By Andrew C McCarthy, NATIONAL REVIEW
There is no way of getting around this: According to Director James Comey (disclosure: a former colleague and longtime friend of mine), Hillary Clinton checked every box required for a felony violation of Section 793(f) of the federal penal code (Title 18): With lawful access to highly classified information she acted with gross negligence in removing and causing it to be removed it from its proper place of custody, and she transmitted it and caused it to be transmitted to others not authorized to have it, in patent violation of her trust. Director Comey even conceded that former Secretary Clinton was “extremely careless” and strongly suggested that her recklessness very likely led to communications (her own and those she corresponded with) being intercepted by foreign intelligence services.
Yet, Director Comey recommended against prosecution of the law violations he clearly found on the ground that there was no intent to harm the United States.
In essence, in order to give Mrs. Clinton a pass, the FBI rewrote the statute, inserting an intent element that Congress did not require. The added intent element, moreover, makes no sense: The point of having a statute that criminalizes gross negligence is to underscore that government officials have a special obligation to safeguard national defense secrets; when they fail to carry out that obligation due to gross negligence, they are guilty of serious wrongdoing. The lack of intent to harm our country is irrelevant. People never intendthe bad things that happen due to gross negligence.
I would point out, moreover, that there are other statutes that criminalize unlawfully removing and transmitting highly classified information with intent to harm the United States. Being not guilty (and, indeed, not even accused) of Offense B does not absolve a person of guilt on Offense A, which she has committed.
It is a common tactic of defense lawyers in criminal trials to set up a straw-man for the jury: a crime the defendant has not committed. The idea is that by knocking down a crime the prosecution does not allege and cannot prove, the defense may confuse the jury into believing the defendant is not guilty of the crime charged. Judges generally do not allow such sleight-of-hand because innocence on an uncharged crime is irrelevant to the consideration of the crimes that actually have been charged.
It seems to me that this is what the FBI has done today. It has told the public that because Mrs. Clinton did not have intent to harm the United States we should not prosecute her on a felony that does not require proof of intent to harm the United States. Meanwhile, although there may have been profound harm to national security caused by her grossly negligent mishandling of classified information, we’ve decided she shouldn’t be prosecuted for grossly negligent mishandling of classified information.
I think highly of Jim Comey personally and professionally, but this makes no sense to me.
Finally, I was especially unpersuaded by Director Comey’s claim that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case based on the evidence uncovered by the FBI. To my mind, a reasonable prosecutor would ask: Why did Congress criminalize the mishandling of classified information through gross negligence? The answer, obviously, is to prevent harm to national security. So then the reasonable prosecutor asks: Was the statute clearly violated, and if yes, is it likely that Mrs. Clinton’s conduct caused harm to national security? If those two questions are answered in the affirmative, I believe many, if not most, reasonable prosecutors would feel obliged to bring the case.
2.
Hillary Clinton E-mail FBI James Comey Turn America Banana Republic
By David French — July 5, 2016
Hillary’s Banana Republic FBI Director James Comey meticulously outlined Hillary Clinton’s wrongdoing and lies — before announcing she would face no consequences
Tuesday morning, FBI Director James Comey stepped up to a podium and calmly and methodically demolished every single Hillary Clinton lie, spin, and evasion regarding her misuse of classified information. Months of deception blew up in her face. And then Comey decided to make her president of the United States.
Rarely have 30 minutes of television so perfectly encapsulated the decline and fall of the rule of law and the extraordinary privileges enjoyed by America’s liberal elite. After listing abuse after abuse — and detailing lie after lie — Comey declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would prosecute Hillary for her obvious and manifest crimes. It’s good to be a Clinton.
As we ponder the magnitude of Hillary’s wrongdoing, consider the facts as uncovered by the FBI investigation. Begin with the stunning and sobering reality that Clinton sent and received Secret and Top Secret information from her unclassified, unsecured e-mail account. Here’s Comey:
Seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. These chains involved Secretary Clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails from others about the same matters. There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. (Emphasis mine.)
