Comey: Yep, laws are still for little people

FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday regarding outside interference into the 2016 presidential election. This was fresh in many Americans' minds due to failed candidate Hillary Clinton earlier this week citing Comey's announcement 11 days ahead of Election Day that he was looking into further irregularities in her email practices. As such, Mrs. Clinton believes that was a factor in her defeat.

When Comey informed Congress in late October that he was looking into additional issues, he specifically referred to Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, as having mishandled classified information. Apparently Abedin had forwarded classified emails to her husband (and serial pervert) Anthony Weiner to print out physical copies. But like his decision not to charge Clinton for what appeared to be violations of Federal statutes, Comey also declined to pursue charges against Abedin since she had no "criminal intent." While that may have been true in both instances, there is a statute which addresses gross negligence being a crime, regardless of intent.

National Review's David French was downright incredulous over this.

This is stunning. Just stunning. As I’ve written before, I served in the military, handled classified information, and helped investigate possible violations of laws and regulations governing classified documents. Here’s what I know beyond a shadow of a doubt — if a soldier had sent classified documents to his wife “to print out,” his best legal outcome would be a one-way ticket to a dishonorable discharge. His worst outcome would be jail.

Let’s not forget, Hillary and her entire team (including Abedin) were bound by law to protect both marked and unmarked classified information. Moreover, Hillary and her entire team were hardly neophytes. They’d been exposed to classified information for years. They knew exactly the types and categories of information that were typically classified, and they knew how they should handle that information. But Abedin forwarded e-mails for printing anyway. But Hillary stored messages on her homebrew server anyway. No wonder Hillary lied so loudly and frequently about her e-mails. The truth was too devastating (and incriminating) to tell.

I still don’t understand why the FBI declined to prosecute anyone on Clinton’s team, and I still don’t understand why the FBI clings to the notion that the prosecution had to prove criminal intent (the standard is gross negligence), but this much I do know — Democratic complaints about Comey’s conduct are absurd. He did her (and her team) an immense favor. “Regular” folks would have faced prison. Instead, Hillary and her confidants face the speaking circuit. Justice has not been done.

What we witnessed on Wednesday was yet another validation of the appeal to Donald Trump's presidential candidacy (and subsequent election). That is, "regular folks" knew darn well they would never come close to receiving the same special dispensation as someone as high up in our Federal government as Clinton. Whether or not you believed it was wise for regular Americans to put their faith in Trump's assurances that such a thing wouldn't happen under his watch, there's little doubt that he struck a nerve with his "drain the swap" rhetoric.

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