"Would you hire Hillary Clinton?"
David French asks a very relevant question: "would you hire Hillary Clinton?" One of the many extraordinary things about this present political crisis is the reality that the Democratic establishment is lockstep behind a woman who has unquestionably failed the public in multiple, consequential ways — yet they believe she’s somehow triumphant because she’s not actually facing a criminal trial. That has been the standard continually for the Clintons - sure they've done sleazy things, but no one can prove that they broke the law. Then look at her most notable actions in the past eight years: the Benghazi scandal, all the quid pro quo behavior alleged with the Clinton Foundation, and her emails. In all these scandals, we're told that there was no proof that she intended harm so she's free and clear. See a pattern here? Even her unquestioned failures aren’t disqualifying unless they’re proven to be criminal. And since she’s arguably the most connected woman in a nation that no longer respects the rule of law, she’s virtually impossible to prosecute. Imagine if you were considering hiring her for any other job. She’s failed in her signature policy efforts, she lies habitually, and the stink of corruption pervades her entire operation. I wouldn’t hire her as a law firm receptionist, much less the chief executive of any entity.
I don’t know what’s worse — the Democratic party’s apparent total loss of conscience and regard for the truth (not that the GOP can throw stones right now — but at least its corrupt banana republic politician couldn’t garner majority support), or the fact that tens of millions of Americans simply don’t know, don’t care, or don’t care to know. Our elite is failing, and the American people aren’t just letting it happen, they’re facilitating our national fall. We are now prepared to elect a woman to be commander-in-chief who would never be granted a top security clearance. Just think of that.
It's so heartbreaking as a conservative to think of how vulnerable Hillary Clinton is as a candidate right now. I think that most of the other Republicans running this year would be able to take advantage of her weaknesses and defeat her. Instead we have...Donald Trump. I'm sure he'll tweet out or say something stupid or outrageous or offensive in the next few days and all of cable news can zero in on that and ignore what Comey said about Clinton. This will be a short story that may play in the background for Republicans for the rest of the election, but everyone else will move on. It will just become part of the morass of scandal that follows the Clintons around like filth followed Pig Pen but it won't stop people, except for partisan Republicans, from voting for her.
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Here is a story of how Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State wanted to treat someone who violated the laws that she herself was violating. Peter Van Buren can’t wait for the court-ordered release of Hillary Clinton’s work emails from 2011, a nearly ruinous year for him that resulted in a negotiated retirement from the State Department.
The foreign affairs arm of the federal government, then led by Clinton, had accused the longtime foreign service officer of mishandling classified information and unsuccessfully asked the Justice Department to prosecute him....
At the same time Clinton, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was using her private and apparently unsecure email system, Van Buren lost his security clearance and then his job as a result of what he views as false allegations of mishandling information that wasn't secret at all.
John Sexton at Hot Air links to another example of different treatment for those not named Hillary Clinton for those accused of mishandling classified information. A Navy sailor entered a guilty plea Friday in a classified information mishandling case that critics charge illustrates a double standard between the treatment of low-ranking government employees and top officials like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ex-CIA Director David Petraeus.
Prosecutors allege that Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier used a cellphone camera to take photos in the classified engine room of the nuclear submarine where he worked as a mechanic, the USS Alexandria, then destroyed a laptop, camera and memory card after learning he was under investigation.
Last July, Saucier was indicted on one felony count of unlawful retention of national defense information and another felony count of obstruction of justice. He pleaded guilty Friday to the classified information charge, which is part of the Espionage Act, a prosecution spokesman confirmed. No charge of espionage was filed and no public suggestion has been made that he ever planned to disclose the photos to anyone outside the Navy.
The sailor now faces a maximum possible sentence of up to ten years in prison, but faced up to 30 years if found guilty on both charges. Federal guidelines discussed in court Friday appear to call for a sentence of about five to six-and-a-half years, although the defense has signaled it will seek a lighter sentence.
It has taken long to get lists like these: Jeff Dunetz lists five Americans jailed under the Obama administration for mishandling classified information. Really? Since Obama took office in 2009, seven people have been charged under the Espionage Act — all for leaking classified or sensitive information. Five—John Kiriakou, Shamai Leibowitz, Jeffrey Sterling, former State Department official Stephen Kim, and Bradley Chelsea Manning — got jail time.”
Skipping Bradley Chelsea Manning because his leak was in a category of its own, the other four shows that there are “reasonable” prosecutors who will bring charges in such cases. Dunetz concludes, Understand all of the names above (including Chelsea Bradley Manning) deserved the punishment they received, they all violated US Statute 793, subsection F (see below). Some of their crimes hurt the defense of the country more than Hillary Clinton, others less but that does not matter, like Clinton, they all broke the law. While unlike Comey’s description of Hillary they all acted with intent, but it does not matter since the criminal statute does not require intent.
That these people were prosecuted and Hillary Clinton was not, is proof that there are two sets of rules in the country, one for the Clintons, and one for the rest of us.
And here is another example of a lowly individual facing worse consequences than Hillary Clinton. A Naval reservist was sentenced for mishandling classified military materials.
A federal attorney announced Wednesday that Bryan Nishimura of Folsom, California, pleaded guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials.
Nishimura, deployed in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 as a regional engineer, admitted to downloading classified briefings and digital records onto his personal electronic devices. He carried the materials off base and brought them back to the U.S. when his deployment ended
An FBI search of Nishimura's home turned up classified materials, but did not reveal evidence he intended to distribute them.
He was sentenced to two years of probation and a $7,500 fine, and was ordered to surrender his security clearance. He is barred from seeking a future security clearance.
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