The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said on Tuesday that the bureau would not recommend criminal charges in Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information, lifting an enormous legal cloud from her presidential campaign, hours before her first joint campaign appearance with President Obama.
But Mr. Comey rebuked Mrs. Clinton as being ‘extremely careless’ in using a personal email address and server for sensitive information, declaring that an ordinary government official could have faced administrative sanction for such conduct.
To warrant a criminal charge, Mr. Comey said, there had to be evidence that Mrs. Clinton intentionally sent or received classified information — something that the F.B.I. did not find.
(New York Times, July 5, 2016)
I was wrong.
I wagered in my July 1 commentary that Hillary would be indicted. And, sure enough, as Director Comey delineated the findings of her extreme carelessness, I was feeling vindicated. But then he said she betrayed no criminal intent….
Mind you, everything he said reinforced my abiding belief that Hillary set up her personal e-mail server to avoid oversight by the Obama Administration. Evidently, she wanted to maintain contact with people of dubious reputation (like Sidney Blumenthal). This, despite the fact that they are the very people who brought her husband’s administration, as well as her family’s ‘charitable’ foundation, into disrepute; and, more to the point, that Barack Obama made her promise to keep them at arm’s length if he appointed her secretary of state.
In doing this, she not only betrayed Obama’s trust, but also violated State Department rules and regulations. But her sense of entitlement is clearly such that she couldn’t care less.
In any event, F.B.I. agents recommending no criminal charges and DOJ prosecutors declaring their intent to oblige will provide fodder for endless partisan debate. But I see no point in participating. Except I feel constrained to note that there’s a big difference between escaping criminal charges and defying karma. Especially given that the latter is often a bitch that slaps when you least expect.
That said, I understand all too well why Comey asserted that no “reasonable prosecutor” would indict in these circumstances. To be fair, Comey took pains to debunk any hint of political interference or influence – no doubt compelled by the now infamous tarmac meeting between Hillary’s husband Bill and his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Moreover, he insisted that a thorough review of all case files showed that the F.B.I. has never recommended charges based on similar facts.
Still, remarkably, Donald Trump is right; the system is rigged. Except that, unremarkably, it is rigged in the way prosecutors routinely give rich, white folks a pass for alleged crimes for which they routinely prosecute poor, black folks. Therefore, I probably should have known better than to think they would make an example of Hillary.
Sorry, Bernie … Joe.
Related commentaries:
Media frenzy over Hillary e-mails…
Bill Clinton meets Loretta Lynch…