Sidney Blumenthal email to Hillary Clinton may be crux of FBI investigation

For those following the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton the following article will be interesting. "Why Hillary Clinton will be indicted," by Chetan Hebbale, provides the best summary of the possible charges and evidence that I've found so far. Published in the Chicago Journal of Politics it contains several dozen links per page to document a wide variety of sources.

http://georgiapoliticalreview.com/opinion-why-hillary-clinton-will-be-in...

Now that it looks like Secretary Clinton is likely to be the Democratic nominee, we all need to become more familiar with the facts of the case. Despite how consequential this could be, I haven't written much on this topic out of concern for "spreading right-wing memes." There is no doubt many groups and authors have engaged in a 40 year campaign to vilify Hillary Clinton with totally false allegations and I would include the recent congressional group among these. After her 9 hour plus interrogation I was tremendously impressed with Secretary Clinton's performance and relieved to see that hearing was just another vacuous witch hunt.

Unfortunately, just as previous major investigations into bogus political charges have turned up evidence of other crimes, the bogus investigation in the "Benghazi incident" has produced evidence in Clinton's emails that appear to contain compelling evidence of as many as 8 possible violations of law this author believes could be prosecuted. Even is the DOJ should decide not to prosecute even just the data that is already public is taking an escalating toll as more learn and react to it.

If this evidence turns out to be valid it will be extremely damaging to Clinton. You really have to read this whole brief which apparently is a shortened summary of the authors longer article. Here are a few snippets.

There are several laws surrounding the mishandling of classified information which are spelled out under Title 18 US Criminal Codes and Procedures. The two statutes federal investigators are most interested in are Title 18 U.S. Code § 1924 and Title 18 U.S. Code § 793. A violation of Section 1924 is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and up to a year in prison, while a violation of Section 793, “The Espionage Act”, is a felony punishable by a fine and up to ten years in prison.

Based on the available evidence, here are the reasons Clinton should and will be indicted for violating these statutes of US Title 18 while Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013.

(1) Hillary Clinton’s e-mails with Clinton Foundation employee Sidney Blumenthal contain proof that she retained “classified information” on her private server and also communicated information of “the national defense” with someone “not entitled to receive it.”

Other articles tell the story of a Romanian hacker named "Guccifer," the fellow indicted for publishing purloined documents of former - President Bush, Colin Powell, and Sidney Blumenthal. In his trail authorities uncovered 16 emails from Blumenthal to Clinton while Clinton had only turned over 9.

The most incriminating email from Blumenthal to Clinton is a memo where he reveals the name of a CIA intelligence operative in Libya. In a March 2011 memo, Blumenthal wrote “Tyler spoke to a colleague currently at the CIA, who told him the agency had been dependent for intelligence from [redacted due to sources and methods].” Despite the email not being “marked classified”, information about a current CIA asset which was illegally obtained almost certainly falls under the purview of a 2009 Non-Disclosure Agreement Clinton signed which stipulates that “classified information is marked or unmarked classified information.” John Rizzo, a former general counsel at the CIA, said of the memo “it’s the most sensitive kind of classified information — the true identity of a human source.” Clinton forwarded this email to one of her aides, debunking her claim that she never sent classified information through her private server.

“This is a serious breach of national security and a clear violation of the law”, said Army Col. Larry Mrozinski, who served almost four years as a ­senior military adviser in the State Department under both Clinton and Condoleezza Rice. “It’s hard to imagine that in her position she would fail to recognize the obvious…anybody else would have already lost their security clearance and be subjected to an espionage investigation,” Mrozinski added.

If the hard disk of Clinton's email server contained 22 classified documents then transferring it to the Platte River Networks company would be an additional violation of U.S. Criminal Code 18, Section 793 which does not require nefarious intent, but only "gross negligence." Clinton also allegedly forwarded Blumenthal's and other email to her staff, which apparently were not cleared for this level of secrecy.

Given that we know there is at least one email considered “born classified” with the identity of a CIA intelligence operative, along with 22 other classified emails the State Department has withheld, Clinton’s decision to transfer this information to a private IT company with no security clearance is not only a violation of Section 1924 for housing sensitive information at an “unauthorized location,” but could even fall under Section 793 for “gross negligence” in handling information of “the national defense.” More so, once the FBI approached Platte River Networks to retrieve Clinton’s original server, there are reports that employees at the company began to fear a cover-up . The company reportedly received a letter from Clinton Executive Service Corp instructing them to “cut the back up”.

The employees did not do so and the FBI has now recovered deleted emails which they considered to contain work-related information. This debunks her claim, which she made under the penalty of perjury, that she turned over all her work-related emails to the State Department. Depending on the nature of these recovered e-mails, she could be charged with tampering of evidence, lying to federal officials, and an obstruction of justice.

