I recently wrote a column on FBI investigation into the Clinton email scandal and revised my view as to the handling of the investigation in light of the five immunity deals handed out by the Justice Department. I had previously noted that FBI Director James Comey was within accepted lines of prosecutorial discretion in declining criminal charges, even though I believed that such charges could have been brought. However, the news of the immunity deals (and particularly the deal given top ranking Clinton aide Cheryl Mills) was baffling and those deals seriously undermined the ability to bring criminal charges in my view. Now, Comey has testified before both the Senate and the House. His answers only magnified concerns over the impact and even the intent of granting immunity to those most at risk of criminal charges.
Before his testimony in the House, Comey spoke in the Senate and stated that he gave immunity to Mills because she refused to turn over her laptop — a highly dubious rationale, as I previously discussed.
First the timeline is now becoming clear and it makes the immunity deal even more bizarre given what the FBI knew about Colorado-based tech specialist Paul Combetta and Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and IT specialist Bryan Pagliano.
In July 2014, then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills was told that Clinton’s emails were being sought.
On July 23, 2014 Combetta got a call from Mills on the server and emails.
On July 24, 2014, Combetta received an email from Clinton IT specialist Pagliano.
On July 24, Combetta then went online to Reddit to solicit help on stripping out “a VIP’s (VERY VIP) email address from a bunch of archived emails.” He revealed that “they don’t want the VIP’s email address exposed to anyone.”
What is incredible is that the Justice Department would give immunity to the parties on both ends of those communications — guaranteeing that a criminal prosecution is no longer a real threat.
Comey deepened those concerns with his testimony. After these conversations with Mills and Clinton aides, Combetta destroyed the evidence. Comey admits that that Mills did disclose the preservation order. Combetta however mysteriously then destroys the evidence. Comey was asked what he got from the immunity deal with Combetta. He said “We learned no one directed him to do that.” First, that is a pretty poor showing for immunity, particularly when there is usually a proffer offered before an immunity grant on the expected content of immunized testimony. The greater problem is that it makes little sense. Why would Combetta take it upon himself to destroy evidence that he knew was being sought by Congress and was already a matter of intense national attention. Comey could not explain why he simply accepted Combetta’s word or why that denial was worth an immunity deal.
None of that makes any logical sense if you are trying to build a criminal case. It certainly strains credulity to believe that a techie in Colorado decided to unilaterally defy the United States Congress and destroy evidence in one of the nation’s greatest scandals. The fact that this occurred immediately after calls from Clinton figures like Mills would raise considerable doubt in most investigators. Yet, the Justice Department jumped at the chance to immunize the key players in the key communications. That is a legitimate matter of congressional concern . . . and investigation.
Is it true that Comey’s brother’s law firm does the Clinton’s taxes?
https://investmentwatchblog.com/corruption-fbi-director-james-comey-exposed-received-millions-from-clinton-foundation-on-their-corporate-partner-board-brother-works-for-law-firm-that-does-clinton-foundation-taxes-everyone-is-co/
It’s so strange reading all these posts about Trump and how one should or should not vote for him. Exhortations to vote for one or the other candidate does look like the technique of choice for diverting from the issue at hand.
This diversion is useful to the powerful because citizens stop thinking about the very large issues which confront us. Here we have the head of the FBI acting in an embarrassing and questionable manner to protect other members of the oligarchy. This isn’t justice. It’s favortixm and control of “law” enforcement by a small group of people.
This small group can do any crime they want, up to and including murder and torture. They are assured the highest levels of law enforcement will bless their actions. Meanwhile, ordinary people are facing police, private contractors and feds who are uparmoured to the teeth. If you pray over stopping a pipeline you will be confronted with military equipment and arrested. If you order murder and torture well, law enforcement is looking forward, not backwards. If you commit crimes in office, you are not going to be arrested for those crimes.
This is a very bad situation. It has a small, powerful group of people which use every resource they have against justice. They have the resources to turn conversation away from this reality to other topics–look over there, a pink elephant! As citizens we must resist looking at the things the oligarchy wants us to look at. Instead, we need to look straight at the problems we actually confront–an extremely dangerous and corrupt class that does anything it wants without consequences. .
Did it ever dawn on you that Trump is causing the diversions? He babbles everyday about women’s weight. How presidential…….
I bet Trump would have those protestors shot.
First he will go after the BLM protestors.