Nor did it matter that the e-mails weren’t “marked” classified. Again, here’s Comey:
Separately, it is important to say something about the marking of classified information. Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked “classified” in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.
Moreover, the FBI found “several thousand” of Clinton’s work-related e-mails that had not been turned over to the State Department, including e-mails that contained classified information.
Incredibly, Comey noted that her personal e-mail server was less secure than Google’s Gmail:
None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff, like those found at Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Government — or even with a commercial service like Gmail.
Consider the fact that the FBI determined that “hostile actors” gained access to the private e-mail accounts of people Clinton corresponded with, and the FBI believes it is “possible that hostile actors gained access” her personal account.
I defy any member of the military or any civilian not directly affiliated with Hillary Clinton to engage in such conduct and get away with it. The first thing that would happen is you would lose your security clearance. Next, you would lose your job. Finally, good luck escaping prosecution. Comey claims that prior FBI prosecutions included “some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice.”
But those aren’t the elements of the relevant crime — which merely requires prosecutors to prove Clinton guilty of “gross negligence” in removing classified information from its proper place of custody. Yet even if those were the elements, Comey outlined many of them in his statement. Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information when “any reasonable person in her position” should have known unclassified systems were “no place” for that information. She deleted e-mails that should have been preserved. She housed national-defense information on a server less secure than Gmail. She lied, repeatedly and publicly. No one less politically connected could get away with misconduct this brazen. No one.
Indeed, Clinton is still lying. As of this afternoon, her own website features a “factsheet” about the e-mail controversy that contains laughably false statements such as this: “Clinton only used her account for unclassified email.” And it still repeats the legally irrelevant and intentionally misleading claim that “no information in Clinton’s emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them.”
Further, despite the fact that thousands of deleted messages were work-related (and some contained classified information), she still claims that the e-mails she didn’t turn over were “private, personal records” containing “emails about her daughter’s wedding plans, her mother’s funeral services and condolence notes, as well as emails on family vacations, yoga routines, and other items one would typically find in their own email account.”
It would be a mistake to consider this outrage in isolation. Scandal and incompetence follow Hillary Clinton like the cloud of filth that accompanies Peanuts’ Pig-Pen. She botched the Libya intervention so thoroughly that the country is now an ISIS playpen. Her State Department left men alone to die in Benghazi, then she misled the American people to cover up her own failure. Her family foundation is a pay-to-play influence-peddling operation. And now we know that she mishandled classified information and lied to conceal her own wrongdoing.
But rules and standards are for the little people. The FBI demolished every Clinton excuse and blew apart every Clinton lie, but soon she might well walk into rooms serenaded to the sweet sounds of “Hail to the Chief.” To paraphrase the words of Benjamin Franklin, we’ve got a banana republic, if Hillary can keep it.
— David French is a staff writer at National Review and an attorney.
yamit82 Said:
Not wishes to speak ill of the dead, but I always thought Mr. Wiesel made a living from the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel: The Left’s Preferred Holocaust Survivor Who Spoke Out For Muslims
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/82784/elie-wiesel-the-lefts-preferred-holocaust-survivor-who-spoke-out-for-muslims/
James Comey Freed These Islamic Terrorists, Got Them Citizenship, Prosecuted Feds Who Pursued Them
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/82836/james-comey-freed-these-islamic-terrorists-got-them-citizenship-prosecuted-feds-who-got-guilty-verdict-against-them/
@ bernard ross:
@ honeybee:
James Comey Freed These Islamic Terrorists, Got Them Citizenship, Prosecuted Feds Who Pursued Them
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/82836/james-comey-freed-these-islamic-terrorists-got-them-citizenship-prosecuted-feds-who-got-guilty-verdict-against-them/
Its beyond those at state with access…. apparently she gave access to her UNCLEARED lawyers to the classified emails, plus the UNCLEARED administrators of the server had access.
bernard ross Said:
WELL SAID:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGJMtnRMpjM
lsatenstein Said:
I have a special affection for the simple minded. You are saying then Sugar, Ms. Clinton couldn’t employ a computer teck or call the ” Geek Squad” for assistance ?
