to answer that question. We also believe he entered into an immunity agreement. Youd think somebody would sing like a song board if you got immunity from the fbi. What are you afraid of . We wanted to hear from him. That is why we issued a subpoena. There are a number of things we we would like to ask him, and he should be here. When you are served a subpoena by the United States congress , it is not optional. That is not an optional activity. Hes not here today. Rep. Cummings thank you. Lets make sure we had a complete picture here. Last night the chairman sent another letter to mr. Pagliano saying our committee might go into executive session to accept his fifth amendment rep. Chaffetz no, i did not say that. Rep. Cummings what did you say . Rep. Chaffetz i want this committee to be open and transparent. We do everything we can possibly do out in the open. That is the american way. Thats the way this committee is going to be run. Rep. Cummings it is my understanding that mr. Paglianos lawyers sent a letter saying they felt this was abuse of process and nothing but to embarrass him. He said if he wanted to go into executive session and be given immunity, he would be happy to appear. I just want the committee to have full breadth of what happened here. He said hed be happy to appear. So is there i take it the consultation youre going to do is going to go into whether or not were going to give immunity, executive session, and when might we expect the decisions. The chaffetz well, he made decision not to be here, and there are consequences for that. Again, the integrity of the house of representatives, this is not an optional activity. You dont just get to say, hey, well, i decided not to do that. Well look at the full range of options. If anybody is under any illusion that im going to let go of this and let it fail off into the sunset they are very , illadvised. Rep. Cummings the chairman yields. Im looking at your letter dated , september 12, 2016 to mark j. Mcdougal, say in this letter, and i quote, committee requires mr. Paglianos appearance because, among other reasons, the possibility that he will waive or choose not to assert the privilege as to some or all questions, the possibility the committee will agree to hear his testimony in executive session, and the possibility that the committee will immunize his testimony pursuant to 18 us csection 6005. Thats what i was inquiring about. Thats your letter. Rep. Chaffetz to clarify. It requires his presence to have those types of discussions. When he doesnt show up, that option is off the table. You have to be here to have that discussion. Mr. Chariman, just a point of parliamentary inquiry. You said it is not an option for the witness who refused to testify. He was duly presented and served with a subpoena from this committee, is that correct . Rep. Chaffetz yes. One of the options, with the possible contempt of congress, among options we have available, at what point would that be appropriate to consider the options in a future hearing or request to the chair . Rep. Chaffetz we will consider all options. I would like to continue on with this hearing given the three witnesses that are here. They are here. Rather than unduly delay the rest of this hearing dealing with mr. Pagliano, well complete the hearing and then look at the options. Thank you, mr. Chariman. Rep. Cummings just one thing, sir. Are we going to do that after the hearing, what you just said youre going to do . Rep. Chaffetz we are going to consider the options, given that mr. Pagliano was not in attendance. After we issued after he was issued the subpoena. Well deal with that after the conclusions. Rep. Cummings one of those things we might consider is going into executive session since mr. Pagliano said he would be happy to come in executive session . Would that be one . Rep. Chaffetz i will entertain all of the potential requests, but im telling you, i have no intention of going into executive session when he thumbs his nose at the United States congress, wastes the committees time, u. S. Marshals having to show subpoenas, and him not to show. That is not acceptable. Mr. Chairman, i just want to understand this as well as i can. Did the chairman issue criminal referral on mr. Pagliano . Rep. Chaffetz when we heard and the fbi had not looked anything that secretary clinton had testified under oath before congress we did give a referral. Lynch and that is outstanding . Rep. Chaffetz we dont know. Rep. Lynch you issued it. Heres my point. You issued a criminal referral for an individual, and then you ask him to come in here and testify before congress. That would require him to surrender his fifth amendment rights. If you are referring him and putting him under threat of criminal prosecution, and then asking him to come in here, thats not fair. The immunity doesnt cover him. Because your referral for criminal prosecution came after the fact and beyond the limited purpose for which he was granted immunity, sir. Rep. Chaffetz there was no criminal referral on mr. Pagliano. Did we refer the comments and issues that mr. Comey as the director of fbi brought up . Absolutely we did. He said he required us rep. Lynch but it puts him at risk. What we have done as a