As was the case with Barack Obama in 2008, Bernie Saunders is turning out to be a bigger political problem than Hillary Clinton’s campaign ever expected. But Hillary’s biggest problem may not be political. It may be legal. Simply put, while it is not a done deal, the FBI investigation into her handling of classified information on her private email server may well lead to an indictment for criminal activity.
At present, multiple sources within the FBI say such an indictment would include charges of improper disclosure and retention of classified documents, destruction of government records, lying under oath, lying to federal agents and obstruction of justice.
For starters, Hillary is on record as stating that she never sent or received classified documents on her private server. Actually, she did both. Further, she claimed she voluntarily turned over all work-related emails to the Justice Department, when, in fact, she finally succumbed to repeated demands by the State Department to turn them over, and investigators subsequently found several work-related emails she hadn’t turned over. Also, while secretary of State, Hillary deleted some 33,000 emails from her private server, yet all emails a federal government employee generates while working are the property of the federal government, so she would appear to be guilty of “destruction of government records.”
Meanwhile, the FBI is also looking into whether, as secretary of State, Hillary violated public corruption laws with respect to the State Department’s preferential treatment of large donors, especially foreign donors (both government and private) to the Clinton Foundation.
According to several sources, approximately 150 agents are working some aspect of the investigation, so the FBI is obviously taking this investigation seriously. Which means that if the FBI finally feels that it has a solid case, it will have to ask the Justice Department to seek indictments against Hillary.
At which point, things get interesting. The FBI director, James Comey, is both an experienced lawyer and longtime public servant, and would never have okayed indicting a former secretary of State unless he had a rock solid case. That puts the ball in Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s court. Will she follow through and indict her boss’s former secretary of State and the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate?
If not, what will Comey do? Given his reputation as an independent straight shooter, and his public statement that the investigation of Hillary is about national security, not politics, it is hard to believe he will stand idly by. Rather it is possible, perhaps even likely, that he would make a public statement of objection, and/or resign, with, perhaps, some of his top aides following suit.
At which point Hillary’s biggest problem will again go back to being a political problem.
At present, multiple sources within the FBI say such an indictment would include charges of improper disclosure and retention of classified documents, destruction of government records, lying under oath, lying to federal agents and obstruction of justice.
For starters, Hillary is on record as stating that she never sent or received classified documents on her private server. Actually, she did both. Further, she claimed she voluntarily turned over all work-related emails to the Justice Department, when, in fact, she finally succumbed to repeated demands by the State Department to turn them over, and investigators subsequently found several work-related emails she hadn’t turned over. Also, while secretary of State, Hillary deleted some 33,000 emails from her private server, yet all emails a federal government employee generates while working are the property of the federal government, so she would appear to be guilty of “destruction of government records.”
Meanwhile, the FBI is also looking into whether, as secretary of State, Hillary violated public corruption laws with respect to the State Department’s preferential treatment of large donors, especially foreign donors (both government and private) to the Clinton Foundation.
According to several sources, approximately 150 agents are working some aspect of the investigation, so the FBI is obviously taking this investigation seriously. Which means that if the FBI finally feels that it has a solid case, it will have to ask the Justice Department to seek indictments against Hillary.
At which point, things get interesting. The FBI director, James Comey, is both an experienced lawyer and longtime public servant, and would never have okayed indicting a former secretary of State unless he had a rock solid case. That puts the ball in Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s court. Will she follow through and indict her boss’s former secretary of State and the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate?
If not, what will Comey do? Given his reputation as an independent straight shooter, and his public statement that the investigation of Hillary is about national security, not politics, it is hard to believe he will stand idly by. Rather it is possible, perhaps even likely, that he would make a public statement of objection, and/or resign, with, perhaps, some of his top aides following suit.
At which point Hillary’s biggest problem will again go back to being a political problem.