bernard ross Said:
Clever !!!!!!!!!!! intent or negligence ???
yamit82 Said:
Can one intend to be negligent ?????
yamit82 Said:
“hahahahahahahahaha” dicha of Deborah
@ yamit82:
POssible, or just making a show. I watched some of Comey’s questioning and apparently Hillary was not questioned by the FBI before last saturday for 3 hours, Comey did not directly question her, he did not talk to all the investigators there, he could not remember if she was asked about her statements to congress under oath which are now proven lies…. his determination came a couple of days later. It does sound pre determined. It appears there was a big rush to clear her, probably to do with the upcoming conventions.
@ bernard ross:
I don’t think the FBI is investigating Clinton and the Clinton foundation at all.
@ bernard ross:
Like companies too big to fail there are some who are too big to be prosecuted…..
et populus peculiaris erit reus
Its inconceivable that any american would vote for HC to be president of the USA but what do I know…. after all… america elected a guy named Hussein to be their president………after 911 (DUH?)
@ yamit82:
Yes, guiliani proves intent but even more there is cricumstantial evidence of intentionally spying for remuneration IMO. Certainly with anyone but an elite,like pollard, they would go for being an agent of a foreign enemy.
The real crime yet to be proven comes about why Hillary really hid her emails in the first place.
The Clinton Foundation was getting foreign money (%5 million from Saudis for example) in exchange for influence.
Russians getting Uranium mine. The DOJ stopped investigating this to let Hillary off the hook because the Dems are trying to make sure she will be President.
A large scale banana republic is surely in place with allowing this pay to play scheme by the Clintons.
Bill Clinton use the Lincoln Bedroom (sleeping privileges) for large donors who were then provided access to him and stays in the White House when he was President.
The Clintons perfected this corruption into major money for themselves from foreigners and large corporations.
http://www.clintoncashbook.com/
@ lsatenstein:
Do you have a reading comprehension disorder? Andrew McCarthy repeatedly said congress passed a law that it is a felony if someone with access to classified information shows gross negligence. Gross negligence means there is NO clear intention to reveal classified information, but marked carelessness or recklessness with classified information..
Intent not required, only negligence, but Giuliani says there was plenty of proof of intent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD6Ykxlvddk
@ lsatenstein:
Intent not required, only negligence, but Giuliani says there was plenty of proof of intent:
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=26895&utm_source=reembed&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=popular
lsatenstein Said:
again, well known that there were many classified emails, why mislead us with this statement?
lsatenstein Said:
is anyone here handling classified info?
lsatenstein Said:
😛 😛 😛
LOL, everyone here knows how and why of the “bad laws”… they mainly come from president husseins illegal dictatorial edicts like amnesty OR from crooked collaborations of the GOP and obama like the TPP, none of which you mention here. I “believe” that “isatenstein” is trying to fool us.
It is absolutely “essential” that Trump is elected president in that he is the only one who will turn back the “bad laws” promulgated by the crooked establishment GOP and Obama.
@ ArnoldHarris:
to add: there is a current trend to convince jews that trump is anti semitic and bad for Israel…. most of this trend is very dishonest, in my view intentionally. When one uses foolish arguments with that MO I feel there is an attempt to dishonestly manipulate Jews.
Here is an example:
lsatenstein Said:
In other words Trump is a liar but what is Hillary,. just someone “we” dont like. The statement is beyond absurd as there is hardly a person here who does not beleive that Hillary is an abject, serial and chronic liar. We have already seen Hillary opportunistically shaft and insult the Jews when SOS after wooing them bare faced when running for senator. Such an MO is insulting to anyones intelligence.