community and through you on this referral is put him under threat of criminal prosecution, because of the issue that youre investigating. I understand that. I understand that. But it puts him in jeopardy , coming before this committee, while that criminal referral is in existence. Im just saying, hes an american citizen. I know the constitution gets in the way of the committee. Rep. Chaffetz the gentleman will suspend. Gentleman will yield. The to clarify. The referral was to look at secretary clintons testimony before congress. That was the referral s mr. Pagliano, his attendance is required here. There was interaction with mr. Pagliano with another committee , but thats another committee. Have you to bring that up with another committee. Im concerned with the integrity of this committee. I think weve done the right thing. His attendance is required here and hes not here and well deal with that after. We do have the others here, and we do have mr. Thornton here and we do have mr. Cooper here. The gentleman from south carolina. Could i engage in the chair with a colloquy . Rep. Chaffetz yes. I thought witness pagliano was granted immunity. Rep. Chaffetz that is what i have read. Congress cant prosecute anyone, so the one that he can is granted immunity. Im trying to figure out what his criminal liability is. If the gentleman will yield . I was having a colloquy with the chairman but you can answer the question. Ill be happy to hear from you. Rep. Lynch fbi granted him limited immunity. Fbi didnt grant him immunity, department of justice granted him immunity. For that limited purpose. How do you know it was limited use immunity . Let me also inject here i have Great Respect for mr. Lynch. Rep. Lynch his attorney his attorney, mr. Paglianos Attorney Says in his letter that he was given limited immunity for that purpose. Rep. Gowdy well, that raises another interesting question i hope the gentleman from massachusetts will help me figure out. Which is, when you have reached an agreement with the government, often times, it includes cooperation with other entities within that same government. I wonder whether the department of justice and their proffer or immunity agreement with mr. Pagliano made it clear he could cooperate with another branch. We cant prosecute anyone. Only the department of justice can. They made it Crystal Clear they arent prosecuting anyone in this fact pattern so where is the criminal liability . Rep. Lynch the gentleman has Constitutional Rights under the whether they are violated by fbi fifth amendment, or violated here in Congress Still violated. Rep. Gowdy but as the gentleman from massachusetts knows rep. Lynch you cant require a witness to be a witness against himself. Rep. Gowdy but the fifth amendment doesnt protect you from nonincriminating answers. Rep. Chaffetz the gentleman from massachusetts will suspend. The gentleman from south carolina, its his time. Rep. Gowdy i was just in inquiring of the chair. I thought there was immunity agreement in place between department of justice and this witness. So if hes been immunized, and you cant prosecute anyone for anything, where is the criminal liability to him coming and answering questions, which further assumes every question you ask is going to expose him to criminal liability. Theres no fifth amendment privilege against answering nonincriminating questions. Rep. Lynch will the gentleman yield . Rep. Gowdy sure. Rep. Lynch but he can incriminate himself because weve issued a criminal referral here. He doesnt have immunity. He doesnt have immunity. Rep. Gowdy you havent seen the immunity agreement. Rep. Lynch look, if you want to read it your self, its from the gentlemans attorney. Rep. Gowdy no, im going to need a more reliable source than a criminal defense attorney. I want to read the agreement its self. I want to read the agreement between the department of justice and this witness and whether or not it requires them to cooperate with other entities of government. That is commonplace. For them to say you can tell us the truth but not Congress Makes no sense. Thats all i want. Rep. Chaffetz gentleman will suspend. The committee should also be aware that the committee did send a subpoena to mr. Pagliano to reduce this agreement that was due today at 10 a. M. , and he did not produce that as well. He was under subpoena to not only have his presence here but so everyone on this panel can see this immunity agreement, which he supposedly has in his possession, those documents were also subpoenaed by the committee and he did not comply with that as well. It is the intention of the chair here, we are going to move on. There is a lot to address. We will not let go of this, we need to continue with the hearing. And Cooper Thornton here, we appreciate you being here. All witnesses are to be sworn before they testify. If you will print please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . Thank you, you may be seated. Let the witnesses answer that let the record reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative affirmative. We have not received any written testimony from todays witnesses. Mr. Combetta are you making Opening Statement. On advice of counsel i respectfully refuse