I saw a story pointing to this over the weekend, but the person had not yet been named. Now, it appears to be a *real* allegation, if you will.

From POLITICO

State Dept. official accused of offering 'quid pro quo' in Clinton email scandal

A top State Department official allegedly “pressured” the FBI to downgrade the classification of one of Hillary Clinton’s emails as part of a “quid pro quo,” according to documents released by the bureau on Monday.

The accusation of such an arrangement came from an interview the FBI conducted with an official in its records management division. Notes from the interview were released as part of the FBI’s public posting of documents related to its now-closed investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In the interview, the unnamed official says that Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, tried in late June or early July of last year to get the FBI to change a classified email to unclassified, in exchange for the State Department allowing the FBI to place agents in more countries.

Here's the relevant portion of the notes released today:

“[REDACTED] received a call from [REDACTED] of the International Operations Division (IOD) of the FBI, who ‘pressured’ him to change the classified email to unclassified. [REDACTED] indicated he had been contacted by PATRICK KENNEDY, Undersecretary of State, who had asked his assistance in altering the email’s classification in exchange for a ‘quid pro quo.’”

The notes go on to say, “[REDACTED] advised that, in exchange for marking the email unclassified, STATE would reciprocate by allowing the FBI to place more Agents in countries where they are presently forbidden.”

An unnamed official alleges that Kennedy followed up this request by asking during a private meeting whether the FBI could “see their way to marking the email unclassified?”

From Christian Science Monitor:

FBI's handling of Hillary Clinton emails: Was there a quid pro quo?

Both the State Department and FBI have denied the allegation.

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said Monday that the allegations are factually inaccurate and that Kennedy's conversations were an attempt to understand the FBI's process for releasing certain information to the public via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

"Classification is an art, not a science, and individuals with classification authority sometimes have different views," Mr. Toner said, as The Hill reported. "There can be applicable FOIA exemptions that are based on both classified and unclassified rules. We have an obligation to ensure determinations as they relate to classification are made appropriately."

@wikileaks Crazy... https://t.co/jyvBPkkiQq

— Mark Mansfield (@Mark4124NH) October 17, 2016

New FBI release on Clinton email probe refers to 'Shadow Government'

One revelation in the documents came from an interview with an unidentified person who suggested that Freedom of Information Act requests related to Clinton went through a group sometimes called "the Shadow Government."

"There was a powerful group of very high-ranking STATE officials that some referred to as 'The 7th Floor Group' or 'The Shadow Government.' This group met every Wednesday afternoon to discuss the FOIA process, Congressional records, and everything CLINTON-related to FOIA/Congressional inquiries," the FBI's interview summary said.

That group, according to the summary, argued for a Clinton document release to be conducted all at once "for coordination purposes" instead of on a rolling basis as would normally be the case. But the "Shadow Government" did not get its way, and the agency in charge decided for a rolling release, the FBI summary said.

Hmmm. Still not quite clear on what FBI means by ' Shadow Government'.