SCOTT S. POWELL 7/02/2016

When FBI Director James Comey laid his hand on the Bible and recited his oath of office on September 4, 2013, swearing to "faithfully discharge the duties of the office ... without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion," he probably didn't expect he might have to move against the heir apparent leader of the party under which he would serve.

The facts known about actions taken by Hillary Clinton while secretary of state surrounding the use of an unsecure private email server for conducting government business show that she violated 10 federal statutes. Several are national-security-related felonies, just three of which include: 1. disclosure of classified information (22 documents were Top Secret), 2. unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents, and 3. destruction of evidence (erasure of the hard drive and deletion of some 30,000 emails by Secretary Clinton) after a government investigation had commenced (Benghazi hearings began Oct. 10, 2012).

Comey knows of a related but lesser law violation in handling classified material by General David Petraeus that was recently adjudicated. Petraeus was fined $100,000 and sentenced to two years' probation for providing his personal notebooks containing classified information to his biographer, although no classified information was ever exposed. Hillary Clinton's email server containing more voluminous classified and Top Secret information was reportedly breached and exposed by notorious Romanian hacker "Guccifer" and by the Russians (who have 20,000 Clinton server emails in their possession). So Comey can't easily give Secretary Clinton a pass and at the same time be true to his oath of office.

The fact that the administration under which Mr. Comey serves has conducted itself with unprecedented partisanship and lawlessness makes it even more important for him to uphold the law and recommend indictment. The American people need to see that both lawlessness and dereliction of duty are not given a pass and that no one is above the law.

The country is now at the edge of an abyss from years of obfuscation, unaccountability, subterfuge and law evasion by the Obama administration that have numbed much of its citizenry into an acceptance of government corruption and abuse of power. Resetting Americans' trust in government needs to start with holding people in high office, like Hillary Clinton, accountable.

But there is another reason this step is necessary. Hillary Clinton has been an integral part of the Clinton Foundation, which is unprecedented in size and global scope as an influence-peddling political slush fund. According to the foundation's own recent tax returns, just 10% of expenditures go to charitable grants, with the bulk of the balance spent on salaries and benefits, lavish travel and conference organizing. The record shows that the Clinton Foundation took large contributions from several business magnates who soon thereafter received clearance for controversial international business deals. Saudi Arabia contributed $10 million to the Clinton Foundation before Hillary became secretary of state. A few years later the Hillary Clinton State Department formally cleared the largest single sale of military aircraft to the Saudis.

The most plausible explanation for Hillary Clinton's circumventing longstanding federal rules on secure communication -- and for her insistence on implementing a private email server -- was simply to conceal a conflict of interest in continuing a role in the Clinton Foundation while also serving as secretary of state. It is instructive that Secretary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, was simultaneously on payrolls of both the State Department and the Teneo Group, an influence-peddling consulting operation founded by a Clinton confidant. Additionally, a private email server would protect disclosure of fund-raising activities for Hillary Clinton's anticipated run for president.

As the FBI investigation nears its completion, Comey can find solace in the words of the 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who declared: "We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty if we expect our republic permanently to endure. Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity."

A central issue of the November election is to choose new leadership to disabuse the American citizenry of accepting dishonesty and abuse of power in government. If Comey can rise above political pressure and just do his job, he has a unique opportunity to press the reset button on government corruption and bring about an essential course correction in these troubled times. That would be a historic and truly heroic accomplishment.

http://www.investors.com/politics/commen...ry-a-free-pass/

Here's the verdict. "mere sloppiness" Disgusting!

FBI Director James Comey announced Tuesday that the FBI will not recommend federal prosecution of Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server to store what turned out to be thousands of classified documents in her emails.

The U.S. Justice Department has the final say, but Attorney General Loretta Lynch said last week that she 'fully expects' to act on whatever the FBI recommends. The FBI doesn't expect any criminal charges to result, Comey said.
'We are expressing to the Department of Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case,' he said.
'We cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges based on these facts.'
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump fired back almost immediately on Twitter.
'The system is rigged,' he wrote. 'General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.'

Comey's conclusion, which he insisted no politician in the Obama administration was aware of in advance, amounted to a declaration that Clinton and her aides were 'extremely careless' with their handling of classified material, but their actions did not rise to the level of a prosecution.
'None of these emails should have been on any kind of unclassified system,' Comey said.
'Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before deciding whether to bring charges.'

Comey said 110 emails in 52 email chains found on Clinton's server contained classified information at the time they were sent or received.
He also said it was possible that hackers aligned with foreign governments gained access to her server – and that some did hack into email accounts owned by people she traded messages with. 'We do assess that hostile actors gained access to the private commercial email accounts of people with whom secretary Clinton was in regular contact from her personal account,' Comey explained.

The negligence Comey outlined in his statement to reporters could have been enough to result in a criminal prosecution.
But Clinton's conduct amounted to mere sloppiness, he said. 'Although we did not find clear evidence that sec Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws,' Comey said, 'there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.'
Comey said the FBI determined that before Clinton deleted tens of thousands of her 'personal' emails, her attorneys deleted several work-related messages. The lawyers didn't read them all but searched keywords to determine which of them might qualify as government records.
But despite her incomplete submission to the State Department, he said, 'we found no evidence that any of the additional work related emails were intentionally deleted.'

News of the hastily scheduled presser quickly percolated through political circles as journalists and pundits guessed at whether America's top cop would deliver a final decision on the Clinton investigation.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...r-grilling.html

Quote: Cincinnatus wrote in post #4

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What a remarkable coincidence this announcement was made the vey same day Obama was to begin campaigning with Hillary in her quest for the Presidency.

She got away with it again.

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