FBI confident Clinton emails being recovered: source

An intelligence source close to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s server told Fox News that the FBI maintains “the highest degree of confidence” emails are being recovered, adding that “shadows and ghosts” were on the server after messages were deleted.

“Shadows and ghosts remain even after a computer has been scrubbed. There are increasing levels of difficulty in retrieving information, however I am amazed at the level of our computer forensic people when they have the actual hardware,”said the intelligence source, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Bloomberg News was first to report that emails had been recovered, although the precise number was not publicly known.

The source added the FBI was also seeking to recover malicious code or any other evidence the server had been breached by a foreign government, or foreign government-backed entity.

Speaking to the Des Moines Register editorial board Tuesday, Clinton publicly stated for the first time that her server had not been compromised by a foreign entity, and that her private IT company assured her this was the case.

“There is no evidence that mine ever was,”Clinton told the editorial board. Asked if the assessment was done by the State Department, Clinton said, “No, the technical people who ran it. Who managed it...that was a private company (in Denver).”

In the past, there were multiple reports of the server being off line, or providing slow service.

The intelligence source said, "I would be greatly concerned that the repeated technical problem with the computer were results of someone, (including the possibility of a foreign country), forcing unauthorized access to the server. From what I was told, this is sometimes a symptom of a system that has been compromised."

Separately, a former high ranking State Department official with knowledge of the case said he was “impressed with the progress” made by the FBI, describing it as a “tedious investigation” that must be “flawless” in its findings.

“There is no way (the) secretary of state can function without access to classified information and the question remains where was her SCIF (secure site for classified information).”

SCIF are routinely built into homes of senior government executives.