Not being a lawyer I'm not in a position to evaluate the probability of a recommendation of indictments by the FBI to the DOJ, however, these charges seem plausible enough to merit more scrutiny and discussion.

One concern is that so many in the Democratic Party have correctly concluded that the Benghazi hearing were a bogus witch hunt, therefore all of the articles on Clinton's emails are invalid attempts to destroy her reputation for political purposes.

The author is not a lawyer but a senior college student in biology and economics. But his sources are extensive and many of high quality.

This author claims that an FBI final report is not expected until May or June by which time most of the Democratic primaries will be finished. If the FBI recommends indictments, or even if the report is "just" seriously damaging the Democratic super-delegates may still have an opportunity to change their public announced support leading to a contested convention that might save the Democratic Party from ruin in the November elections.

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HoundDog's picture

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Steven D's picture

And likely the GOP will use the investigations in their attack ads, but I don;t see them being particularly effective. So, I assume we will be looking at impeachment bills in the House beginning the day after she's inaugurated.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Hillbilly Dem's picture

that there will be a DOJ "compromise" and she'll be named an unindicted co-conspirator, if others are indicted. That would be almost as bad. There will be plenty of impeachment attempts. The only "good" thing for Hillary is that the email/FOIA acts took place before January 20, 2017. But the Rethugs will think of something. Anything.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

...members of the establishment like her are above the law. The Bushies ordered torture and committed other serious war crimes. Wall Street destroyed the economy with blatantly criminal activity. No indictments. Our rulers are above the law. Hillary's email transgressions are trivial compared to the ruling class crimes that are routinely swept under the rug.

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with all the people voting for her assuming those are real people.

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Beware the bullshit factories.

sensetolisten's picture

Why do you make this statement?

There will be no indictment.

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“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
― Harry Truman
HoundDog's picture

"slam dunk" metaphor I'd be tempted to use it here.

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If you can "indict" a ham sandwich, you can certainly indict Hillary based on the already known evidence. I served on a Grand Jury. This is a slam dunk indictment..

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

You can theoretically indict a ham sandwich, but getting a federal indictment against a former cabinet member of the current administration is likely to be somewhat harder. And given the political implications in the current situation it would be harder still. Justice is not blind and the Department of Justice is even more wide-eyed.

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One is that Obama gets increasingly pissed off at Clinton's actions tarnishing his "legacy" and tells Loretta Lynch to go ahead with indictments. The other is that Lynch goes rogue and goes ahead with indictments in order to get her name in the history books. Of course, indictments don't necessarily mean convictions -- I'd expect Hillary Clinton's camp to cut a deal of some sort to avoid jail or even a trial. But if indictments come down before the convention it could make things interesting in Philly.

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HoundDog's picture

One thing I'm not clear on is if the FBI is going to issue any kind of public report which I think is not customary with a referral to the DOJ. We might not hear about it it unless the DOJ decided to indict.

But many authors talk about "the FBI report" as if they are going to issue a public report, which may be true in this special case, but all I've read officially is that the State Department referred an investigation of the emails.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

reasons. (based on personal experience as a retired federal bureaucrat)

It's called "CYA."

Wink

Seriously, my 'guess' is that PBO would shield her, partly because of the 'one hand, washes the other' mentality, and partly, because if national campaign reporters (including the reporting that he's told donors that he supports FSC) are correct, it would damage his preferred candidate.

If 'Uncle Joe' were still waiting in the wings, I could see him (possibly) throwing her under the bus. But, he's not.

Plus, in matters relating to federal employment--for instance, in an arbitration proceeding--blame, or culpability is (at least, on paper) often placed at the top; therefore, PBO would look bad, too.

(Especially, since FSC emailed him from the email account in question.)

All I know is that 'regular' Civil Servants would not likely have been treated with the partiality that she's been shown.

So, like many others, I 'hope' that she is censored, appropriately. But, I'm definitely not holding my breath.

*Sigh*

Mollie
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Ruscle's picture

Ham sandwiches are usually not as politically connected as the Clintons.

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Another Refugee from the Great Orange Purity Troll

HoundDog's picture

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CS in AZ's picture

Despite continuous ongoing DoJ investigations and clearly engaging in more than obvious crimes, nothing has happened. The criminal sheriff still walks free and locks up other people in his disgusting jails. I have zero faith anymore in indictment for the rich & powerful. If they can't even get sheriff joe, I don't think Her Ladyship will ever face any legal consequences. I hope I'm wrong (about both) but I'm not holding my breath.

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for not doing what that judge told him to do, and to still walk free is more than mind boggling. I don't think we have a actual word for that feeling. I can find words that come close, but none that adequately expresses that level of incredulous disbelief.

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With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU

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You keep using that word...

...do you assume SHITlardy will be innaugurated?

Haven't you been reading here? Do you REALLY think the masses who swear they will never, under any circumstances, vote for her give a shit if she might win over a teabagger?

