Cheryl Mills, a longtime Clinton aide, received an immunity deal from the Justice Department during the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails. | AP Photo Top Clinton aide Cheryl Mills granted partial immunity in email investigation A source says the immunity offer came after the FBI interviewed Mills when investigators asked to go through her computers to see if it still contained classified information.

Top Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills received an immunity deal from the Justice Department in the FBI’s investigation into the former secretary of state’s private email server, records shown to Congress revealed Friday, re-injecting the email controversy into the presidential campaign just days before her first debate with Donald Trump.

In addition to Mills, Clinton's former chief of staff at State, grants of partial immunity were also extended to former Clinton aide Heather Samuelson, who worked as State's White House liaison and later as a private attorney for Clinton and to John Bentel, who was director of the the Information Resources Management section in the secretary of state's office, lawmakers said.


The newly disclosed information brings to five the number of individuals known to have received some form of immunity in connection with the FBI probe, which ended with the bureau recommending that no charges be brought against Clinton or her aides for mishandling classified information.

"This is beyond explanation. The FBI was handing out immunity agreements like candy,” House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Friday in a statement. “I've lost confidence in this investigation and I question the genuine effort in which it was carried out. Immunity deals should not be a requirement for cooperating with the FBI."

The immunity grants to Mills and Samuelson were narrow, covering only their handover of laptops used in 2014, after Clinton left State, to conduct a review of the former secretary's emails to separate work-related messages from those purely personal in nature. The immunity came after the women were interviewed by the FBI and did not cover any of their statements. People familiar with the immunity offer said it was not related to the lawyers' testimony, noting that FBI Director James Comey said in July there was no evidence of a deletion aimed at frustrating the investigation.

A lawyer for Mills and Samuelson, Beth Wilkinson, said she requested the immunity grants because of inter-agency disputes about whether some information in Clinton's emails was classified.

"As the government indicated in these letters, the DOJ and FBI considered my clients to be witnesses and nothing more. Indeed, the Justice Department assured us that they believed my clients did nothing wrong. At all points my clients cooperated with the government’s investigation, including voluntarily participating in interviews with the FBI and DOJ," Wilkinson said in a statement.

"The letters released to the Hill today only covered the computers that my clients had used in performing their legal work," Wilkinsion added. "Because of the confusion surrounding the various agencies’ positions on the after-the-fact classification decisions, I advised my clients to accept this letter from DOJ."

Bentel, however, received immunity before speaking with the FBI, people familiar with the situation said. Former State employees told agency investigators Bentel brushed back their concerns about Clinton's email setup.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee stressed in a statement emailed to reporters that the immunity offers to Mills and Samuelson were "very limited."

"These very limited immunity agreements did not extend to any testimony before Congress, statements to the FBI, or assertions to any other investigators," they said.

The Clinton campaign attributed the information's release to the proximity of Monday's presidential debate.

"House Republicans are trying to make something out of nothing by rummaging through the files of a Justice Department investigation that was closed months ago without any charges whatsoever, and leaking selective details three days before the first presidential debate," Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement, noting that Mills and Samuelson cooperated fully with the FBI's inquiry and "had already given full interviews to the investigators."

A top aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign said word of the additional immunity grants underscored the recklessness of Clinton's conduct.

"Revelations that three additional individuals, including Cheryl Mills, were granted immunity from prosecution in Hillary Clinton’s email scandal shows this was without a doubt a criminal scheme," Trump aide Jason Miller said in a statement. "At its heart, Clinton’s secret server was an end run around government transparency laws designed to hide corruption between the Clinton Foundation and her State Department, an arrangement which ultimately put our national security and sensitive diplomatic efforts at risk. No one with judgment this bad should be allowed to serve as president of the United States or hold any public office."

Miller also suggested that the immunity grants were aimed at preventing Clinton from facing justice in the case.

"What has become abundantly clear is that the Obama administration is protecting Hillary Clinton from accountability at all costs because she will keep the rigged system in Washington in place. In light of this development, Hillary Clinton must immediately come forward and promise the American people that none of these individuals will ever serve in any capacity in her administration," the Trump aide added.

For weeks, House Republicans have been seeking the FBI's full file in the probe and, last week, issued a subpoena demanding the records.

Republicans disclosed the immunity agreements just after learning about them in investigative records shown to congressional staff by the Justice Department on Friday.

Immunity offers to witnesses are not made by the FBI, but by the Justice Department. A department spokesman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the FBI had no immediate comment.

It was previously disclosed that prosecutors granted immunity to former State Department computer specialist Bryan Pagliano and to a computer technician Clinton hired through a private firm, Paul Combetta of Denver-based Platte River Networks. The immunity deals for the two appear to be broader than those given to Mills and Samuelson, although no one in the probe is known to have received full immunity.

Rachael Bade contributed to this report.