Interviewed voluntarily by the FBI yesterday, 68-year-old Democratic presumptive nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rolls the dice, hoping to get exonerated before the July 25 Democratic National Convention. Sparks flew when 57-year-old Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch met former President Bill Clinton June 30 for 40-minutes at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport. When you consider the high drama of the expected FBI announcement, whether or not to charge Hillary or anyone else connected to her email scandal, it raised eyebrows for Democrats and Republicans. GOP presumptive nominee 70-year-oold real estate tycoon Donald Trump questioned the conflict-of-interest, prompting Lynch to admit, given the FBI probe, it was not advisable for the two to meet. Lynch tried to reassure the public that nothing was discussed about the FBI probe.
Interviewed for three-and-half-hours, Clinton hoped her answers would put to rest any need on the FBI’s part to charge anyone with what the State Department Inspector General labeled as classified or Top Secret emails. Hanging over her campaign, Hillary wants to put the email controversy to rest with the FBI declining to charge anyone connected with the email controversy. Hillary’s tech-guy, who set up her private email and server, Bryan Pagliano took the Fifth 125 times June 22 in a Judicial Watch deposition questioning him on details connected with his work on Hillary’s server and email set-up. FBI officials know that Pagliano also took the Fifth Sept. 10, 2015 before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, looking into to Hillary email use while secretary of state [Jan. 21, 2009 to Feb. 1, 2013]. FBI continues to determine whether or not Hillary or her aids broke the law.
Meeting three-and-a-half hours at FBI headquarters in Washington yesterday, the Hillary campaign saw only positives. “She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion,” said Hillary campaign spokesman Nick Merrill, refusing further comments. Spending three-and-a-half hours was no picnic for Hillary, regardless of how she sailed through eleven-hours of testimony Oct. 23, 2015 before Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) Benghazi Select Committee. Nearing completing of Hillary’s probe, FBI Director James Comey has a heavy burden deciding to charge Hillary for violating the U.S. Espionage Act, regarding mishandling classified or Top Secret information. Comey knows that Hillary’s tech-guy Bryan Pagliano already took the Fifth, with her former chief of staff Huma Abedin admitting May 18 it was Hillary’s decision of use a private server.
Knowing the delicate nature to the investigation, Lynch still met privately with Bill Clinton June 30, creating glaring conflicts-of-interest. While both Bill and Loretta denied discussing the FBI probe, voters saw the impropriety. Assuaging concerns raised in the press, Lynch promised to accept the recommendations of career prosecutors at the FBI and Justice Department. While Lynch has the final say, if she ignored the FBI’s recommendation to charge Hillary or her staff, the GOP-controlled Congress would demand an independent prosecutor, invoking the so-called Special Counsel Act. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fl.) insisted May 13 Hillary “was not the target of an FBI,” something proved false. Deeply embroiled in an FBI probe, Hillary’s only days-or-weeks away from Comey deciding what to do.
Interviewing former State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills and Hillary’s personal chief-of-staff Huma Abedin May 10, the FBI has all it needs to confirm the finding of the State Department’s IG report that Hillary ignored State Department practices using a personal email account. Scrubbing some 33,000 emails from her server turned over to the FBI, Justice officials don’t take lightly erasing data. While Hillary justified it, distinguishing between work and private emails, the FBI looks at erasing data as evidence of evasion. Granted limited immunity by the FBI June 7, Pagliano still took the Fifth 125 times June 23 in the Judicial Watch deposition. Insisting she never sent anything “marked” classified or Top Secret May 6, Hillary never denied sending or receiving classified or Top Secret emails, only denying she sent emails “marked” classified or Top Secret.
Creating high drama before the July 25 DNC Convention, Comey has a job to do reminding Hillary she’s not above the law. Comey had no problem bringing charges against former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus Jan. 26, 2015 for sharing classified information with his biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell. Given that Broadwell was Petraeus’s designated biographer, it’s hardly breaching the U.S. Espionage Act, compared with Hilary’s egregious use of her private server, sending and receiving classified and Top Secret emails, whether or not they were marked classified or Top Secret. Hillary’s email scandal is already so politicized, her backers don’t care what she did. Meeting with Bill Clinton June 30, Atty. Gen. Lynch showed her bias but, more importantly, that she doesn’t understand the importance of impartiality with her job as attorney general
