--- title: Hillary Clinton: FBI Sets Up Formal Interviews in Email Case description: Federal prosecutors investigating Hillary Clinton's email case have begun arranging formal interviews with her longtime aides. canonical: https://time.com/4273718/fbi-hillary-clinton-emails-interviews/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-28T15:50:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:01.081Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton: FBI Sets Up Formal Interviews in Email Case og:description: The federal inquiry is nearing its close og:url: https://time.com/4273718/fbi-hillary-clinton-emails-interviews/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4e06e842f80667b/69888c81cf40a8057fc4289c/hillary-clinton-mansplain-sexist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Attends A Round Table Event At The University Of Southern California og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton: FBI Sets Up Formal Interviews in Email Case twitter:description: The federal inquiry is nearing its close twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd4e06e842f80667b/69888c81cf40a8057fc4289c/hillary-clinton-mansplain-sexist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FBI Begins Setting Up Formal Interviews in Clinton Email Case > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1d59f4ba-6cf6-477a-a30f-77d00f1370a5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing In Under 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing In Under 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qmnkxqcZ.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-10-22. Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing Highlights in 2 Minutes_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 28, 2016 3:50 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a round table discussion at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 24, 2016. Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a round table discussion at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 24, 2016. Patrick T. Fallon—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 28, 2016 3:50 PM UTC Federal prosecutors investigating Hillary Clinton’s email case have begun arranging formal interviews with her longtime aides, according to a report. [The LA _Times_](http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-clinton-email-probe-20160327-story.html), citing anonymous sources, reports that dates have not yet been set for the interviews, but the move indicates that the federal inquiry into the former Secretary of State’s handling of her private email server is nearing its close. “The interviews are critical to understand the volume of information they have accumulated,” James McJunkin, former head of the FBI’s Washington field office, told the LA _Times_. “They are likely nearing the end of the investigation and the agents need to interview these people to put the information in context. They will then spend time aligning these statements with other information, emails, classified documents, etc., to determine whether there is a prosecutable case.” As [the Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer/2016/03/02/e421e39e-e0a0-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571%5Fstory.html) in early March, any criminal charges would go through Attorney General Loretta Lynch. In February, she told Congress of the email inquiry, “That matter is being handled by career independent law enforcement agents, FBI agents, as well as the career independent attorneys in the Department of Justice. They follow the evidence, they look at the law and they’ll make a recommendation to me when the time is appropriate…We will review all the facts and all the evidence and come to an independent conclusion as how to best handle it.” ## Transcript Madame Secretary, I understand, there are people frankly in both parties who have suggested that this investigation is about you. Let me assure you it is not. It is time, it is time and it is time now, for the Republicans to end this tax payer funded fishing expedition. This pile, Represents the emails that you sent or received about Libya in 2011, from February through December of 2011. This pile represents the emails you sent or received from early 2012 until the day of the attack. There are 795 emails in this pile. We've counted them. There are 67 emails in this pile in 2012. And I'm troubled by what I see here. Well, Congresswoman, I did not conduct most of the business that I did on behalf of our country on email. I conducted it in meetings. I read massive amounts of memos, a great deal of classified information. I made a lot of secure phone calls, I was in and out of the White House all the time. If I'd been Mr. Stevens and I had a relationship with you, And I had requested 20 or more times for additional security to protect not only my life, but the people that were there with me. I would have gotten in touch with you some way. Did he even have your personal email? Congressman, I I do not believe that he had my personal email. He had the email and he had the direct line to everybody he that he'd worked with for years . >> At 11: 00 that night, approximately one hour after you told the American people it was a video, you say to your family, two officers were killed today in Benghazi by and Al Qaeda like. Group. 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