Well, she got away with it. No criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her email transgressions.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a disgrace. If you or I had done what Hillary did, we’d be on our way to jail now. Seems like there’s a whole different standard when it comes to the Clintons.
If you watched FBI Director Comey’s announcement yesterday, or if you read the full transcript of his remarks (as I did), the first 90% of his statement led you to believe that he was going to recommend prosecution. For example, he revealed that 110 of Hillary Clinton’s emails contained classified information (despite the fact that she claimed that NONE of them did.) In fact, he confirmed that eight of her emails contained TOP SECRET information.
Comey went on to state that Hillary Clinton’s email actions were “extremely careless.” But then astoundingly said that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring” charges against Hillary because her “intent” couldn’t be proven. I said “astoundingly,” because proving “intent” is not necessary under the federal statute (law) Hillary would have been prosecuted under. Only “gross negligence” must be proven. And if being “extremely careless” with classified information doesn’t constitute “gross negligence” I don’t know what does.
Okay, so Hillary isn’t going to be prosecuted for her extreme carelessness with classified information. But now the American people have a decision to make. Do they want as our next president a person whom the FBI Director has stated unequivocally, is extremely careless with classified information, some of which was Top Secret? Do they trust such a person to be our Commander-in-Chief? I certainly hope not.
Here’s something else to consider. Had Hillary been criminally prosecuted (as I believe she should have been) there would in all likelihood have been intense pressure for her to step aside, and let some other Democrat (probably Vice President Joe Biden) take her place as the Democratic nominee for the presidency. And Hillary has so much baggage, that she may just be the most vulnerable candidate the Democrats could run this year. Donald Trump’s negatives may be high, but Hillary Clinton’s aren’t far behind. So Hillary Clinton and the Democrats may have won this battle, but they may well have just lost the war.
It reminds me of a somewhat similar situation, also involving a Clinton, 18 years ago. As you may know, I was significantly involved in the impeachment of Hillary’s husband, then President William Jefferson Clinton. I was, and still am, a member of the House Judiciary Committee which passed Articles of Impeachment to the full House of Representatives, which then voted for impeachment. I was then chosen to be one of the 13 prosecutors (House Managers) in the impeachment trial which took place in the Senate. Clinton was acquitted by a vote of 50/50 – 50 Senators voting to remove Clinton from office, 50 voting against removal.
Anyway, had President Clinton been removed from office, he would have been replaced by his Vice President, Al Gore. Gore would then have had the advantage of incumbency when he ran against George W. Bush two years later. That election may well have had a different result. We’ll obviously never know for sure.
Similarly, Donald Trump may have a better chance of beating Hillary Clinton than Joe Biden, or Bernie Sanders or whomever the Democrats might have replaced her with. We’ll know the answer in four months.
P.S. Thought you might be interested in an exchange I had with FBI Director James Comey when he appeared before the Judiciary Committee some months back.
