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DOJ Will Not File Charges Against Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (politico.com) 801

An anonymous reader writes: After FBI Director James Comey recommended not to indict Hillary Clinton for her email misconduct yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday that the Justice Department has decided not to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton or her aids and that the department will close the investigation into her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. "Late this afternoon, I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State," Lynch said in a statement on Wednesday. "I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation."
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DOJ Will Not File Charges Against Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

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  • Yawn (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @05:41PM (#52459331) Journal

    Voting for Hillary because she's "not guilty" is like hiring Casey Anthony to babysit your kid.

    • Now we just need to wait for the promised leaks from the professional FBI. Should be fun.

      • Re: Yawn (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @08:41PM (#52460295)

        What leaks do you need? If what Comey said wasn't enough nothing will satisfy you. He said she's a total fuckwit but her last name is Clinton so his hands are tied.

    • Re:Yawn (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Austerity Empowers ( 669817 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @05:53PM (#52459417)

      This is merely to put the final nail in Bernie's coffin. We're left with two absolutely horrible people who shouldn't be pissed on should they catch fire. But we're not lucky enough for either one to catch fire.

      The election is over, we all lost.

      • by Bruce66423 ( 1678196 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:02PM (#52459451)

        He asks the convention to vote that it is unwilling to select a person who has been shown to be 'careless about protecting government secrets' etc etc. The delegates would be free to pass such a motion, despite being bound to vote for Hilary when the actual roll call occurs. If a large number of her delegates support the critical motion, her legitimacy is gone.

        Here's hoping.

        • by Crashmarik ( 635988 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:15PM (#52459523)

          Lack of legitimacy hasn't hampered her at all.

          The same goes for
          lack of morality
          lack of patriotism
          lack of decency
          lack of conscience

          Really at this point we need 7 dwarfs and a prince to rid us of her.

          • If you'd told that joke in the morning, I'd have just now only wasted a mouthful of coffee.
        • by Lead Butthead ( 321013 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:36PM (#52459663) Journal

          You assumed the delegates have moral fiber.
          People of good character can't this far in the political process.

        • by Fire_Wraith ( 1460385 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:43PM (#52460011)
          As someone mentioned to me, this current election is between a grandma that can't figure out her email, and a grandpa that believes everything he reads on Facebook.
        • He asks the convention to vote that it is unwilling to select a person who has been shown to be 'careless about protecting government secrets' etc etc.

          If the Hillary delegates gave the slightest shit about carelessness, protecting government secrets, or indeed the rule of law in general, they wouldn't be Hillary delegates to begin with!

      • by Anonymous Coward
        If you think Clinton should be charged, then at least sign the petittion:
        https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/charge-hillary-rodham-clinton-pursuant-18-usc-641-793-794-798-952-and-1924 [whitehouse.gov]
        It will likely only result in a mealy-mouthed platitude, but at least it is one way to communicate our disapproval.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by westlake ( 615356 )

        This is merely to put the final nail in Bernie's coffin.

        Clinton won 60% of the primary vote in California. Sanders 43%. That was the final nail in Bernie's coffin.

    • Nice sock puppet... Put down the mod point. (Insightful? THAT is a FUNNY mod.)

      Time to reveal the Donald's secret scam:

      Step 1: Get the so-called GOP nomination. Easy to fool some of the people all of the time.

      Step 2: Pick a VP who loves Ford's pardon of Nixon.

      Step 3: Win the election. As Con Man Donald says, "You can fool most of the people on some of the election days."

      Step 4: Be himself. AKA Phuck up massively. Start a war, bankrupt the country, whatever.

      Step 5: Get impeached, resign, get pardoned. (Step 2

    • by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:37PM (#52459673) Journal

      The director stated in his news conference that Clinton was "extremely careless" with classified information on at least 110 occasions. It's federal crime to be "grossly negligent" in handling classified information. Essentially, he announced "she's guilty on 110 counts, but we won't prosecute".