ArnoldHarris Said:
My credibility is irrelevant here because whatever I say can be judged separately from myself
bernard ross Said:
sometimes, with certain folks, with certain repetitive MO’s I like to go fishing, casting my net. I trust my intuition and experience in certain scenarios. It is not the first time I have said this to “Isatenstein” with no return comment on it. My instinct based on his MO and comments senses a certain separation from the tribe and it has been my experience that there are many trolls with the same MO who pretend to be Jews with very sounding Jewish names to throw folks off the scent and give cover for certain types of comments. This is not something I can explain to you in detail here. Isatenstein makes insulting comments so there is no need to protect him from return insults. The name may exist but I do not beleive the identity…. this is not to say that his comments are true or false….. as they stand by themselves for everyone to assess. His comments display a lack of empathy for Jewish concerns which coupled with the very “Jewish name” I find odd. Often trolls masquerading like to use very yiddishe sounding names as a form of insult. None of what I just wrote or what he writes has any bearing on truth or fact…. only on motive. I am not concerned with credibility.
@ bernard ross:
There are more than a few Satensteins who can be looked up in Wikipedia. So, chances are, I Satenstein is his real name.
I don’t agree with his conclusions any more than you do. But don’t threaten your own credibility by what could prove to be false allusions regarding his possible connections to the Jewish nation.
Arnold Harris, Outspeaker
bernard ross Said:
@ bernard ross:
8 year terms are supposed to insulate heads of FBI from political pressure….. He is giving testimony in congress tomorrow maybe we will learn something
@ yamit82:
LOL, thanks, I had a suspicion about it as it would have been plastered on every media.
@ bernard ross:
http://www.snopes.com/guccifer-missing-from-jail-cell/
I cannot verify if this is true or if the site is credible
Although there is no necessity in the law to prove intent it should not be dismissed. There is circumstantial evidence which proves intent:
-the insecure server was set up against all advice against
-Huma with muslim brotherhood parents and known links to terror orgs had access to it with hillary
-Having a server less secure than gmail gives a spy the opportunity to claim “plausible deniability” when caught because one knows it is easily hacked, huma could let her parents and connections know or not as every intelligence agency would know
-anything sent, or any conversation… including any references to the murdered stevens itinerary would be instantly available to hackers… therefore if one wishes to get the MB the info to kidnap or murder stevens one merely needs to send it to one of the other parties in an email… plus once in an email the hacker can gain entry to the computer or device getting the email.
– it is rumored that the murder of stevens was a botched false flag attempt to kidnap him to then use him to trade out the blind sheik to satisfy MOrsi and his MB at the time. Perhaps the syrians, iranians and russians knew they were attempting the false flag kidnap and decided to mess it up… subsequently Obama backed out of backing the syrian opposition in an agreement with the russians. Isuspect the russians have a ton of blackmail files on the admin and hillary
-Hillary motive is no different than any other spy’s usual motive… $$$$$$$$…… and we see that she received tens of millions from muslim and arab nations and orgs.
Why assume that she has good intentions when everything in her history shows she is money hungry and corrupt?
Folks who spy for money are not patriotic, why assume that hillary is patriotic when all she has demonstrated is a desire for money, power and the repeated abuse of law.
One can call trump a buffoon, a loudmouth, indiscreet, a little iffy in business, ignorant of foreign policy and diplomacy…. but trump is patriotic and not in it for power or money AND he learns fast. Once he learns the real facts on an issue he makes the correct evaluation and is not afraid to change his mind upon learning the facts AND he is nowhere near the corruption of the establishment dems and gop…… e.g. ryan who is trying to do everything to make trump lose and hillary win…. he knows trump is no anti semite but he helps spread the lie anyway.. He also knows that lie survives a primary and affects the general election so he is not doing it to win the primary … he wants trump to lose the general and hillary to win. that would set up ryan for a run in 20 and would guarantee that trump would not ruin the gop agenda of tpp, HB1 vasa and cheap labor immigration for the corps….. which hillary will support as did obama…. but trump will not. The gop establishment cannot really support trump even if they pretend to support him in public…. they want him to lose under any circumstances… they know they can work with the dems to get what they want, thats what they did with obama….. but they cannot work with trump. The gop and dem establishment are in complete sync.