I lost a shitload -- an UTTER shitload -- of readers of people who followed my humor posts on Dalphi, people who at least called themselves "friends" of mine, even if I didn't know them well -- as well as the political writing, over that utter bitch. I NEVER recovered online from that. Ever. not even when many of us migrated to the far far LESSER category of Facebook having been shown we were not welcome on DKOS under any circumstances.

I met HRC and Bill in AR when he was running for gov. In observing him with women, I notice he wouldn't keep his penis in his pants, but rather like the Brits during the restoration, I didn't give a rip as long as he worked 6 days a week, and he did the entire time her was in office, and as long as the partners he fooled around with were of legal age. He has a one-glance almost total recall memory, and he's marginally more direct than his wife. She's as crooked as a clematis vine.

What I did not like at all about SHITLARDY is that she lied from the get-go, sucked up to women with money and power and has sucked up to those who'd pay her bills without a murmur -- enter KORPORATIONS.

I don't like her. I will NEVER like her. I will NEVER EVER EVER trust either of them. SHE is a republican in ALL but name, was NEVER a democrat in any BUT name.

I won't as long as I draw breath, ever again vote for another Republican in outlook or loyalty or name, any of those.

She and Bill destroyed the Democratic party with more surgical precision -- and FAR more and finality -- than the teabaggers and Dixiecrats destroyed the REpublicans. It hasn't sunk in it.

My question to you and to others reading here is this --- are you going to sit on your asses and allow this nation and territory to become THE NUMBER ONE TARGET for every form of warfare you can imagine and a dozen you haven't thought of by EVERY other nation on this planet and be allied to none, as the US is now better pickings than partner -- as of November 9 -- or do you have the balls to stand up and revolt before your TOTAL suppression is a foregone conclusion?

I'm crippled and nearly broke and will be homeless by 2021, likely as not. I gave up my guns some years ago. I had hoped that there'd be no use for them again. I think I was wrong. I couldn't fire one now if I wanted to or tried to.

I'm so sad things are so crooked. I'm sick over it and sick of it.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

I think your nickname for Hillary and your use of the "b word" are low hanging fruit for anyone accusing "Bernie bros" of being sexist and I disassociate myself from language like that.

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I'm NOT a brother of Bernie. I'm an old woman who wants him to take the nomination and get the Presidency.

I do not consider Mrs. Clinton to be worthy of consideration for that office, or of ANY office, for that matter. I do not respect her at all. She gives women who work outside the home a BAD name. She gives women a bad name. She lies crookedly, like a cheap hairpiece with insufficient adhesive on the greasy sweaty skull of a vain farting drunk who's sweating because he hasn't drawn a sober breath since before his hair began to fall out.

She's a raw oligarch who'd give even the definition "despot" a bad name. She thinks the Constitution doesn't apply to her, committed treason while Secretary of State in the slapdash and incautious manner in which she handled communications and then LIED about it. In doing that, she gave aid and comfort to the enemy multiple times. That's TREASON, goddammit.

Why PBO didn't throw her to the atty general is no mystery. He bought his "legacy" by selling out in great part to korporatism, thus the horrific treaties he signed and his steadfastly looking the other way every time she fvcked up.

This isn't the time for mannered mincing, bub. This is the time to take off those foppish kid gloves, strip off the mourning coat, pop out those affected cufflinks, roll up your sleeves and FIGHT FOR YOUR CANDIDATE.. before the convention, before Dumbass Washerwoman-Schlitz comes up with four more reasons to kick Sanders off any balloting, and CLEAN CLINTON'S CLOCK.

If you won't do it, then you sacrificed what's needed for appearances of pissy-purity.

And you crapped the country and threw the baby out with your bathwater.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

I have no fan of civility for its own sake at the expensive of truth. But "ShitLardy" appears to be attacking her physical appearance, which is really not the issue, is it? Do you really think that helps Sanders?

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Hillbilly Dem's picture

and she therefore knows that she could be charged, but continues her "quest" for the presidency, I will spit on the ground every time someone says her name. Even if she is named as an unindicted co-conspirator and not charged. We dodged a bullet with John Edwards and his infant daughter. If Justice charges her, Hell won't have it.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

HoundDog's picture

her supporters and many others not demanded that she promise to inform us if and when she or any of her staff receive a target letter from the FBI?

And why are they not asking at every press opportunity if she agrees that the Blumenthal-Clinton email of February 2011 email that Gowdy has now put in the Congressional record and make reference to is in fact authentic and contains classified information?

And why wasn't it in here original submissions to the State Department. If I understand it correctly it only came to light because Russia Today published 45 Blumenthal-Clinton emails they obtained after the arrest of the notorious hacker Guccifer who hacked them off of Blumenthal's computer.

One of the former intelligence officers pointed out that this illustrates danger of blackmail by Russia if they have such incriminating information easily obtained from on unprotected server in her house. What else might they have?

