It is now crunch-time over what to do about the ongoing FBI investigation — involving some 150 FBI agents — regarding presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official government business.
To dispense with the well-known, Hillary’s claim that she never sent or received classified documents on that private server has long been proven a lie. Further, her claim that they weren’t marked as classified when she sent and received them is both dubious and beside the point because all federal employees with high security clearances — and you don’t get much higher than Secretary of State — undergo training upon taking office in which they are instructed as to how to identify classified material even if it isn’t marked, and they must sign a document confirming they are qualified to identify such classified documents. So she broke several federal laws and quite possibly exposed national security secrets.
But as I have written, she may also have broken federal laws forbidding government employees from destroying government property. Hillary destroyed approximately 30,000 emails that were on her private server, claiming they were personal emails about scheduling Yoga classes, preparing for daughter Chelsea’s upcoming wedding, and the like. It defies credulity that 30,000 emails dealt just with personal business, but as it happens, according to several reports, the FBI has been largely successful in retrieving those destroyed emails, meaning FBI agents know if any of them involve government business.
On the assumption that, among 30,000 emails handled by the U.S. Secretary of State, some of them are government-related, then the FBI, in addition to having conclusive proof that she violated federal law by sending and receiving classified documents on an unsecured server, has conclusive proof that she violated federal law by destroying government property without authorization.
So it’s also now crunch-time for FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Does Comey recommend to Lynch that she indict Hillary? If so, does Lynch comply, knowing that her boss, President Obama, would prefer that Hillary succeed him as president? Lynch also knows that even if Comey does recommend prosecution based on indisputable evidence, there is no law requiring the Justice Department to prosecute her, and even if it does decide to prosecute, there is no law specifying when it must prosecute. Additionally, should Attorney General Lynch decline to prosecute, there is no requirement that she explain why she declined.
At that point many believe Comey, who is considered an apolitical straight-shooter, will make public the FBI’s conclusion that Hillary should have been indicted, and then, perhaps, resign. If that happens, Hillary may not go to jail, but she probably doesn’t go to the White House either.
