by Mish
James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Sunday told Congress that an examination of new emails related to Hillary Clinton’s private server had reaffirmed his earlier decision not to recommend prosecution, in a dramatic development that came just two days before the November 8 presidential election.
“Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,” Mr Comey wrote to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The move marked another spectacular development in the final days of the campaign. Mr Comey generated huge controversy two weeks ago when he told Congress that the FBI was examining new emails related to its prior probe of Mrs Clinton, sparking concerns that he was breaking internal guidelines by wading into the race.
Mr Comey, a Republican who was appointed by Mr Obama, sparked the controversy in July by publicly declaring that Mrs Clinton had been “extremely careless” in handling classified information, but that there were no grounds to recommend prosecution.
FBI concludes an investigation announced just 9 days ago. Is this a new record?
— Stalingrad & Poorski (@Stalingrad_Poor) November 6, 2016
Note to GOP pundits: BOTH parties flip-flopped on their attitude toward Comey, not just the Dems.
— Caroline Baum (@cabaum1) November 7, 2016
No Evidence?
There was plenty of evidence to prosecute Hillary. A decision was made months ago to not prosecute, and apparently there was not enough new evidence to decide differently now.
- Glenn Greenwald at The Intercept reports Washington Has Been Obsessed With Punishing Secrecy Violations — Until Hillary Clinton
- US Uncut reports The Government Has Prosecuted Nearly Every Violator of Secrecy Rules Before Hillary Clinton
- PunditFact reports CNN’s Tapper: Obama has used Espionage Act more than all previous administrations
Greenwald writes …
Secrecy is a virtual religion in Washington. Those who violate its dogma have been punished in the harshest and most excessive manner — at least when they possess little political power or influence. As has been widely noted, the Obama administration has prosecuted more leakers under the 1917 Espionage Act than all prior administrations combined. Secrecy in D.C. is so revered that even the most banal documents are reflexively marked classified, making their disclosure or mishandling a felony. As former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden said back in 2000, “Everything’s secret. I mean, I got an email saying, ‘Merry Christmas.’ It carried a top-secret NSA classification marking.”
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