She has hidden behind the "I sent nothing "marked classified at the time." But that is irrelevant and sounds like "lawyer talk.,"

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Steven D's picture

and concentrated.

They like Hillary.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Thumb's picture

They hate/fear Bernie.

The proof will be how quickly they start breathlessly reporting on all things FBI/Foundation related once it serves to help the GOP and not Bernie.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

They like Hillary.
NO. They FEAR sanders. They're KORPORATION LOUDSPEAKERS.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

who has tried to keep focus on the issues of economic and political inequality. Unfortunately, that means he hasn't used all the tools available to him by pointing out the problems with the private e-mail server, not just from a classified documents view but from an FOIA violation as well (I'm actually more concerned about FOIA violations than whether something was classified or non-classified).

The DNC and the corporate media love them some Clintons -- the DNC because they're a known commodity, the media because there's likely to be a ratings-boosting scandal somewhere in their Administration. Granted, e-mails are more boring than blue dresses, but whatever works.

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but they'll probably let her skate because Clinton.

But she also evaded FOIA requests which does not bode well for her transparency as president. For that alone, I wish she would due time.

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Yahoo

Thumb's picture

After reading the following, I don't think Comey is going to be inclined to give her a break. Seems he's been close to bagging them for decades, so it wouldn't make sense for him to pull his punches now.

Comey’s first brush with them came when Bill Clinton was president. Looking to get back into government after a stint in private practice, Comey signed on as deputy special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee. In 1996, after months of work, Comey came to some damning conclusions: Hillary Clinton was personally involved in mishandling documents and had ordered others to block investigators as they pursued their case. Worse, her behavior fit into a pattern of concealment: she and her husband had tried to hide their roles in two other matters under investigation by law enforcement. Taken together, the interference by White House officials, which included destruction of documents, amounted to “far more than just aggressive lawyering or political naiveté,” Comey and his fellow investigators concluded. It constituted “a highly improper pattern of deliberate misconduct.”
...
One of his first cases as a line attorney in the same office 15 years earlier had been the successful prosecution of Marc Rich, a wealthy international financier, for tax evasion. But on his last day as President in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned Rich. “I was stunned,” Comey later told Congress. As top U.S. prosecutor in New York in 2002, appointed by George W. Bush, Comey inherited the criminal probe into the Rich pardon and 175 others Clinton had made at the 11th hour.

Despite evidence that several pardon recipients, including Rich, had connections to donations to Bill Clinton’s presidential library and Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, Comey found no criminal wrongdoing. He was careful not to let the investigation be used for political purposes by either party. When pressed for details in one case, he said, “I can’t really go into it because it was an investigation that didn’t result in charges. That may be a frustrating answer, but that’s the one I’m compelled to give.”

http://time.com/4276988/jim-comey-hillary-clinton/

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

importer's picture

been that way all her life. What kind of a president do you think she would make? All those promises she is making now don't mean a thing to her, she will switch gears in a heartbeat when the money is right.

""Hillary's Bold Lie: Her Omission That She Was FIRED From Her Staff Position on the House Judiciary Committee to Impeach President Nixon As a 27 year-old staff attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation, Hillary Rodham was fired by her supervisor, Democrat Jerry Zeifman. When asked why Hillary Rodham was fired, Zeifman said in an interview, "Because she was a liar. She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer, she conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the Committee, and the rules of confidentiality." close""

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4540251/hillarys-bold-lie-omission-fired-s...

What is disturbing in this scenario is how easily she discusses state department business with people from the Clinton Initiative who are promoting not only their own business deals, but work with many of the worlds biggest despots. How much of this information gets shared with other countries????????? That is the big one. How many "donations" are given on the supposition that decisions will be made at state to their benefit. It is an ugly deal.

Hillary thinks she can outwit everyone, but she has stepped on a lot of people clawing her way to the top, and those same people, together, may just be able to bring her down. Comey doesn't like her, he can only recommend to the AG who is a Clinton flak. If Lynch refuses to indict, the FBI, CIA and a lot of other agencies who have been dumped on by ms. Hillary may find a way to get even. Even her own Secret Service people despise her. She treats everyone like crap. The reason she is fighting so hard to get the presidency is so she can control this investigation. She has to be in a catbird seat. I wonder if the Clintons' real claim to fame will be that they were both presidents and both impeached and one actually went to jail. A happy ending to a sordid story.

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This incident will really tarnish the current President's legacy if he chooses not to advise the AG to prosecute. He needs to hear that message loud and clear. I hope he will really think about how he wants his presidency to be remembered and do the right thing.

Allowing this machiavellian, law-breaking flip-flopper to gain the highest office of the land would be a travesty..

