There's a dynamite report on Fox News today by Catherine Herridge that the FBI has again expanded the scope of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's private unsecured email system. The FBI is now investigating whether or not multiple false statements were made to investigators that would constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1001. That section makes it a crime for anyone directly or through others to knowingly or willfully (a) falsify, conceal or coverup a material fact; (b) make a materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement; or (c) makes or uses a false writing or document knowing it is false to a federal official. The statute also expressly makes clear that this applies not only to statements to the FBI but also to those made to a congressional committee.
Let me translate that from legalese to English: It's a crime to lie to or mislead federal investigators from the FBI or Congress. It's also a crime to have someone else do that on your behalf. According to this new report, the FBI is looking into Clinton's actions from this perspective.
Think about that. Hillary told Congress and other federal investigators that she turned over to the State Department all of her work related emails. The FBI has now been able to get many of the supposedly deleted emails from either Clinton's server itself or from other sources. If any of those emails were actually about Clinton's work as secretary of state, she may well have violated this statute.
But take it further. Clinton also told investigators that she had no classified information on her server. Now it is a separate crime if Clinton negligently allowed classified information to be stored on her unsecured system. But let's suppose that the FBI has found that some of the deleted emails contained classified info. That would add the obstruction of justice charge through false statements to the charge of negligent storage of national security information.
But there's more. The FBI is now taking over the determination of what on Clinton's server was classified. That determination is supposed to be made by the agency that generated the document. That means that if CIA information was emailed to Clinton, the opinion of the State Department is not relevant when deciding if this stuff was classified. That would be the same for NSA or any other intelligence agency. The State Department has been trying to defend Hillary by proclaiming that certain documents are not classified. Instead of getting sucked into that dispute, the FBI is taking the documents back to the agency that created them to hear if they are classified.
One more thing must be added. Since Hillary can be held liable if she gets others to make false statements or help with a coverup, it won't be a defense that it was Hillary's lawyer rather than she who spoke with the feds.
Put all this together and it means just one thing. Hillary's lies about her email could easily be used by the FBI to indict her. Most likely the Obama administration does not want to see that happen (although you never know), but if the FBI plays it straight, that may not make any difference. We really may be moving towards Hillary's getting indicted.
Let me translate that from legalese to English: It's a crime to lie to or mislead federal investigators from the FBI or Congress. It's also a crime to have someone else do that on your behalf. According to this new report, the FBI is looking into Clinton's actions from this perspective.
Think about that. Hillary told Congress and other federal investigators that she turned over to the State Department all of her work related emails. The FBI has now been able to get many of the supposedly deleted emails from either Clinton's server itself or from other sources. If any of those emails were actually about Clinton's work as secretary of state, she may well have violated this statute.
But take it further. Clinton also told investigators that she had no classified information on her server. Now it is a separate crime if Clinton negligently allowed classified information to be stored on her unsecured system. But let's suppose that the FBI has found that some of the deleted emails contained classified info. That would add the obstruction of justice charge through false statements to the charge of negligent storage of national security information.
But there's more. The FBI is now taking over the determination of what on Clinton's server was classified. That determination is supposed to be made by the agency that generated the document. That means that if CIA information was emailed to Clinton, the opinion of the State Department is not relevant when deciding if this stuff was classified. That would be the same for NSA or any other intelligence agency. The State Department has been trying to defend Hillary by proclaiming that certain documents are not classified. Instead of getting sucked into that dispute, the FBI is taking the documents back to the agency that created them to hear if they are classified.
One more thing must be added. Since Hillary can be held liable if she gets others to make false statements or help with a coverup, it won't be a defense that it was Hillary's lawyer rather than she who spoke with the feds.
Put all this together and it means just one thing. Hillary's lies about her email could easily be used by the FBI to indict her. Most likely the Obama administration does not want to see that happen (although you never know), but if the FBI plays it straight, that may not make any difference. We really may be moving towards Hillary's getting indicted.
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