    • Voting for Hillary because she's "not guilty" is like hiring Casey Anthony to babysit your kid.

      More like "not guilty" and "not Trump".

    • If I was asked to vote between a crook and a dangerous demagogue, I vote the crook.
  • No justice (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @05:45PM (#52459351)

    Snowden blows the whistle on illegal government spying, is forced to flee the country. Clinton violates laws and exposes classified information and will be the next President. There is no justice in America.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      There needs to be protests in the streets about Hillary Clinton not being charged for violating federal law.

      This is where it starts, the selective application of the law to those in power vs those that are ruled. Make a stand now before all is lost.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )

      ".... and exposes classified information ..."

      As the article indicates, there's no proof that classified information was exposed. It's "possible" that it was, but it's also "possible" that an airliner is about to land on your head.

      Further, there's "classified" information and then there's "classified" information. Many things are classified, (in fact, it's hard to find government information that's not), but we haven't been told if it's just classified, secret, top secret, or higher...

      • Wrong (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        He said Clinton and her staff sent 110 emails in 52 chains containing information that was classified at the time. Eight of those emails carried top secret information, eight contained classified information and 36 had secret info.

        http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/no-charges-clinton-emails-fbi-director-article-1.2699441

        • You do know SoS can reclassify (anything classified by the state dept) at will right? It is like president sitting in front of television and reading every single classified piece of information that he comes across. There is nothing you can do, until the next election (or impeachment atleast). It is not illegal. The FBI cannot prosecute.

      • by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:40PM (#52459693) Journal

        > but we haven't been told if it's just classified, secret, top secret, or higher...

        The FBI director announced that several emails contained documents which were already marked "top secret". Other emails included information classified "special access", which is higher than top secret.

        • Actually Special access is a subset for specific projects, and there are Special Access Programs for all three levels of classification though TS are most common.
      • I don't think that's what the FBI statement is saying at all, and I think you're looking at something that's not the statement...

        It's very clear that the FBI found that classified information was exposed, but not "in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice." The FBI characterization of what was done is "extremely careless." This is interesting wording because that is not a legal term associated with d

  • Not surprising (Score:5, Insightful)

    by _xeno_ ( 155264 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @05:51PM (#52459401) Homepage Journal

    We of course knew this was coming when the FBI didn't recommend indictment, given that Lynch said she'd go along with whatever the FBI decided.

    But I expect the real reason is simple: they don't feel they're guaranteed a conviction. If you listen to Comey's reasoning, he was quite clear that there was no precedent for such a case - meaning that they don't want to set a precedent until they have iron tight evidence where they can be sure they know how the case will go.

    Likewise, "no reasonable prosecutor" would want to be the prosecutor who indicted potentially the first woman president and then lost the case. If the case wasn't a 100%, sure-fire victory, no one would be willing to prosecute it. Which is kind of reasonable: who wants to torpedo their career by killing Hillary's presidential chances only to lose at trial?

    But it does lay clear that there are two classes in the US: the ruling class, who won't be charged for clear violations because they might be able to get off, and the rest of us. Who will be charged for anything and everything they can think of.

    • To believe otherwise is fantasy. On the whole it's hard not to despair.

    • Re:Not surprising (Score:5, Informative)

      by slew ( 2918 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:13PM (#52459509)

      But it does lay clear that there are two classes in the US: the ruling class, who won't be charged for clear violations because they might be able to get off, and the rest of us. Who will be charged for anything and everything they can think of.

      Surprisingly, Mr Comey, actually admitted this in his statement [fbi.gov]...

      To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now.

      Why can't people like Mr Comey run for public office?

    • there are two classes in the US: the ruling class, who won't be charged for clear violations because they might be able to get off, and the rest of us.

      While I agree with you in principal, the rush to judgment about this issue leaves behind a simple fact. There are lots of crimes with no punishments. This is one of them.