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riverlover's picture

Let her hang until he's gone, and hope no one remembers he appointed her SoS. He may be in a tough spot.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

TheOtherMaven's picture

so he's between a rock and a hard place...again. Playing dirty gets you dirty.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Christine.MI's picture

Playing dirty gets you dirty. And that's not presidential.

Thanks for being spot on! I've been trying to explain to people, without listing all of the incidents, why she shouldn't be president. Once a dirty player, always a dirty player! (Plus the finger and the cackle!)

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Obama can actually walk away from this with his stature improved if he reluctantly accedes to an indictment. Making "hard" decisions (like whacking Social Security) seems to improve one's bonafides among the "club". By doing the right thing he would go out with accolades from all across the political spectrum; even a large share of Clinton supporters would turn on her (e.g., what happened to John Edwards's reputation)---some of the diehards might be ought for his blood but there probably aren't that many of those and many of those probably already hate him from '08.

After all these years, Obama ought to be able to see the folly of appeasing those who would stab him in the back in the opportunity presented iteself; maybe in the interest of his legacy, he would do the nation a real favor.

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No investigation of Bush war criminals. No investigation of Wall Street criminals. Hillary has the support of Wall Street, the military industrial complex, the neocons, a substantial segment of the GOP establishment who would prefer her to Trump. Obama is a puppet. Nothing in his track record indicates that he will buck the will of the establishment. He will protect her.

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Everything that touches them turns to shit.

They've made the Democratic party as corrupt and indifferent to the truth as the Republicans. The whole party has acquired gangrene from harboring them for so long. If Hillary goes down in the general, we might finally have the opening to build the Democratic party's replacement. If opposition parties are still allowed....

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Please help support caucus99percent!

If Hillary goes down in the general, we might finally have the opening to build the Democratic party's replacement.

That's the dilemma: if Clinton does win, it cements the power of the illiberal wing of the party. I suspect that if she did get elected in 2016 then sheis likely to go down in flames during her first term or at the ballot box in 2020; either will present the opportunity to rebuild the party. Some life got breathed into the party after Kerry crashed and burned so there is likely to be a chance to restore the party to its rightful place if Clinton goes down in 2016 either in June or November. The downside is that if Clinton goes down in November, then we'll have to endure 4 years of awfulness before we can blast the GOP out of the government.

The scenario which doesn't involve near or actual catastrophe is if Sanders can get the nomination. Otherwise the nation will have a Sophie's Choice on our hands.

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of office. If she wins, the Clinton dynasty goes on, and they continue indefinitely to serve as the money conduit to the party from the very people Dems should oppose (or should at least watch like hawks). Chelsea will inherit the rich and privileged donors just as a medieval duchess inherited the duchy and the loyal retainers. Clinton, Inc. has to be defeated or the Democratic Party will never have a chance to come back. Right now it's corrupt from top to bottom. There are very few holdouts. I never thought I'd say it would be preferable to have a Republican in office - but I really believe the only hope the country has is a functioning Democratic Party. We'll never get one unless this filthy money pipeline is shut down. Goldman Sachs should never give a penny to a Democrat.

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Twain Disciple

sensetolisten's picture

I wrote a essay saying that same there, that Hillary Clinton is a Pathological Liar... It's a bit long, and I probably should have broken it into multiple parts, but I wanted to be done with it.

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“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
― Harry Truman

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

sensetolisten's picture

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“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
― Harry Truman
sensetolisten's picture

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“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
― Harry Truman
HoundDog's picture

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HoundDog's picture

Here is one relevant section of the the U.s. Criminal Code.

(1) Title 18 U.S. Code § 1924 (Misdemeanor) – Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material

(a) Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

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HoundDog's picture

From Chetan Hebbale's longer article on his website, which he has authorized people quote from or republish with attribution.

Title 18 U.S. Code § 793 (Felony)- Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information) Section D

First is Section D which is part of the Espionage Act – this is what I believe she will be indicted for

(d) Whoever, lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; ….. Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

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HoundDog's picture

The Inspector General is saying .6% of all State Department emails are captured in the system. Something consistent with his earlier report that the State Department has been historically bad at responding to Freedom of Information requests from citizen groups and Congress.

Hillary’s only defense for why her emails could have possibly abided by the Federal Records Act not only falls flat, but *looks* like she is actively trying to mislead Congressional investigators into thinking more of her emails are logged in public records based on information that, at this point, has only been provided by her campaign.

Maybe this is why there are rumors that the FBI may also pursue a charge for giving “materially false statements” to federal agents. This would be violation of US Title 18 Section 1001 – violations of the code are punishable by up to five years in prison.

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HoundDog's picture

attributable to Chetan Hebbale.

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MsGrin's picture

we are just asked to not remove comments

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

HoundDog's picture

my second post here at caucus. Old dogs can learn new trick, but sometimes it takes us a couple of tries.

Thanks. Good to see you over here.

