FBI’s Comey recommends against persecution

The law regarding sending emails containing classified material is the same whether using a public, private or government server. Remember this.

A Secretary of State admitted in a book that emails containing classified information were sent or received on a private email account using a public server, such as Yahoo, while he was served in that office.

The Republicans didn’t hold any hearings with the FBI regarding this disclosure. The Secretary was upset that emails were classified after the fact and wanted the emails made public so the public could see that they didn’t contain any confidential information. That Secretary was Colin Powell.

Condoleeza Rice used her private account to send and receive classified National Security material. None was marked classified in the heading as required, but had the notation “NODIS” reference in the body of the material suggesting that part of the document could be sensitive. Congress held no hearings regarding this potential misuse of emails.

During Hillary Clinton’s term as Secretary of State approximately 30,000 emails were sent or received by her or her staff. Not a single one contained a header marked classified. Not a single one. There were three that had (c) before a paragraph in the body of the document. This marking is not an official one and could mean anything. Two of those emails were later determined not to have contained any classified material. So, when Hillary Clinton says she didn’t send or receive any classified documents via email, she is telling the truth.

The 100 were determined after the fact to contain classified material. FBI Director James Comey said in his opinion, and in the opinion of all the FBI agents working on this case, that Hillary Clinton never lied, misled, or attempted to obstruct their investigation in any way.

It was the FBI opinion that Hillary never violated section 893 of the penal code and that she never willfully violated the law. Although Comey said the State Department acted reckless and careless the actions never met the standard required by Section 893 to make a finding of willful obstruction or disregard for the law. He said every single FBI agent working the case agreed with his recommendation that no prosecution was warranted and that no prosecutor would prosecute. If you believe the false statement by many Republicans that over 100 FBI agents worked on this case, that would mean all 100 agreed with Comey. Actually about 15 agents worked the case.

Republicans in Congress went berserk when hearing of Comey’s recommendation. Paul Ryan went so far as to say that Hillary Clinton should be prosecuted for misleading the American people. Is he nuts? Using that criteria, Ryan himself and most Republicans, including the Republican candidate for president, would be prosecuted for making false and misleading statements to the public regarding Hillary Clinton. Also, most politicians might be jailed for not keeping campaign promises.

Hillary Clinton broke no laws. She never lied when she said she didn’t send or receive classified documents. And get this straight: Using her personal server broke no laws.

The attacks on Hillary continue the pattern set during the Benghazi hearings, which the Republicans admittedly held to smear Hillary and hurt her presidential aspirations.

The people who are untrustworthy and dishonest are those who continue to attack Hillary Clinton using what they know to be false and deceiving information.

Comey’s allegations of recklessness were based on a feeling that the Clinton server could be hacked into, although no evidence to that effect was furnished, and that any emails containing classified material should have been discovered by the State Department, even if not marked classified. Really now. Government servers, which Director Comey thought Hillary should have been using, and public servers, such as used by Powell and Rice are continually hacked into.

I am saddened and positively dismayed by so many who think Hillary is untrustworthy because of the false and outlandish allegations by the Republicans over the past 15 or so years. Hillary never lied about Benghazi, she never lied about the emails. I admire her patience and perseverance.

I hear people say that she got special treatment compared to Gen. David Petraeus. Nonsense. The FBI director made it crystal clear that there was no comparison between Hillary Clinton’s email case and Petraeus’s case. Petraeus willfully, knowingly and admittedly broke the law, then attempted to obstruct the FBI’s investigation by concealing evidence beneath the floorboards in his attic!

Comey did not recommend prosecuting Colin Powell, Candoleeza Rice or Hillary Clinton. He was right.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glen@phonewave.net.