Spot on as usual Jill! Things are heating up with Russia right now over Syria and the MSM is trying to distract us.
Why doesn’t Trump get off this Miss Universe claptrap and start talking about Syria? He is proving out to be both a distraction and distracted. Hoping he knows more about what is going on Aleppo than Gary Johnson.
AJ,
We know how you feel about Trump so you don’t need to belabor that point.
What do you think of the fact that Comey gave everyone immunity? What do you think of the statement that Combetta acted on his own initiative? Do you think he did that? Do you think it’s possible that Clinton or her close underlings told him to do that as he stated on Reddit? What do you think of an FBI head who has stymied getting to the bottom of a very serious situation?
Again, we understand your feelings about Trump. I hope you are not working for Correct the Record and thus will not answer a straight up question about the topic of this thread.
I am no expert on this as you claim to be. I don’t care to defend Comey nor attack him.
@ Jill Don’t think much of the opposition to Trump on the internet is paid. There are plenty of us. Most of us consider it to be our civic duty. We are mainly on twitter these days or at the GOTV operations. Are you paid to attack Michele and Barack?
Hi MaryAnne,
Have you read about Correct the Record? Did you know that 43% of Clinton’s twitter feed is fake?
You can tell I’m not paid because I offer real arguments, on topic and I don’t choose my beliefs based on party affiliation.
Yep. A lot of these distractions and social crises might melt away quickly in the coming weeks. The stage is set, the actors are on stage, all we need is the “fog of war” moment.
http://buenavistamall.com/bibis-puppets.jpg
Debating a Zionist on “Israel’s role in the US presidential election”
“What Trump is really saying is that he would recognize Israel as the capital of the United States. He is capitulating to the Israeli lobby that has a stranglehold on power here in the United States, which it cemented with the Zionist neoconservative coup d’etat on September 11th, 2001, when Israeli assets and their partners in the US military and intelligence communities blew up the World Trade Center and murdered nearly 3,000 Americans in order to cement their “policy coup” as General Clark called it, and destroy “seven countries in five years” – meaning the seven countries in the Middle East that were posing a threat to Israel.”
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/09/27/israels-role/
Jill was right on the money.
Wow, your talk of blitzkriegs and a military takeover does remind me of Hitler’s Germany. I am praying that Trump won’t be that bad but I have to say may think he will be.
Once again, is it too much to ask for substantial input on the issue?
The government in Germany had not turned fascist, as our federal government has. The FBI is a rogue agency, openly protecting the nomenclatura, laughing at the Constitution. How do we stop it?
The political agencies have no power to do anything, outside of decommissioning this praetorian guard. But if they do it at their conventional snail’s pace, the utterly corrupt agency will simply destroy all evidence of its own corruption.
There is no civilian police agency that can stop the FBI from destroying the evidence the moment the idea of decommissioning it is made public. The only agency that could do it is the Army. This is the opposite of fascism; it is the rescue of the country from a deeply entrenched fascism. The Army, so far as I can tell, is not corrupt. To stop the FBI being a praetorian guard, protecting the nomenclature, only the Army can do it. It would be the restoration of at least one segment of Constitutional governance.
If the Army were to be used to take over anything outside the FBI, simply to stop the destruction of evidence, I guess I’d be wrong about the Army not being corrupt.
If you have a better idea as to how to do away with these corruptocrats, and preserve the evidence against them, please tell.
There is no one way to do away with these corruptocrats. It took a dozen years for America to realize the crimes it was committing in Vietnam and stop that. America is still dealing with race relations. It is an ongoing war, battle by battle. The first and most important step is to remove the private sector from the public sector. Eliminate private concentrated funding of politicians. If other countries can do it then why can’t the US. This will allow third and fourth party options to become a viability and perhaps a reality. In Canada, which had a duopoly until the early seventies and Great Britain this began in the provinces. The New Democratic Party, the Party Quebecois, and the Social Credit Party started outside of Ottawa and then became instrumental in representing Canadians as a whole. The illusion of freedom in America is more the norm than actual freedom when it comes to democracy.
The changes must come from the bottom up. The election process must change from a sideshow fueled by concentrated funds to a truer representation of the viewpoints of the people through equal time based on polls, limited time to focus on issues and not nonsense, and most importantly public access to ideas and ideals of the candidates in detail and relevant to the issues and not just smearing the other guy.