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orlbucfan's picture

Even if you forget the quotes (getting old never fails), as long as you give the writer full credit, you're not plagiarizing. Man, this mess sounds like Nixon, only 21st century and worse than Watergate.

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

snoopydawg's picture

For the emails regarding Bluementhal at the least. Was he vetted to receive classified information by any government agencies? I doubt it.
Plus wasn't he doing business in Libya and the information that she shared with him would help him with it?
Plus, there's the hiding of her emails from the FOIA because she deleted 30 thousand of them.
Then there's the cross over between Huma Abin who was in both Hillary's state department and high up in her foundation.

She was told by Obama when he appointed her as SOS to keep the foundation separate from her duties as SOS. Why he didn't stop her is anyone's guess, but the Clintons and the Obamas are very close.

Obama has charged 2-4 people under the espionage act that shouldn't have been, so if this information is true and he protects her, he's breaking even more laws.
He had the obligation to charge Bush, Cheney, the members of the CIA who tortured people and of course the bankers who defrauded so many companies, people and crashed the global economy.
Arne Duncan didn't charge anymore from Corinthian college after they had defrauded the government. They paid millions in fines when they should have been fined up to $18 billion. And since they weren't required to admit wrongdoing, the students that took out loans still have to pay them back.
We are supposed to be a nation of laws.
What a fucking joke.
I think there's enough information in just your diary that shows that she has broken many laws.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

HoundDog's picture

for HRC the Clinton Foundation. So when he sent her what was obviously classified information, she was required to report it to the CIA immediately, which apparently she did not. She also forwarded to members of her staff that did not have the required level of clearance, stored it outside of a secure location (in her house) which is illegal, let Pagliano manage the disk where he had access to all of it, and also gave the disk to Platt River Associates which had no people cleared to receive or manage classified information.

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mimi's picture

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Raggedy Ann's picture

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Thumb's picture

For the emails regarding Bluementhal at the least. Was he vetted to receive classified information by any government agencies? I doubt it.
Plus wasn't he doing business in Libya and the information that she shared with him would help him with it?

At her confirmation hearing she agreed to have no contact with Sidney B. No, he did not have clearance, and yes, he did have a direct financial interest in toppling Qaddafi, to which Hillary obliged.

Anyone not named Clinton would be indicted.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

HoundDog's picture

intelligence gathering by two former U.S. intelligence officers, one CIA and HRC was apparently regularly using for analysis and advice.

And yes, all three of these people had a financial interest in a firm that received a big contract to provide supplies and services to the Libyan resistance fighters after HRC forward the recommendation through-out the State Department after taking Blumenthal et. al. names off of it and forwarded it through one of her staff members.

This appears to be violations of the laws on both "public corruption" and influence peddling" as Blumenthal was an employee of the Clinton Foundation at the time and involved with the solicitation of donations.

There has also been an allegation that the Clinton Foundation helped out the 2008 election fund with a large amount of campaign debt after it was over. It also provide Bill, Chelsea, and Hillary first class airline flights, and employed many of the associates. Perhaps even Huma Abideen. At one point Huma worked simultaneously for four parties including the State Department, Teneo, HRC, and someplace else I will have to look up.

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Valerie Plame, who should know better than anyone what happens with a covert asset's name is tossed out into the public - is a strong HRC supporter. The sheer carelessness of the whole setup, from server to swapping info with un-cleared people - shows something beyond carelessness, into a kind of "rules are for the little people" mentality.

I wonder what kind of other emails this Guccifer has to share to the investigators.

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mjsmeme's picture

What in the world could the Clintons have on him?

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Promises made at confirmation hearings are even less likely to be kept than campaign promises.

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Hillary doesn't need to be professional. No one would dare indict her. The Clintons are well known for their hit list of people who have not been absolutely loyal to them. For what they have done to the Democratic party, I don't think they should even be allowed to call themselves Democrats, and I'm not kidding, Maddie.

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Yahoo

HoundDog's picture

18 U.S.C. § 1924 Unauthorized Removal And Retention Of Classified Documents Or Material
18 U.S.C. § 793 Gathering, Transmitting Or Losing Defense Information
18 U.S.C. § 2071 Concealment, Removal, Or Mutilation Generally
18 U.S.C. § 1519 Destruction, Alteration, Or Falsification Of Records In Federal Investigations And Bankruptcy
18 U.S.C. §§ 798. Disclosure of classified information
44 U.S.C. § 3101. Federal Records Act
2 U.S.C. § 192. Refusal of witness to testify or produce papers

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stevej's picture

that Team Clinton always saw the Benghazi hearings as more of an opportunity than a threat and ginned up the theater accordingly. The talking points that immediately emerged the from the campaign support this conclusion.To paraphrase: Poor defenseless Hillary being unfairly and relentlessly persecuted stands up to everything her oppressors can throw at her. Her team correctly drew the conclusion that the sympathy engendered would immunize her against other, much more serious accusations of sleaze and other misdealing.

