Recidivism Watch: Clinton’s repeated claim that the FBI said her answers were ‘truthful’

“As the FBI said, everything that I’ve said publicly has been consistent and truthful with what I’ve told them.”
— Hillary Clinton, interview with Brandon Rittiman of KUSA, Aug. 3, 2016

One would think the talking points would change after receiving Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post Fact Checker, “Pants on Fire” from PolitiFact and “false” from FactCheck.org.

But, nope, Clinton fell back on a claim that has been roundly debunked by fact checkers.

FBI Director James B. Comey did tell Congress: “We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.” But lying to the FBI is a criminal act; it’s a rather low bar for truthfulness.

Clinton continues to twist this statement by Comey into a line that suggests the FBI declared that her public remarks on the email issues were truthful. But Comey repeatedly refused to confirm that when pressed by lawmakers: “That’s a question I’m not qualified to answer. I can speak about what she said to the FBI.”

When asked specific questions about certain public statements made by Clinton, Comey did not endorse Clinton’s claims. Here’s an exchange between Comey and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chair of the House Select Committee on Benghazi:

GOWDY: Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her emails either sent or received. Was that true?
COMEY: That’s not true.
GOWDY: Secretary Clinton said, “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material.” Was that true?
COMEY: There was classified material emailed.

The Fact Checker Recidivism Watch tracks politicians who repeat claims that we have previously found to be incorrect or false. These posts are short summaries of previous findings, with links to the original fact-check. We welcome reader suggestions.