Fox News’ anchor apologizes for saying Clinton faces indictment

An anchor at the right wing US channel Fox News has apologized for reporting that federal investigators found the Democrat Party’s presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private email server had been hacked by “five foreign intelligence agencies,” leading to her would-be indictment after the election season.

Bret Baier, anchor of Fox’s evening newscast “Special Report,” said Wednesday that the FBI had determined that Clinton’s private server, which she used while serving as secretary of state, had been hacked by foreign intelligence agencies, The Washington Post reported.

But after the broadcast, Baier said - after checking with his sources - that there was no evidence to back his statement.

Meanwhile, the State Department on Friday released a 2009 email chain that shows then-Secretary of State Clinton forwarding to her daughter material that the department classified last year, the Associated Press reported.

At issue is a December 2009 email that President Barack Obama’s trade adviser, Michael Froman, sent to senior White House and State Department staff members. After it made its way up to Clinton, she sent it to “Diane Reynolds,” an email pseudonym for Chelsea Clinton.

“See below,” Clinton told her daughter. The entire email chain has been blacked out on confidential grounds, the lowest level of classification.

The chain was among the State Department’s last release of documents from Clinton's private server before Tuesday’s presidential election.

The department classified portions of two other emails released Friday.

They concerned phone calls Clinton had planned in November 2010 with the United Arab Emirates’ crown prince and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. At the time, WikiLeaks’ release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables was roiling US relations with governments around the world.

The emails were written by Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin. The department designated portions of each “confidential.” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said neither document was marked classified when it was sent.

Friday’s release, four days before Election Day, included 74 emails totaling 285 pages. The FBI provided the emails to the State Department after uncovering them as part of its investigation of Clinton’s email practices.

Many emails are near duplicates of documents the department released after receiving 55,000 pages from Clinton in 2014.

Some reflect minor additions, such as Clinton asking an aide to print out the exchange on paper.

(With AP)