Bear Klein Said:
this is an interesting conclusion……and you may be right, but, do you have anything to show to indicate that conclusion? Since Lynch said she would follow the FBI recommendation why would Comey have needed to follow the Lynch/hillary/obama script? Although Comey was appointed by Obama he is a registered GOP… so one has to wonder why he did it? I agree that he made the case for her indictment publicly while at the same time not indicting her. Its as if he does not want to be responsible for what would occur if she is indicted while a candidate…. OR…. perhaps there is something else he knows that will happen…. such as the dems themselves getting rid of her. Biden has been moving around lately, went to cyprus just before the announcement of a possible turkey, cyprus, greece deal… almost as if he was to get credit for it later. I still think the dems have biden warren waiting in the wings.
lsatenstein Said:
trump would be great for Israel
lsatenstein Said:
😛 😛 😛
Since when have you been “sincere” in any of your postings here. In order to believe in your sincerity one would have to beleive you are stupid or ignorant.
I sincerely believe that “Isatenstein” is a false name intended to deceive Jews here that you are a Jew…. but what do I know… facts trump beliefs.
Trump would increase $$$ to Israel AND give Israel more leeway in the area as a USA ally. He would increase based on real benefits that he would see which would save money and lives for the US. That is his MO….If Israel was given more responsibility to advance US and western interests in the ME a lot of$$$ would be saved. All the other pols of both parties have always limited their alliance with Israel due to the arabs and muslims but Trump has publicly burned that bridged in diplomacy and his relations will be based on self interest.
The dems you defend and the GOP establishment led by Ryan are corrupt to the core…. Trump, in spite of his lack of attractiveness on a personal level is the only route which will not make things get much worse for the USA.
lsatenstein Said:
why do you always come here and spread lies?
It is absolutely UNNECCESSARY to prove intent. Thise is why it is said that comey rewrote the law. A number of people have been convicted without proving intent.
One begins to feel that you intentionally lie here.
7 people in the last year have been convicted of the crime of mishandling government secrets for actions very similar to Hillary Clinton. However they were not the Presidential candidate from the Dem Party fixers.
If Hillary was not caught selling info to the Russians or Chinese on a video recording she was not going to get charged. That is the reality. General Patreus got charged only because he criticized Obama in public. If not he would not have been coerced into a confession for something very similar.
Trump can use the case Comey laid out about Hillary mishandling secrets and exposing USA secrets to governments all of the world. Maybe reasonable independents and Republicans will then not vote for her. Lynch was never going to charge her. Comey knew this and laid out the case against her anyway (highly unusual for the FBI).
My thoughts.
It is necessary to show intent, and lets face it, Hillary is not the IT guru that you and your peers are.
So, we have a situation where there was (and we know it), non military emails and emails that were essentially trip/meeting reports. Hillary was the messenger for Head Office (President’s staff).
I think as well, you should also put yourself into a situation. You as the US government representative are meeting counterparts for supper, and those meetings might end at 10pm or so. Now you shlep yourself to the hotelroom, open a laptop and write a compte-rendu (meeting report). Fatigue, and the necessity to transmit news back home.
If there were ever (mis)information about US Spies in those countries where she wrote those emails, would she have to put that spy’s information into an email? –no, she would say she met with one person and advised him/her to report to his superiors.
Give me a break. You don’t like Hillory, but Trump will absolutely be worse for Israel. Trump talks from both sides of his mouth.
About Trump…
And for winning lawsuits, of which he was proud, I would say he could outspend the counterparts budget, forcing a baad loss for the opponent. I sincerely believe that Trump as president is going to stop the outflow of $$$ from the USA to Israel, to the UN, S.Viet Nam, etc. If he gets in, lets see his impact on the US security.
I believe that good government requires checks and counter-checks.
Republican congress, democratic Senate, or vice-versa.
With Republican,Republican,Republican in all positions, What is to stop the worst of the laws from being implemented? It is essential that no Republican gets to be president. At least there will be some possibility of turning back bad laws or delaying their implementation.