      The one thing that annoys me the most is how they will hang this on the evil Clinton/Democrats. A sufficiently senior Republican get the same benefits. But, that's not going to be the con

      • by mi ( 197448 )

        A sufficiently senior Republican get the same benefits.

        Could you cite a few examples, please? Thank you!

      • by Sarten-X ( 1102295 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:32PM (#52459647) Homepage

        There are lots of crimes with no punishments. This is one of them.

        This needs to be noted VERY well in this discussion.

        Typically, just mishandling classified information (without intentionally handing it off to others) is handled with an administrative slap on the wrist, and maybe losing clearance. There are rarely any criminal proceedings, because the higher-ups never want a subordinate to fear revealing a data spill. Instead, self-policing and self-reporting are praised, and mistakes are often just cleaned up and forgotten.

    • by mi ( 197448 )

      If the case wasn't a 100%, sure-fire victory, no one would be willing to prosecute it. Which is kind of reasonable: who wants to torpedo their career by killing Hillary's presidential chances only to lose at trial?

      Arguably, getting acquitted would've helped her a lot, whereas avoiding indictment is certainly damaging.

      But it does lay clear that there are two classes in the US: the ruling class, who won't be charged for clear violations because they might be able to get off, and the rest of us.

      Yes, this perce

    • Mod parent up (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:44PM (#52460021)
      this is how prosecution works. You don't bring forth a case you know you're gonna lose. I'm not huge fan of Hilary. I've got buddies that live and breath because the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid enough for them to get their Meds. She's pretty much guaranteed to leave it alone so she gets my vote. But whatever side your on it'd be silly to try and prosecute her.

      All that said to be completely fair think about _why_ a prosecutor isn't confident with getting a conviction: because a jury wouldn't convict her. This is a criminal matter, so that's how these things work. This isn't the ruling class per-se. This is how our jury system works. It sometimes ignores law in favor of feelings. If you want to see an example of America's two tiered justice system ask any dirt poor man in jail for pot possession why he didn't get diverted to drug treatment like a pop star or even an attorney's son.
  • by zedaroca ( 3630525 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @05:52PM (#52459411)

    "I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation."

    We know about her crime because Guccifer was involved in exposing it. Will they retract the charges against him? Or the only chargeable crime in America is to expose what the law says is a crime?

  • Who done it? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rfengr ( 910026 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:03PM (#52459461)
    So who copied classified into, verbatim, from JWICS to their computer or phone? Seems the FBI or DOJ don't give a shit.
  • by melted ( 227442 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:09PM (#52459487) Homepage

    I wonder if they'll cancel Petraeus's sentence now. He was forced to end his career for much less. 2 years probation, $100K fine, security clearance revoked. Apparently it's no big deal, not even worth investigating.

  • You realize (Score:5, Insightful)

    by John Smith ( 4340437 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:17PM (#52459537)
    That "extremely careless" is more or less the definition of gross negligence.
  • We see Loretta Lynch as AG under Hilary, that there was probably a bribe.
  • by steveha ( 103154 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @06:48PM (#52459741) Homepage

    FBI Director Comey said that there was no evidence of any guilty intent, so "no reasonable prosecutor" would file charges. So why were charges filed against Kristian Saucier, who unwisely took photos of a classified area on a nuclear submarine? No intent was proven or needed to file charges against him; he had photos of classified stuff on his phone, charges filed.

    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/06/saucier-attorney-on-hillary-non-indictment-clearly-a-double-standard/ [hotair.com]

    I am disturbed that there is clearly one standard for ordinary people, and another standard for Hillary Clinton. I sincerely hope that Mr. Saucier appeals his verdict on the grounds that the FBI Director said "no reasonable prosecutor" should have filed the charges, and he clearly didn't get equal protection under the law as Hillary Clinton got.