to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Thoren, do you intend to make an Opening Statement . On advice of counsel i assert my right not to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Cooper, do you intend to make an Opening Statement . I have no Opening Statement. Rep. Chaffetz please, if you all can move the microphone a little tighter, closer, its hard to hear. Mr. Combetta, we sent a subpoena to you, we read there was immunity agreement. Did you produce your immunity agreement this morning as required under the subpoena. On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Combetta, a couple of questions. Senator johnson last year released a portion of an august 19, 2015 communication between two platte river employees. Here is how i read it. Wondering how we can sneak an , email in after the fact meaning then, the clinton Services Corporation when they told us to cut the backups and have them confirm it for our records, starting to think this whole thing is covering up some shady , and theres an expletive there. I think if we had it in writing they told taos cut the backups we can go public with our statements saying weve had the backups since day one. Then we were told the trim to 30 days would make us look a whole lot better. As as i understand it you were one of two employees on the clinton account, did you send or receive this email . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz two days after the last email, you wrote on august 21st, that a firm a backup firm, this is what it said. Trying to tighten down every possible security angle on this customer. It occurs to us that anyone at prn with access to the data portal could potentially access this device via remote web feature. Could we set up two factor authentication or move to this device to a separate partner account or some other method to allow only who we , permit on our end to access this device via the internet, if i understand the email correctly, every single employee of prn could have accessed highly classified National Security information thats ever been breached at the state department. Can you move no other individuals accessed this data or even passed it onto someone else . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz one last one here. I. T. Guy paid by the clintons. Generally, i. T. Guys dont erase their clients emails unless they are told to do so. So, who told you to delete the emails . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Cummings . Rep. Cummings do you all plan to continue to assert mr. Combetta, mr. Thornton, do you plan to continue to assert your fifth amendment rights . Is that your plan . Is that your plan . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment privilege. Rep. Cummings and you mr. , thornton . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment. Rep. Cummings im not going to have any other questions since its clear youre taking the fifth on it. But, and i can understand why youre doing what youre doing. Weve had the case here before , where answering a question or two, we ended up in all kinds of litigation as to whether or not you had waived your fifth amendment privileges, so i have nothing further. I do know that dcs ethics opinion that addresses abuse of witnesses trying to take their fifth amendment privileges. As a lawyer, im not going to be a part of that process. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Combetta, given that you have indicated you do not intend to answer any questions out of respect for your Constitutional Rights, we will now excuse you from the table. Mr. Thornton. Yesterday, chairman lamar smith of house science based science, space, and Technology Committee released on august 13th, 2015, letter from data to prns attorney which said this, and i quote, we have been following news reports concerning various investigates death investigations investigations related to secretary clintons emails including Platte Rivers provisions of i. T. Related services to her. We have some concerns relative to data security. Platte has not enabled encryption at the local device. Given the sensitive highprofile nature of the data, which is alleged in press reports to potentially reside on the device, it may be the target of cyber attack from a multitude of highly sophisticated or capable entities or individuals. We believe such an event could place the unencrypted data at risk, as well as expose both data and platte River Systems to collateral damage. In its current state and it goes on the device and data stored there on and it goes on is more vulnerable to cyber attack than data believes is prudent under the circumstances. Mr. Thornton, given vulnerabilities identified are , you aware of any hacks of prns systems . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer and assert my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. Rep. Chaffetz i would like to just ask you one other question that i cant imagine has any implications, criminal culpability or anything else, just a simple question, yes or no, and well if youll answer this one, well cut you loose here. Were you interviewed by the fbi . