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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

What Difference Does It Make? A Lot!

It is a major federal crime to handle "national security materials" in a way that subjects them to disclosure if (a) one is either grossly negligent in handling those materials or (b) if one intends the materials to be disclosed.  There is a potential prison term and a fine for violating this statute and anyone convicted of a violation is barred from holding federal office.  Today, FBI Director James Comey announced that Hillary Clinton would not be indicted for violating this statute because there is no evidence that she intended that secret materials be disclosed.  Comey confirmed that there were a great many classified documents on Hillary Clinton's private unsecured email server.  That means there were "national security materials" involved.  Comey confirmed that Clinton's server was open to attack by hostile foreign actors and may have been hacked.  That means that Hillary's storage of the national security information on her server opened those materials to disclosure.  Comey also said that there was no evidence that Hillary intended for the materials to be disclosed but that Hillary and her staff were "extremely careless" in handling the national security materials.  Extreme carelessness is the very definition of "gross negligence".  In other words, Hillary met all of the requirements for an indictment.  Yet Comey announced that there would be no indictment because Hillary never intended to disclose the secret materials.

In this country, we are supposedly governed by the rule of law.  The law is clear:  no intent to disclose is needed, just gross negligence.  Comey confirmed that there is overwhelming evidence of gross negligence by Mrs. Clinton.  She ought to have been indicted, but she hasn't been.  Think about it.  David Petreus, the former Director of the CIA, was indicted in part because he brought his work calendar home and kept it in a locked desk drawer in his home office.  He never intended to disclose that calendar with its list of secret meetings, but HE WAS indicted.  Why does Hillary Clinton get special treatment?  Why don't the laws apply to her?  Sure, she's now the presumptive nominee of the Democrats for president, but that is only because it took the FBI a year and a half to conduct a two month investigation.  Why the big delay?  Why is Hillary getting off without being charged.

The truth is that this result is a disgrace.  There's plenty of proof that Hillary and Bill did what they could to steer the ultimate decision makers not to indict Hillary.  We have Bill's secret meeting with the Attorney General.  We have Hillary yesterday offering the Attorney General a job in a Clinton administration.  Who knows what went on with Comey.  I have no proof that anything happened, but I do have suspicions.  Of course, even if there were proof of wrongdoing, it wouldn't matter.  The Clintons just don't get indicted.  The rules don't apply to them.

One thing that Hillary and Bill don't control is the result of November's election.  I certainly won't ever vote for Hillary.  Hopefully, enough of my fellow Americans agree to kept that crook out of the Oval Office.

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