Trump Says Latest Hillary Email Revelation 'Worse Than Watergate'

GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump slammed an effort by the State Department to declassify a Hillary Clinton email as akin to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.

"It's illegal," Trump told Fox News' Carl Cameron in a live interview backstage at his Green Bay, Wisconsin campaign rally on Monday. "I mean, what's taking place is illegal between Justice Department and the FBI and secretary of state."

According to just-released FBI documents, Clinton's undersecretary of state Patrick Kennedy requested an FBI official lower the classification on the email sent over Clinton's private server that is marked "secret." In exchange, the FBI would be able to increase staffing levels around the world.

"It's totally illegal. It's a criminal act. It's a crime," Trump said.

Republicans in Congress have said they will hold hearings after the election, which Trump condemned.

"Why would you hold them after the election?" he asked. "You think you would hold these hearings, frankly, immediately. This is serious stuff. This is big stuff. This is Watergate."

Trump's campaign already has slammed the reports as "collusion."

The FBI did not take up Kennedy's offer, but critics have slammed it as an attempt at a quid pro quo.

Trump also stood by his charge that the media is part of the effort to rig the election against him. When Cameron asked if that included Fox News, Trump said, "Fox hasn't been great. But the others have been really bad."

Trump continued his attacks at a rally Monday night.

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

The FBI released a statement emphasizing 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 continues::

"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."

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http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/donald-trump-watergate-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/2016/10/17/id/753912/