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

Since the issues they have been attacked on were obviously based on weak underpinnings and designed to, as you say, "gin up" both their bases. Or, maybe it really wasn't 'luck".......

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Ravensword's picture

Why the hell would she delete 30,000 e-mails? It was really shady and seemed like an obvious attempt to goad the Republicans, otherwise she's an idiot—and Hillary is many things; an idiot is not one of them.

This became more clearer during the hearing. Nine hours of free airtime, and everyone was saying how impressed they were w/ her. How hard can it be to deal w/ people who've hated you for 40 years? It's all just political theater.

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stevej's picture

was related to her personal server thing -some may relate to Benghazi but that is not a given. The personal server story is potentially a lot more damaging than the Benghazi nonsense imo

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“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” -Voltaire

riverlover's picture

but 60K or so in toto? And claiming half were personal. I can't recreate my email history but I doubt that I have received 30K with multiple business and science connections. But she was more important.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Lookout's picture

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/yes-bernie-sanders-will-become...

Ultimately, the FBI’s year-long investigation into Clinton’s emails will hand Bernie Sanders the Democratic nomination and White House, and I’m one of the few progressives today stating this glaring reality

Why is there no talk of the arms for donation deals at the Clinton Foundation?

arms sales_1.jpg

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Deja's picture

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MsGrin's picture

...still waiting.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Thumb's picture

Doesn't want to expend their supply of dry powder until (if) Hillary wraps up the nomination. Why help Bernie, who crushes all of them in head to head polls?

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

polkageist's picture

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

HoundDog's picture

is a vast swamp of conflict of interest and appearance of conflict of interest if not outright public corruption and influence peddling.

I'm working on an article on that right now and waiting to see how this one turns out.

IMO even her strongest supporters ought to mastering the ins and out of all of this so they can defend her in the GE. And the Democratic Party has got to stop pretending this is all "zero probability"of occurring. And develop a plan B.

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gulfgal98's picture

Blumenthal connection create scenarios that are very ripe for all sorts of attacks from the Republicans or even impeachment should she win the Presidency. There is an enormous conflict of interest going on here, all of which benefits the Clintons and/or their good friends financially. IMHO, the Foundation is another money laundering scheme. If this is not corruption, I do not know what is. These odious people need to be in jail or at the very least sent packing. They absolutely have zero business being in the White House once again.

edited to make more sense.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Thumb's picture

How about chemical and biological weapons to human rights abusers, and then lying about their donations?

Bill Clinton is claiming his foundation “accidentally” accepted money from foreign governments who were negotiating with his wife while she was Secretary of State – a definite no-no.

The Clinton Foundation received $500,000 from Algeria in 2010 while the country was lobbying the State Department for an increase in weapons export authorization.

The International Business Times says that “some of those export authorizations were for weapons classified as “toxicological agents, including chemical agents [and] biological agents.”

“[Critics] said, ‘Oh you got $500,000 from Algeria at very same time they were lobbying the State Department,’” Clinton said. “Those two facts are accurate but if you put them back-to-back they are incredibly misleading. Here’s why: I never considered that the Algerians gave me the money.”

http://downtrend.com/robertgehl/oops-bill-clinton-says-he-accidentally-t...

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

HoundDog's picture

while the State Department was a clear conflict of interest and I believe the Clintons also admitted it violated an agreement about conflict of interest on these types of matters that they agreed to with President Obama.

I don't see how she can keep this foundation if she becomes President. It is mind boggling.

David Sorita wrote an article last May with Perez that documents over a billion dollars in contribution to the Clinton Foundation while the State Department was reviewing arms sales contracts of $169 billion. Most of those receiving this have donated substantial amount to the foundation.

One Lybian managed to get a meeting with Bill Clinton four days after donated around half a million to the foundation.

And this appears to have been coordinated through the email server and involved Cheryl Mills at the least. Judicial Watch believes the Foundation emails constitute a large part of the 30.000 email Clinton deleted under the criteria that they were private. But my impression is that the FBI has been able to recover many of the theme.

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Deja's picture

Or is she simply a raging dumb ass?

We know she's intelligent, but that she underestimates the intelligence of others. Maybe that's it?

All of her bots think she's a poor innocent victim - because she says so. Ack!

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gulfgal98's picture

The Clintons are so arrogant that they believe that they are untouchable under the laws that affect the rest of us.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

HoundDog's picture

One former intelligence officer pointed out that Chelsea Manning leaked documents of a much less sensitive nature for the purpose of "whistle-blowing" and has received 30 years in jail.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

and a haughty spirit before a fall.

That's the literal quote, King James Version. For some reason everybody misquotes it (as they do "gilding the lily" from Shakespeare, which is actually "to gild refined gold, to PAINT the lily").