The first step in solving a problem is realizing that there is a problem. The second step is to identify the problem and understand the cause(s). The illusions Americans have about themselves and their country is, perhaps, the first place to visit.
Judicial Watch
On Thursday, September 29 – from 11:00 to 12:30 AM – Judicial Watch will bring together a panel of top experts for an incisive, in-depth analysis of the growing Hillary Clinton email/Clinton Foundation scandals.
The panel will be hosted by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. He will be joined by Clinton scandal experts Peter Schweizer, author of the New York Times best-seller Clinton Cash; Joseph E. diGenova, former U.S. States Attorney, District of Columbia; Jerome Corsi, bestselling author of Partners in Crime; and Judicial Watch Director of Investigations Chris Farrell.
Panel: “Clinton Scandal Update – Emails and the Clinton Foundation”
http://www.judicialwatch.org/live/
Thanks for posting this.
Thanks, Patriot. I just watched the Joe DiGenova commentary starting at 43:43. I don’t know that argument can get any more powerful than that:
No grand jury; not one subpoena issued; everyone shielding Clinton given immunity; the wrong mens rea (representing that proving intent was required as opposed to gross negligence) advanced as the case’s primary problem; as Gowdy mentioned, even proving intent in other crimes under that statute may have been possible had there been an effort to do so; and, as both Gowdy and DiGenova stated, Comey just created a gapping double standard for prosecution within the bureaucratic strata and a new low point in public trust.
I’ll pass it along.
Steve Groen – if I ever get investigated by the FBI, I am DEMANDING the Hillary Clinton treatment. I have an advanced degree, too. 🙂
This election brings to mind this 2004 parody from the Onion:
“Poll: Many Americans Still Unsure Whom To Vote Against”.
http://www.theonion.com/article/poll-many-americans-still-unsure-whom-to-vote-agai-1177
Judge Napolitano (and others with good reputations) kept validating the stellar moral status of Comey, and predicted that if Hillary did not end in the dock hundreds of FBI would resign in protest. Supposedly, most FBI are just as stellar as Comey supposedly was.
He was wrong about that.
If Trump wins, I think one of his first actions should be to send the Army into every FBI office and seize all records, computers and any other possible evidence of corruption, blitzkrieg-style, before they can destroy any of it.
Then, he should instruct the Congress to create a replacement agency, pronto. Any existing FBI personnel could apply for a job at the new outfit, but would be presumed guilty. The FBI is beyond reform, obviously.
Works for me.
We have a new 2016 campaign slogan, folks.
” Vote for a sewer rat!”
Issac,
This isn’t about Trump v. Clinton. This is about an oligarchy which uses “law” enforcement to shield it from prosecution for their crimes. Meanwhile, this same oligarchy calls out millions of dollars in military equipment to stop peaceful protesters.
What Comey is claiming would be embarrassing to any person with an ounce of integrity.
This oligarchy is out of control and that should be disturbing to you as a citizen.
What is happening here is much more important than supporting your candidate of choice.
What Jill wrote!
Jill
The oligarchy exists; this is true. It is America’s shame. It runs, perhaps, the least democratic of all Western Nations. Clinton maneuvers through and sleeps with the oligarchs as this is the system/sewer in which she thrives. Trump is the oligarch, the privileged, the corrupt, the maker of his own rules to suit himself in a way that Clinton barely approaches.
One difference between the two is that Clinton has performed both well and poorly in the public arena, the arena of the toughest scrutiny where passing wind does not go unnoticed. She has performed for decades and is still there. Trump, on the other hand, has performed for the most part privately in the private sector. The level of scrutiny is nothing compared to the public sector. And, even with this he has exposed himself as a buffoon and an extremely dangerous person. One does not need to be psychic to imagine the damage he will do if he gets to Washington. Trump has Imagine a rat more suited to a sewer than Clinton, a rat that invented a sewer, an oligarch protecting oligarchs further destroying what’s left of America’s shameful democracy. The bigger problem is Trump would not be playing in his sewer and therein lies the danger. I am reminded of the boasts by the Hells Angels in the 60’s to send them over to Vietnam and they would clean it up in six months, same BS, different rear end.
