2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWAPO Op-Ed: No Indictment for Hillary Would Be A Problem for America:
Even if Hillary is not indicted, this would drag on for a long time.
......snip
Once, there was a statutory solution to this understandable skepticism, albeit a hugely imperfect one, in the form of the independent counsel law. Clinton knows better than anyone how prolonged and risky this route can be; the independent counsel originally named to investigate the Whitewater investment by Bill and Hillary Clinton ended up with Monica Lewinsky.
Even now that the statute has lapsed, the Justice Department retains the authority, by regulation, to appoint a special counsel when the attorney general determines that criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted and would present a conflict of interest for the Department or other extraordinary circumstances.
Theres no indication that Justice has contemplated this step; indeed, its not clear it has even determined that a criminal investigation is warranted. In any event, turning to a special counsel now, with the clock ticking toward
Election Day, would not serve the public well. What it needs is maximum information speedily revealed.
FBI agents and federal prosecutors tend to be allergic to releasing information, appropriately so. (There is that pesky matter of grand jury information, which is supposed to be kept secret, although theres no indication this inquiry has even reached the grand jury stage.) Prosecutors either indict or stand down, no explanation provided. But in the case of a public figure whose conduct has drawn intense scrutiny, that approach may not be optimal for the individual involved or, more important in this case, for the public.
There is useful guidance in both the independent counsel law and the departments own precedents. The independent counsel law required the prosecutor to file a final report hence the infamous Kenneth Starr report on Lewinsky that the supervising court could make public.
Similarly, the Justice Department in 2010 issued a 92-page investigative summary that detailed the evidence against Bruce E. Ivins, the Fort Detrick researcher who was the suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks but who committed suicide while under investigation.
Ordinarily, that would have ended the case, but officials determined that the intense public interest justified releasing more information. Tellingly, that took a year to accomplish time that is not available in this circumstance
So that leaves assuming no indictment an unsatisfying situation.
Ordinarily, in such cases, there would be no official announcement at all. In some high-profile cases, Justice has taken the unusual step of announcing that the matter is closed. In 2012, then-Attorney General Eric Holder announced that there would be no prosecution in the death of two CIA detainees overseas, saying that the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
In the Clinton situation, there has to be a way to provide more information, in a timely way, from a credible source. Senior Justice officials will be mistrusted whatever they say, but what about FBI Director James B. Comey, who served in the Justice Department under George W. Bush?
If this inquiry is closed without further action, the public will need some explanation beyond everyone-just-move-along-now. Not for Clinton, but for the sake of the Justice Department and the professionals who work there.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-if-clinton-isnt-indicted/2016/03/29/81a1033e-f5d7-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31_story.html
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)Either way you cut it at this point. Hillary fans need to get a grip on this.
riversedge
(70,242 posts)berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)somehow she's done no wrong????
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)I know plenty of them. All of the security experts I know believe she was negligent at best.
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)I did note that you put it in quotes to emphasize it's a term they use inappropriately.
It's just mind-bending how they try to make it sound like what she did was just fine and dandy.
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)I got an SCI due to my career field; so I have to do training on classifications and shit once a year. And someone had the nerve to argue with me and tell me that what she did somehow wasn't illegal.
pdsimdars
(6,007 posts)there was some interview a week or so ago.
unc70
(6,115 posts)Everyone I know who deals with security thinks this is a big deal, whether it is prosecuted or not. The revelations of recent weeks are highly incriminating; actions can not be dismissed as accidental or incidental; they were deliberate and proactive.
The problems for Clinton go beyond the use of the private server or that classified content was mishandled. The actual content of her emails document some very troubling actions on her part while SoS.
(FYI I have four decades as a security expert coming initially from the technical side. There a lot of DUers with relevant experience. I don't recall a single one who has argued that this is not serious.)
VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)to expound on somehow this isn't a big deal. That wasn't a jab at actual security experts, or others with Secrets or TS's.
speaktruthtopower
(800 posts)this isn't Fox News or World Net Daily.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Did the Post have this same opinion about Nixon's treason? Reagan's? Bush 41's? Smirk's?
amborin
(16,631 posts)innocent of all suspicions; nor should it; why get a private email server? the emails are supposed to be available in the public domain, per Freedom of Information laws. Separately from mishandling classified info, there is the unacceptable secrecy issue.
Jarqui
(10,126 posts)It doesn't matter what they do. Hillary can be as innocent as can be. The GOP are going to keep coming.
There is no time to formally go through this to anyone's satisfaction. Whatever they do will be accepted or not accepted on a partisan basis. The GOP's mission will be to keep dragging her through the mud until at least after the election in November and that's what they'll continue to do.
If Obama or his admin does anything construed as positive for her, the GOP will howl it's partisan - "she's guilty!". If Comey recommends indictment, the Dems will howl he's right leaning.
Hillary has stepped into a pile of feces and there's no way the GOP are going to let her clean her shoes off before November.
Special Counsel or not, it doesn't matter short term. Special Counsel who takes a year to look it over - that's good if the FBI report doesn't get leaked showing an indictment recommendation.
The best move is to leave it undecided. It's hard for the GOP to howl about a result that hasn't come in but is progressing in a reasonable, legitimate, legal way towards a result. I'm under no illusions. The GOP will howl no matter what. But what they're howling about will have much less substance or resonance in the media.
That's what the Dems best move is - a long legal process.
IdaBriggs
(10,559 posts)no big deal. The stupidity of going there AGAIN is simply mind boggling.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)amborin
(16,631 posts)cosmicone
(11,014 posts)and devotees of Unicorn J. Sparklepony.
The rest of the world has moved on.
amborin
(16,631 posts)and there is additionally evidence suggesting more egregious behavior, as well
Cry me a river. It violated no laws.
Califonz
(465 posts)The cover-up and obstruction of justice will be what sticks.
cosmicone
(11,014 posts)Watergate now? Really? On a democratic board? Reeks of desperation.
#feelthemath
madville
(7,412 posts)Lying about the situation is what she actually got convicted for. Hillary and her aides will have to be very careful when they get interviewed by the FBI in the coming months. They won't know exactly what other evidence the FBI is holding, maybe deleted emails from the server and testimony from her IT guy that now has immunity that could contradict them.