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

HoundDog's picture

Word and phrase origins are fascinating. I'm learning German and just learned that the phrase used in Austria for "that's yesterday's news" is "Das ist Schnee von Gestern." Which is "That is snow from yesterday."

I guess I ought to be looking up how to say "Go directly to jail, do not pass Go and do not collect $200" for use in future articles.

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mimi's picture

Gehen Sie ins Gefängnis, gehen Sie nicht über Los, Ziehen sie nicht 4000 € ein

Apparently that was said what Berlusconi should do ... Smile

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mjsmeme's picture

its life w/o parole. They don't belong on the streets.

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They are.

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HoundDog's picture

This is from Antiwar.com

http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2016/04/17/hillary-clinton-law-2/

Is Hillary Clinton Above the Law?
by Ray McGovern, April 18, 2016

For technical commentary on this issue, I turned to a specialist VIPs colleague named William Binney, who worked for NSA for 36 years. Binney co-founded NSA’s SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) Automation Research Center, and retired from NSA as Technical Director. He said he shares my very strong feelings on the issue. He told me the following:

“The email issue with Secretary Clinton is one of the most severe compromises of security I have ever known. After all, if the Chinese, Russians and other hackers can penetrate the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) servers and take the records of over 21 million U.S. citizens that over the years have applied for security clearances, then penetrating Hillary Clinton’s private server would be a piece of cake. Such penetration would yield insight into decision making at the highest level of the US government, including what might be revealed in emails with the President.

“This is worse that the compromise of predominantly lower-level data by Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning and gives insight into planning at the highest levels in Washington – something that even all the torrent of data exposed by Edward Snowden could not provide. Reports that Clinton instructed subordinates to delete the security classification line on sensitive reports and email them to her, suggests a total disregard for the need to protect classified information and arrogance in deeming herself above lawful regulations governing the handling such data.

“We might as well have had an in-place mole at the highest level of our government. The FBI/Department of Justice would have already indicted lesser officials for less. Certainly, Clinton is receiving special treatment.

“Ordinary Americans need to know how serious this is. Just last week we witnessed one example of what could have happened when Secretary of State John Kerry was visiting Kabul and the Taliban tried to attack him with rockets. Whenever the President, Vice President, Secretary of State or Defense, Joint Chiefs Chairman, or a congressional delegation visits Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq, the planning and arrangements are secret. But this is the type of information that could be sent over Clinton’s personal email, hacked, and gotten a senior American official killed.

...

“Another question: What information regarding her dealings outside of her official capacities may have been targeted? What I mean is besides US government secrets that she possibly exposed were Clinton’s own secrets – perhaps a quid pro quo or two regarding foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation. Such information could be used against her as political blackmail. What information could have been captured by a foreign power that could be used if/when Hillary Clinton came to office as President to gain leverage over her?

... but what information has been compromised that could be used against her as blackmail if she is in the Oval Office?”

... Hillary Clinton’s carelessness and entitlement in brushing aside the lawful security rules that apply to other government officials is an issue that bears on whether she has the character and judgment to be President.

....

In December 2011, when then-Secretary of State Clinton was busy denouncing Pvt. Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning for leaking evidence of US government wrongdoing, Clinton declared: “I think that in an age where so much information is flying through cyberspace, we all have to be aware of the fact that some information which is sensitive, which does affect the security of individuals and relationships, deserves to be protected and we will continue to take necessary steps to do so.”

For leaking mostly low-level classified information to the public so the people could know about illegal or questionable acts by the government – none of the data top secret, the level that some Clinton emails have now been stamped – Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

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And the Taliban trying to attack his location?

One of the emails released - which the NY Times used in an article to exonerate Hillary - discussed the route that our ambassador & his party were taking to the ship to leave Libya, the schedule, and what security was in place. My toes curled when I read this. That is not the sort of info you want going out over an unclassified, private network.

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of a former Washington DC prosecutor (sorry, not sure of the date of the interview). He pointed out a lot of interesting things about this case, and one of them was that the Secretary of State is the originator of the rules about classifying documents. Hillary is trying to play the "how would I know if a document had changed categories?" game, but that doesn't fly when you remember that's the job she swore to do. Never will vote for $shill, and if the government waits until the very last minute to do something about her crimes, and she's the Democratic Party nominee, then the Dems might as well flush themselves. The Party will be over.

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truehawk's picture

Consider that the FBI is headed by a Republican who has NO interest in helping Bernie Sanders in any way.

AND Obama can not pardon Hillary if she has not yet been indited.

So they let the election occur and they either impeach her if she wins, or indite her if she looses, or hold it over her head if she wins.

Either way their hand is stronger if they wait until a Presidential Pardon is off the table.

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Lookout's picture

They wait till after the nomination to indict, she withdraws, and DNC nominates Bidden. I sure hope not, but I've seen the idea floated.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

hasn't even run, all hell should break lose.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

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