The attacks against Clinton are necessary and people like Turley are necessary to maintain and increase the vigilance. However cavalier or dishonest Clinton has been she has not exceeded the norm. We all agree that the norm is well beyond what is acceptable. However, Trump writes his own game book, beyond the norm, and well beyond any transgressions of which Clinton can be accused by her worst enemies. It is about Trump v. Clinton for if Trump gets in America may have reached a tipping point regarding the Supreme Court, any credibility throughout the world, and a new low will have been set for the protection and enhancement of the top level, the oligarchs which are the problem. Pick your poison. One may give you indigestion; the other will certainly cost the body more.
Issac,
Again, this isn’t about picking your poison. It’s about a crime which your candidate of choice has committed for which the director of the FBI is giving cover.
That isn’t something a citizen tolerates. Take back your power as a citizen and do not accept abusers of the Constitution in any form. Will this be difficult? You bet! The govt. is arrayed against our people, armed to the teeth. We need to courageously and peacefully face them. There are no excuses for supporting the break down of the rule of law. Show courage. It’s something the govt. does not expect from the people.
The fear is strong with this one. Isaac, you and your progressive ilk created this monster-with-many-names AKA, The Federal Government. They set the rules by which the private sector is to navigate. The Trump’s of the world have the resources around those rules and that is the “unwritten” way this corruptocracy operates. No one really had a problem with the private sector buffoon, AKA Trump as long as he stayed on his side of the tracks. But now that he’s threatening to become a public sector buffoon, the political class will have none of it.
We know two things for certain: 1. Clinton has proven in her public sector career that she WILL NEVER subordinate the office to the rule of law. 2. Trump has proven he WILL ALWAYS exploit those like Clinton for private sector gain.
Reason dictates that the only choice between these two is the one who has yet to prove corruptible in public office. IF you truly want to end the corruption in government then you elect Trump and keep him on a very short leash. We already know the MSM will keep him under a microscope and that same MSM will aid and abet Clinton. That’s not only reasonable, that is rational.
I think the FBI fail to investigate thoroughly. The did a surface investigation and then shut it down. No harm, no foul.
So you have one candidate that knows how to maneuver through the sewer that has always been there. Clinton’s sidestepping and dodging is nothing new. It represents faults in the American system of government and politics. However, taking down Nixon didn’t stop it. One has to wonder what real, actual, damage it will do to Americans. One has to ask if in the case of some communications the public should not be privy to the act.
Then you have another candidate that represents himself as smart because he doesn’t pay taxes, makes fortunes from the misfortune of others, boasts about making fortunes from going bankrupt or not paying bills-to the average workers, and a seemingly unending list of faults.
One candidate that knows the sewer and another that is a completely different sewer but has little to no idea of the sewer that is the American government. Tough choice.
Issac,
“However, taking down Nixon didn’t stop it.”
Nixon did not get taken down. He resigned and then was pardoned. Ford did a great disservice to this country. Justice was not served.
Which statement made by Combetta is true? He writes: ““they don’t want the VIP’s email address exposed to anyone.” Or, I did it myself.
Now perhaps Combetta is using “they” in the fashion of the royal We??? Or perhaps Comey is a hack, performing services for the oligarchy.
Comey has taken his 30 pieces of silver to betray our nation. Yes, Congress should investigate.
As (law) oligarchy enforcement protects wrongdoing at the highest levels of the oligarchy they spend our tax payer dollars to go after unarmed water protectors at a cost of millions using military weapons and chemical spraying. This is what justice means in the US today.
https://twitter.com/ur_ninja?lang=en
Good catch!
Reblogged this on davidshawver.
Paging “Deep Throat” 2016.
Come in please.
Comey’s announcement in July all makes sense now. He was an errand boy for Obama/Clinton, knew it would be exposed, and wanted to try and have some dignity. He now has none. ANYONE who has ever been involved in an FBI investigation, as have I and hundreds of thousands of other people, KNOWS this is not how the FBI pursues an investigation.
It’s clearer to me as well with the latest news re hammers, bleach, and particularly the Mills immunization. But I do think Clinton’s a rather small fry despite her whooping troubles w her illegal email setup & her family Foundation. They’re focused on one thing: protecting Obama. Otherwise, she’d have been kicked to the curb long ago.
The FBI is no longer the organization that it was.
Watch the Keystone Kops in action.
If he had only tried the door knob first. . . .
Seriously?????
The worst part, is that by setting such a public standard of corruption, the government (and Washington insiders) are telling all Americans that the deciding factor between right and wrong is not ethics, but the likelihood of being able to get away with it.
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog.