More on Hillary’s emails
I used to think there was zero chance of Hillary being indicted. Now I think there’s a 10% chance.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
I used to think there was zero chance of Hillary being indicted. Now I think there’s a 10% chance.
Indictment won’t satisfy justice toward Mrs. Clinton. Standing her against a wall to be shot by a squad of riflemen, on the other hand, would go some distance to that achievement.
She is hoping that the peons will get in trouble. Not her. Since others did the work (got classified material to an unsecured email/server), she believes she cannot be blamed and others will take the fall while she is the ‘innocent’ who did nothing wrong.
She makes me sick. So much disregard for law and the lives of the people she put at risk by having this information on her server-in-a-bathroom.
I must admit Hillary’s staying power has surprised me. As of last summer I saw her as fatally damaged by her own hand/negligence even if many didn’t. The image that came to mind then was that of the Akagi at Midway, damaged by one bomb hit that caused fires not addressed by the ship’s officers until it was too late. The carrier was still floating as a burned-out hulk when the IJN finally torpedoed her the following morning.
It seems obvious that at this point she’s being propped up even as the FBI is circling and ready if not eager to pounce and finish her off–but why? To what end…?
The FBI will squeeze her three aides. The FBI has 150 agents looking at this. I imagine the CFF is the dragnet. More little people implicated. Someone flips and rats out HRC.
Trust me on this. Who would go to jail for Hillary?
I’ve become pretty cynical about this investigation. I worry that the FBI will come back with no indictment recommendations or maybe indict only a few lowly staff and at the same time say that Hillary did nothing wrong. Hillary will then be able to use this as proof of her claim that its all a Republican nothing and point to the 150 agents who investigated as proof.
Rodham will not leave the race even if she is indicted and convicted. She will depend on being elected so she can pardon herself and associates.
If as expected she is not criminally indicted everyone on every jury in America should refuse to convict anyone, citing the Banana Republic precedent.
bho will hold an indictment over her head with the threat of abandone the campaign and accept a pardon or lawyer up. Family issues/health will be the excuse. Biden/Warren is the messiah’s ticket.
You don’t have to change opinions about Hillary. you just have to dampen enthusiasm and remind people how nice it would be to sleep in or stop at Starbucks on election day. Younger women are losing their enthusiasm since they’ve heard about Bill’s escapades.
bho will hold an indictment over her head with the threat of abandone the campaign and accept a pardon or lawyer up. Family issues/health will be the excuse. Biden/Warren is the messiah’s ticket.
A piece up at Politico, though, on an interview with Obama in the Oval Office yesterday says this:
The FBI isn’t going to be satisfied with only the peons taking the fall. Hillary Clinton’s illegal server is the cause of every violation.
Secretaries of State work with classified information all the time. Most commonly but not exclusively Foreign Government Information (FGI). There is no way she can deny knowing this. In her miserable, ego stroking book she talks at length about the measures she had to take to safeguard classified information. Yet while knowing this she ensured there was no other way she could send and receive that information except through a private server. Which I emphasize again, is highly illegal.
Here are the two paragraphs of 18 USC 793 she has to worry about:
“(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits 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, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer–
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(g) If two or more persons conspire to violate any of the foregoing provisions of this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be subject to the punishment provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.”
Conspiracy theories get bad name. Because conspiracies to violate the law are actually crimes. In this case she was the mastermind of the conspiracy to unlawfully remove this information from its proper place of custody. Government IT systems.
None of her excuses fly. She seems to believe if she keeps saying things like it wasn’t marked classified it’s somehow OK. It’s not. The information is classified whether it’s marked or not. But the exquisite irony is that per E.O. 13526 (Obama issued two E.O.s using this same number) she’s designated by title as an original classification authority. Which means it’s her job to know classified information when she sees it whether it’s marked or not. Then she is supposed to know how to properly mark it as classified.
But you don’t even need to go that far
I was going to finish my last by pointing out that not only isn’t intent an element of this crime, the information didn’t even have to be classified for her to violate this law. Read the statute.
But the bottom line is that while the peons deserve to get into a lot of trouble for violating the Espionage Act, they committed those violations because their boss engineered a system that required people to violate the Espionage Act. So, yes, the peons in this case are scum. But there’s no way the FBI can ignore the mastermind in all this.
I read today that even if the FBI decides to go after her, nothing can happen unless the DOJ decides to prosecute. The FBI doesn’t have that power. And we all know that the DOJ is not going to do that. Banana Republic?? We are already there.
Ann,
Hold your friends close, hold your enemy closer.
If you look back at the Clintons in the 90s, they skated on their Whitewater scandal b/c Susan MacDougal went to jail rather than talk. I am not saying that Clinton will NOT get in trouble for what she has done, I am just saying that she believes she will get out from under this by blaming it on the ‘little guy’ or presenting a fall guy who will try to take the heat. The Clintons have done it before, they really believe they will be able to do it again.
Clinton has been speaking in those terms this whole time. Her statement about “I did not send nor receive any material marked classified.”
We know how they work. Remember the whole joke about Bill redefining the word ‘is’ during the Monicagate situation? This is what they do. They try to use language to give an appearance of innocence, and they use other people to take the blame.
I don’t think it will work this time. But I think she will try to use these methods to get out from under this mess.
Physics guy.
You are correct. Andy McCarthy writes at NR on that topic.
But Comey might resign and go public with something. Bombshell. High drama.
The FBI is only an investigative source in this situation. Indictment would come as a result of a grand jury action. Only the Justice department can impanel a grand jury. The most political Justice department in my 70 years is not about to indict her.
stu:
I agree with you. That’s why I only upped it to 10%.
In Houston they recently considered indictment charges against planned parenthood….and voted to indict the people who did the video taping instead, just to give you an idea od where “justice” is at this late stage.
parker & Ann…
It’d be typical politics t o kill HRC with kisses.
Should the case go to the grand jury — it would be painful for the President — but necessary.
That’s how the optics would be treated.
I fully expect that Sanders is going to utterly crush HRC in the first two outings.
Scott Adams figures that the “America” video spot is EPIC — and will put Hillary on the canvas.
There can be no doubt that her campaign is not following her preferred story arc.
&&&
Pat Caddell figures that GOPe belt way experts destroyed Scott Walker — and are doing a bang up job on the rest of the field.
The only two fellows not using their ‘talents’: Cruz and Trump.
Palin was doing perfect — until McCain put the experts in charge of her speeches — and everything else.
Even unhinged dingbats — Stalin and Hitler — knew enough to fire losing generals.
The GOPe can’t even climb UP to rock bottom management performance.
&&&&&
I well remember how positive the MSM was about McCain.
That warmth evaporated with the convention.
This campaign is about the Washington cartel.
Victories for it are ruinous for everyone’s general welfare.
The cartel looks upon Cruz as if he’s penicillin… and they’re the infection.
&&&&&
Scott Adams has a number of telling points:
1) Identity politics is the strongest politics.
Which is why Sanders’ “America” spot is a crushing blow.
2) Reason is virtually useless in the polling booth.
Hence Cruz’s reasoned arguments are wholly irrelevant to 90 percent of the voters.
3) HRC’s “women are better than men” schtick is a total zero with Democrat men.
On policy, both Clinton and Sanders are far, far, far Left.
So there’s no pain when moving towards the Lefter camp.
Sanders is addressing the TOP concern of young adults: their careers and their wallets.
Since schools are always petty dictatorships — socialism is all that young folks actually have experienced.
It takes a few decades for the kids to figure out that the REAL problem with socialism is that it does not scale well.
Socialism only ‘works’ — makes DNA sense — at the family level — or — at best — at the clan level — say < 100 souls.
The reason socialism keeps popping up — under various trade names — is because it's in our collective DNA. All of humanity lived as tiny clans up until the Neolithic era. Here and there, some still do.
It's the biological expression of a loving mother — showing blessings upon her own descendants.
Maternal love does not travel well. It's supposed to be aimed at her own. Without it, the kids don't have a hope.
Bush’s ad about Trump throwing the election to Hillary may prove prophetic.
He can take pride in sucking the oxygen out of Rubio’s GOPe support.
For all of Trump’s polling — keep in mind that the second he competing with a Democrat — his metrics are rotten.
Non-Republicans, non-Conservatives, would love to see Trump as the nominee.
And that crowd = the MSM.
No wonder the MSM loves clowning around with Donald Trump.
physicsguy said:
“I read today that even if the FBI decides to go after her, nothing can happen unless the DOJ decides to prosecute. The FBI doesn’t have that power. And we all know that the DOJ is not going to do that. Banana Republic?? We are already there.”
That’s why I limited my comments with what the FBI won’t be satisfied with, what the FBI won’t be able to ignore. I’m sure the DoJ can and will ignore almost anything.
But the problem with Clinton’s thinking, if she thought that at worst the peons would take the fall for her, is that you can’t prosecute them for any wrongdoing without bringing Clinton into it. No Clinton, no mishandling of classified.
There’s no way to through Abedin, Mills, and Sullivan under the bus without Hillary going along for the ride.
I have reason to believe McCarthy is right about one thing. If Hillary Clinton isn’t indicted then you’ll see the peons in the IC and FBI revolt. And while the DoJ has the power to indict and prosecute, the need the FBI to investigate the torrent of leaks that you’ll see if Hillary, who is worse than Snowden or Manning, isn’t indicted.
How much cooperation do you think they’ll get from the same FBI peons they just spit on?
Steve57 — the presence of SAP material in Hillary’s e-mails make it also very likely that she violated 18 USC 798:
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information–
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes–
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(b) As used in subsection (a) of this section–
The term “classified information” means information which, at the time of a violation of this section, is, for reasons of national security, specifically designated by a United States Government Agency for limited or restricted dissemination or distribution;
and there’s also 18 USC 1924:
(a) Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
(b) For purposes of this section, the provision of documents and materials to the Congress shall not constitute an offense under subsection (a).
(c) In this section, the term “classified information of the United States” means information originated, owned, or possessed by the United States Government concerning the national defense or foreign relations of the United States that has been determined pursuant to law or Executive order to require protection against unauthorized disclosure in the interests of national security.
Notice that it doesn’t say “marked classified.”
K-E is right — her acolytes will absolutely fall on their swords to protect her Highness, the Red Queen. After all, they’ll all get jobs with the Clinton Foundation when they get out.
Neo, you need to show the “Suicide Squad” scene from “Life of Brian.”
“Trust me on this. Who would go to jail for Hillary?”
The Clintons have forgotten more about conspiracies than you will ever know. After a life full of such experience, I would almost guarantee that anyone who could damage them has leverage on them too. The Clintons probably make employment in their service contingent on that.
Either that, or Susan MacDugal was loyal to a fault and she didn’t strike me as that type. Her husband, too.
It’s been said elsewhere that the stuff she got was editable. That means not, say, taking a picture of a screen print, printing and scanning, etc.
The point of the air gap is that you can’t possibly bridge it accidentally.
blert Says:
January 25th, 2016 at 7:58 pm
On policy, both Clinton and Sanders are far, far, far Left.
So there’s no pain when moving towards the Lefter camp.
Sanders is addressing the TOP concern of young adults: their careers and their wallets.
Since schools are always petty dictatorships – socialism is all that young folks actually have experienced.
It takes a few decades for the kids to figure out that the REAL problem with socialism is that it does not scale well.
Socialism only ‘works’ – makes DNA sense – at the family level – or – at best – at the clan level – say < 100 souls.
The reason socialism keeps popping up – under various trade names – is because it's in our collective DNA. All of humanity lived as tiny clans up until the Neolithic era. Here and there, some still do.
It's the biological expression of a loving mother – showing blessings upon her own descendants.
Maternal love does not travel well. It's supposed to be aimed at her own. Without it, the kids don't have a hope.
…
Excellent points; I haven't seen the socialism problem described exactly this way, but I believe you are correct.
As if another smoking gun were needed: Wendy Sherman admitting — no, bragging — that Hillary and team used blackberries to exchange classified information.
They thought this demonstrated what tech-savvy, well-informed global diplomats they were. So…can one assume Iran had numerous Clinton email server account IDSs through which they could hack her server? This just gets worse and worse!
http://preview.tinyurl.com/jqyshbf
Steve57 Says:
January 25th, 2016 at 8:20 pm
..
But the problem with Clinton’s thinking, if she thought that at worst the peons would take the fall for her, is that you can’t prosecute them for any wrongdoing without bringing Clinton into it. No Clinton, no mishandling of classified.
* * *
This looks obvious on the face of it, but IIRC, Scooter Libby was convicted of outing Valerie Plame (which he didn’t do) even though the trial was cast as one about perjury and the Plame connection was specifically excised by the judge.
This looks obvious on the face of it, but IIRC, Scooter Libby was convicted of outing Valerie Plame (which he didn’t do) even though the trial was cast as one about perjury and the Plame connection was specifically excised by the judge.
The Leftist alliance gave orders to the lawyer unions a long time ago, not to use things like that on Democrats.
They can pick on the small fry and patriots, but not Democrats at the upper middle of the hierarchy.