Hillary and the Law

                Director James Comey announced last week that the FBI had completed its investigation into the email scandal of Hilary Clinton and would recommend to the Department of Justice that no charges be brought against her for allowing classified information – confidential, secret, and top secret – to be transferred from an unsecured server. The reason given by Director Comey for not bringing charges was Clinton did not intend to pass the nation’s secrets to any enemies. This is a wrong decision on many levels but not a surprising one.

                I currently hold – or at least I did at one time – a security clearance of “Secret.” While working as a secretary at an Air Force Base, I handled classified material on a daily basis, and I knew the consequences of what would happen to me if I did not safeguard it. I was well aware that my task was to protect that information at all costs. I remember a time when the fire bell rang and everyone – including me - rushed out of the building. When we returned from the drill, there sat one of the supervisors guarding the classified material in the room, particularly the document currently in my typewriter. I gasped when I realized what I had done, but he assured me that he had guarded it. If the drill had been a real fire, I am not sure what would have happened.

                Many people have weighed in on the FBI’s decision, including Rush Limbaugh: “Did anyone really expect Hillary Clinton to face an indictment from the FBI? Even if the FBI had recommended that charges be filed against her, I still have my doubts that Loretta Lynch would’ve acted accordingly, despite her saying otherwise. The Democrat establishment had really been behind Hillary since day one. It didn’t take long for the Party’s super-delegates to all rally their support behind Hillary, and once she had the President’s endorsement, it became obvious that she wouldn’t be campaigning from a jail cell.”

                Limbaugh obviously was not surprised that no charges will be recommended. He is very much aware of the corruption in the Democrat Party, still led by Bill Clinton.

                Former Congressman Allen West says that he is “delighted” that no criminal charges are being filed against Clinton. He was afraid the Obama administration would take out Clinton and leave Joe Biden as the Democrat presidential candidate with Senator Elizabeth Warren as the VP. He thought that would be “a tough ticket to beat.” “Here is a simple Southern summation [of all the charges]. Hillary Clinton was extremely careless with our not just classified, but highly classified, information – why not just term this gross negligence? I can tell you, if I were a member of our Armed Services who’s been punished for misuse or mishandling of classified information, I would be filing an appeal. See, in the military, at a minimum, you’ll lose your security clearance; maximum, you’ll face court-martial punishment.”

                If Hillary Clinton is not charged for violating laws concerned with classified information, then every person who has been charged for doing the same should get reprieves.

                Andrew C. McCarthy, former Chief Asst. U.S. Attorney, did not mince words in his article:  “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 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 intend the bad things that happen due to gross negligence.”

                I encourage you to check out the rest of McCarthy’s comments. He sounds like he knows very well what should have happened but did not.

                John G. Malcolm at The Daily Signal writes: “According to Comey, the FBI failed to uncover evidence that Clinton intentionally divulged classified information (which might otherwise have supported charges under 18 U.S.C. 798), that she intentionally removed and retained classified information without authorization (which might otherwise have supported a charge under 18 U.S.C. 1924 – the charge to which Gen. David Petraeus pled guilty), or that she lied about it to federal investigators (which might otherwise have supported a charge under 18 U.S.C. 1001).

However, the facts, as outlined by Comey, could possibly support a charge under 18 U.S.C. 793, which, among other things, make it a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, for an official who has been entrusted with classified information relating to the national defense to `permit … the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed” through the exercise of gross negligence.

                “By Clinton’s own account, she used personal emails as a matter of `convenience;’ on the issue of whether that was grossly negligent or not, Comey was strangely silent.

                “This appears to end the matter, at least so far as the ongoing criminal investigation is concerned. Since the matter will likely not be decided in a court of law, it will not be up to the court of public opinion.”

                There we have it, folks. We have corruption at the highest levels of our government. Hillary Clinton broke the law when she failed to secure classified information, but she will not be charged for doing it. What else is there to say? May God continue to bless America in spite of all the corruption is my prayer!