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline to answer , and assert my fifth amendment constitutional privilege. Rep. Chaffetz you cant answer the question about whether or not you were interviewed by the fbi . On advice of counsel, i respectfully decline. Rep. Chaffetz mr. Cummings. Rep. Cummings again, as a member of the bar for 40 years, im not going to participate in this. I just think when we bring witnesses here and berate them , when we can do this in executive session or whatever i , think it would be unethical for me to do that, so i have nothing. Rep. Chaffetz given that the witness has indicated he does not intend to absence any questions out of respect for his Constitutional Rights, we will now excuse mr. Thornton from the table. We will recess for two minutes while the clerk is able to reset the table. Committee stands in recess. Rep. Chaffetz committee will come to order. As we last left it, there are some serious questions based on the emails about here you have some of the most vulnerable secrets in all the state department, all the states, people put their lives in danger for the country, data without this data evidently is unencrypted without authentication. It begs a lot of questions. Mr. Cooper, you told the fbi, evidently, that you helped set up Hillary Clintons secretary clintons new york and d. C. Residence with an imac , correct . That is correct. Rep. Chaffetz did you set them up, or was it set up by somebody else . Those were out of the Box Solutions rep. Chaffetz you have to move a little closer. Those were outoftheBox Solutions prior to her becoming secretary of state. Rep. Chaffetz where did you set them up . They were set up in the offices she used in each of her homes. Rep. Chaffetz did that include the skiff . At the time they were set up, those rooms were not used as skiffs. Rep. Chaffetz did you ever have to service any of those computers or work on them . Over a period of time, i did work on those. Rep. Chaffetz including the one in the skiff . I dont recall any specific time i worked on it once they were in the stiffs. Rep. Chaffetz how many did you set up in her home . There was a computer in each office in each of her homes. I worked on her homes for a period of 15 years. Certainly, when they were originally set up, they were set up for her staff and use in homes. I would use the computer from time to time to print documents. Once they became skiffs i dont recall using those computers. Rep. Chaffetz or servicing those . No. Rep. Chaffetz did you have a security clearance at that time . No, i did not have security clearance. Rep. Chaffetz after you left the white house, when did you leave the white house . 2001. Rep. Chaffetz did you ever have a security clearance at any level after that . No, i did not. Rep. Chaffetz and you had full access to the whole server the entire time you were working for the clintons . Yes i had access to the server. Rep. Chaffetz and you had no security clearance. I have no security clearance. Rep. Chaffetz you told fbi huma abedin recommended you contact Bryan Pagliano to build the new server system. Is that correct . I spoke with mr. Pagliano at miss abedins request. I spoke as that system had its limitations and we were thinking about expanding it. We had opportunities using surplus equipment from the Clinton Campaign that we could use for president clintons office to set up. Rep. Chaffetz sorry, you have to still move the mic. And move the little closer. There you go. What conversations withou have with this, huma abedin about the setup of the server . I dont recall specific conversations about the setting up of the server. Rep. Chaffetz what about with emails . At some point i had a conversation about setting up email servers. Rep. Chaffetz what about for ms. Abedin. Did you set up an email for huma abedin . Yes. Rep. Chaffetz and did she use it . As far as i know, yes. Rep. Chaffetz what other staff used the clintons email . Staff members of president clintons office. Not on the clinton email domain. Rep. Chaffetz clinton email. Com to be specific. There were no other staff i recall using that. Rep. Chaffetz who had an email address . The additional person that had that email address was Chelsea Clinton. Rep. Chaffetz did you have one . No. Rep. Chaffetz so you, huma abedin and secretary clinton had email addresses there. I did not have an email address. Rep. Chaffetz so Hillary Clinton, huma abedin and Chelsea Clinton each had emails at that address . Correct. Rep. Chaffetz what other computers did you set up in their residence . How many computers did you set up . The only two were the imac s which you mentioned and apple server which came in with apple to set up that server in their household. Did you set up anything in washington, d. C. , at a residence there . As mentioned, one of the two imac s referred to was in washington, d. C. The other one was in chappaqua, new york. So theres a total of two computers, one in chappaqua. Why did you set up clintonemail. Com . Secretary clinton was transitioning from president ial campaign and senate role and had been using primarily blackberry for email correspondence. There were limitations to her ability to use that blackberry as well as desire to change her email address because a number of people have received her email address over the