  • Stop getting so worked up over each individual case of injustice and start getting worked up to change the root cause of it all.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    On the one hand, what Hillary Clinton did was wrong and she should face some punishment for it.

    On the other hand, watching the die-hart Republicans, Trump supporters and other people who hate Hillary flip their shit over the lack of charges is the best entertainment I've had all year.

  • who cares
  • by arthurh3535 ( 447288 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:11PM (#52459859)

    He was very, very careful in his phrasing (and then large on hyperbole) with what he stated. He claimed two emails carried 'confidential markings' (which was only sorta true) and then switched gears on confidential emails (which is, in fact different). There are maybe 30-40 emails that were sent that had confidential or higher (most were just confidential). So about .006% error rate on humans using email and sent something through email they shouldn't have.

    One of the confidential emails... was to a lawyer and "confidential" in the sense that lawyer-client privileges applied. There were a couple of (C) markings in a few emails, but the top actually didn't have the markings for Confidential/Secret or whatnot. An incredibly huge percentage of emails were marked confidential expo-facto (and by other agencies that tend to try and classify _everything_, including public knowledge of the weather at times).

    James Comey just did a public hatchet job of "selling" that Hillary should have been indicted, then basically admitted he didn't have a case that any competent prosecutor would attempt to take before a judge. Congrats, partisan hack, you pulled the wool over most of the viewers and readers.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    "The investigation did not reveal evidence that Nishimura intended to distribute classified information to unauthorized personnel." https://www.fbi.gov/sacramento/press-releases/2015/folsom-naval-reservist-is-sentenced-after-pleading-guilty-to-unauthorized-removal-and-retention-of-classified-materials

  • Wow (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wwalker ( 159341 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:22PM (#52459911) Journal

    "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," Comey said.

    If this was said by their local version of FBI anywhere in Russia, China, Brasil, etc., everyone would be crying foul how that country is corrupt and how FSB, PSB, "FBI", etc. is clearly intimidating prosecutors not to bring any cases against an oligarch, even though there is evidence they violated the law (gross negligence). And how "important figures" in those countries are above the law. I'm so glad USA is not one of "those countries"!

  • omg (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Smiddi ( 1241326 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:24PM (#52459927)
    Hillary vs Trump. The rest of the world is shaking its head at the stupidity of the Americans for letting things get to this point.
    • Re:omg (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fnj ( 64210 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @08:16PM (#52460147)

      Hillary vs Trump. The rest of the world is shaking its head at the stupidity of the Americans for letting things get to this point.

      The rest of the world can get stuffed. All are in the same boat. The UK goes from Major to Cameron; both are assholes. Germany puts up with that witch. Hollande is the best that France can come up with? Venezuela let Chavez ruin their economy, only to have his successor make it exponentially worse. China is ruled with an iron fist by one bunch of ancient fossils after another.

      The only bright spot might be Switzerland. ALL other governments are dens of incompetency, corruption, and evil oligarchy.

  • by knorthern knight ( 513660 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @07:57PM (#52460081)

    "There should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too big to jail." --Hillary #DemDebate

    https://twitter.com/HillaryCli... [twitter.com]

  • by redelm ( 54142 ) on Wednesday July 06, 2016 @08:04PM (#52460105) Homepage

    I'm of two minds: on the one hand, HRC clearly violated Federal Law. Nevermind that the law is stupid (overspecific) and capriciously enforced (how tough is it to write a flagging filter for classification strings [NOFORINT] and non.gov addr?)

    On the other, HRC could easily have been disgusted by the electronic tools imposed upon her, and worked around. If State's email servers are anything like the corp.servers I've seen, who could blame her for wanting more reliable and secure? Or do whe have a .gov netadmin who can say their servers are faultless? The geek in me says "BRAVO"!

    Otherwise, the notion of secure email without e2e tools like PGP is a delusion. Sure, officials have to turn over offical papers, but afterwards -- they never had to cc'in some central office.

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