President Obama plays down email development

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is playing down reports that a senior State Department official had asked the FBI last year to reduce the classification of an email from Hillary Clinton’s private server.

Obama said in a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday that some of the “more sensational implications or appearances” related to the report “are not based on actual events.” He said those types of interactions “happen a lot.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the FBI records show a “criminal act.” But Obama says that notion is “just not true.”

The records indicated there were discussions about a deal that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries in exchange for the classification change. State and FBI officials say there was never a deal.