course of those activities, so we created with a discussion, i believe, with huma abedin at the time what do mains might be of interest. We obtained a domain and added it to original server used by president clintons office for her to use with her blackberry at the time, and we set that up in a way where the messages simply came into that server and bounced right to her blackberry and were not obtained on that apple server. Rep. Chaffetz who paid for these computers . All of them were paid personally by the clintons. Personally . Personally. And who were you being compensated by . I was being compensated by the clintons. Personally or clinton executive services, clinton foundation, what was it . At that time i was employee of both the Clinton Family personally and clinton foundation. Ok. All right. My time has expired. Now recognize Ranking Member mr. Cummings. Mr. Cooper, the fbis investigative summary states the apple server you helped install in the home of president and secretary clinton in 2008 was originally purchased for the purpose of hosting email services for president clintons staffer. To the best of your knowledge, is that accurate . Yes, thats accurate. According to fbi summary, the decision was made to keep that server in the clinton residence. The reason was, and i quote, due to concern over insuring email reliability and desire to segregate email for president clintons post presidency endeavors, end of quote. According to the fbi, the decision was made in january 2009 to switch from the apple server to a new server. Yes, the fbi investigative summary states that in 2009 quote, according to cooper, in or around january 2009, the decision was made to move to another server because the apple server was antiquated and users were experiencing problems with email delivery on their blackberry devices, end of quote. Is that accurate . I would say on a date certain there was a decision made to switch from one server to the other in my conversations with mr. Pagliano i was aware the fully meeting our needs and was not expandible to meet potential future needs of other staff in president clintons Office Joining the server. It also did not have a robust solution to support blackberry usage. Its very hard for me to even remember what the technology around blackberry was then and how they functioned. There were more progressive ways to use a blackberry. Mr. Pagliano had the expertise to set up a server that had a proper blackberry interface with it, and that was something that was desired by president clintons team. And so, over a period of time, as brian decommissioned those servers from the campaign, we were able to purchase them from the campaign. He then took time to set them up on his time, either in the Campaign Offices or his home. Im not sure of the location. And then delivered them to chappaqua, i believe in around march of 2009, when i physically helped him move them into the space where they were going to reside. So, secretary clinton began using that new server for email around march 2009, is that accurate . Her connection to that server, i believe, was in march 2009. Now, republicans have a Conspiracy Theory that secretary clinton used the server in her home for email in order to avoid complying with records laws. Representative mr. Sanchez asked director comey about that theory. He asked, was the reason she set up her own private server, in your judgment, because she wanted to shield communications from congress and from the public . Now, mr. Cooper, heres what director comey said, and i quote, i cant say that. Our best information is that she set it up as a matter of convenience. It was an already existing system that her husband had, and she decided to have a domain on that system. Now, do you have any evidence to dispute what the fbi director, mr. Comey, said . No, i dont have any evidence to dispute that. I believe that secretary clinton had personal email on her blackberry and was looking for a new solution to be able to use personal email. Now, were you ever told that secretary clinton used the server in her home to avoid the federal records act . No, i was never told that. Were you ever told that secretary clinton used the server in her home to avoid the freedom of information act . No, i was never told that. Now, mr. Cooper, i think it would be helpful to walk through exactly what your role was and was not with regard to the production of secretary clintons emails to the state department and the fbi. Did you cooperate with the fbi investigation to the best of your ability . Yes, i did. Were you involved in that 2014 process . Did the fbi determine that none of secretary clintons workrelated emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them from investigators . Do you have any reason to dispute their finding . I do not have any reason to dispute the finding. Started ther, you whole set up of the first server 2007 and you gave the domain email address, is that correct . That was at the very beginning . There was a president clinton domain set up prior to that point. At some point, when she left the private capacity and came into the public, i have some information that at least two of her old mobile devices were destroyed and you took part in