“This is felony corruption by any standard,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in Green Bay. | AP Photo Trump accuses State Dept. official of ‘felony corruption’

Donald Trump escalated his attacks on a State Department official who allegedly floated a quid pro quo to protect Hillary Clinton, accusing him of “felony corruption” on Monday night in Wisconsin.

Earlier Monday, the FBI released an email in which an unnamed agent alleged that Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, offered last year to allow the bureau to place agents in more countries if the bureau unclassified an email sent to Clinton’s private email server.


“This is felony corruption by any standard,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "Undersecretary Kennedy needs to resign.”

On Twitter, State Department spokesman John Kirby called the quid pro quo allegation “flatly inaccaurate” and said, “U/S Kennedy never bargained over email classification. Just didn't happen. Also, no increase in FBI Iraq slots resulted from this convo.”

The FBI released a statement of its own saying that no deal ever took place.

“A senior State Department official requested the FBI re-review that email to determine whether it was in fact classified or whether it might be protected from release under a different FOIA exemption. A now-retired FBI official, who was not part of the subsequent Clinton investigation, told the State Department official that they would look into the matter," said the statement, which goes on to explain:

"Having been previously unsuccessful in attempts to speak with the senior State official, during the same conversation, the FBI official asked the State Department official if they would address a pending, unaddressed FBI request for space for additional FBI employees assigned abroad. Following the call, the FBI official consulted with a senior FBI executive responsible for determining the classification of the material and determined the email was in fact appropriately classified at the Secret level. The FBI official subsequently told the senior State official that the email was appropriately classified at the Secret level and that the FBI would not change the classification of the email. The classification of the email was not changed, and it remains classified today."

A Trump campaign statement released earlier Monday called on Kennedy to resign but did not accuse Kennedy of committing a crime. Trump has already transcended the bounds of normal American political discourse by repeatedly vowing to jail Clinton over her use of a private email server to conduct official business as secretary of state.

