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Comey, Who Investigated Hillary Clinton For Using Personal Email For Official Business, Used His Personal Email For Official Business (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Former FBI Director James Comey, who led the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of personal email while secretary of state, also used his personal email to conduct official business, according to a report from the Justice Department on Thursday. The report also found that while Comey was "insubordinate" in his handling of the email investigation, political bias did not play a role in the FBI's decision to clear Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing.

The report from the office of the inspector general "identified numerous instances in which Comey used a personal email account (a Gmail account) to conduct FBI business." In three of the five examples, investigators said Comey sent drafts he had written from his FBI email to his personal account. In one instance, he sent a "proposed post-election message for all FBI employees that was entitled 'Midyear thoughts,'" the report states. In another instance, Comey again "sent multiple drafts of a proposed year-end message to FBI employees" from his FBI account to his personal email account.

464 comments

  1. Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ok, fight!

    1. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ok

      Clinton wasn't accused of using personal email for business. She was accused of transmitting top secret documents over unsecured personal email (very illegal), and using personal email to communicate state business secretly outside of officially logged and recorded channels (also illegal).
      Is this what Comey is accused of? If not, everyone can fuck off with their "he did it too" shit.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    2. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You jest. But the discussion is already filled with ACs who'd just as soon see someone dead than be civil about their political opponents.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eat shit and die, hippy!

    4. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by XXongo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ok. Clinton wasn't accused of using personal email for business. She was accused of transmitting top secret documents over unsecured personal email

      Classified, actually. Top Secret is considerably higher; "classified" is not the same as "top secret".

      Amusingly, her server turns out to have been more secure than the State Department server. The State Department got hacked, but the Clintons didn't. https://securityintelligence.c...

      (very illegal),

      In fact, all she had to do was issue an exemption stating that her server was allowed for classified email. As Secretary of State, she had the authority to declare what server are secure!

    5. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by BeauHD++(.)+(0) · · Score: 1, Troll

      This is more FUD perpetrated by the media who are in collusion with the Russians to distract from Mueller actually finding something about TRUMP. Trust us, there is a LOT of dirt on TRUMP but there is so much it must be removed first with a steam shovel. Which. Takes. Time.

      And on a side note, I'm available for side work if any you needs to pump up their YouTube channels.

    6. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The State Department got hacked, but the Clintons didn't.

      Then how did those darn Russians get her emails? The alternative to badly secured server hacked by Russians is the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. Pick your poison carefully.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    7. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Train0987 · · Score: 5, Informative

      "Amusingly, her server turns out to have been more secure than the State Department server. The State Department got hacked, but the Clintons didn't. https://securityintelligence.c... [securityintelligence.com] "

      The OIG report released today SAYS that foreign governments had at least one of her emails marked Secret - from her server.

    8. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Train0987 · · Score: 1

      Of course every foreign intelligence server had access to her server. That's what foreign intelligence agencies exist to do - not to mention it was Exchange 2010 with an internet-facing webmail login. Hell, I could've gotten into it.

    9. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Top Secret is a classification, as are Secret and Confidential. 'Classified' itself is not a classification at all.

    10. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Train0987 · · Score: 1

      foreign intelligence server = foreign intelligence agency

    11. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Bodhammer · · Score: 1

      I like to see all politicians dead - how's that?

      --
      "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
    12. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That doesn't mean she wasn't hacked, it means that the state department detected their hack, while Hillary didn't.

      --
      Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    13. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Train0987 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "As Secretary of State, she had the authority to declare what server are secure!"

      Not true. The Sec of State only has classification authority over documents originating with the Dept of State. The classified info they found originated in other agencies.

    14. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Classified, actually. Top Secret is considerably higher; "classified" is not the same as "top secret".

      No, "classified" is not some lower thing.

      Confidential, Secret, Top Secret is the hierarchy. Compartments and SAP are like another dimension- "SECRET SI" is compartmented data that neither dominates nor is dominated by "TOP SECRET". Meanwhile, "TOP SECRET SI TK" dominates both of the other examples.

      The classification of the data involved SCI data. Hillary emailed SCI data like nbd. That is thr problem. There was absolutely TS in there too.

    15. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      On top of which, doing government business using a personal account was, and AFAIK remains, perfectly legal. The only problem is a Government Records Act requirement that the messages be archived for public review. At the time that Clinton was Secretary of State, there was no time limit on how long she had to archive the messages. In fact Colin Powell has never quite gotten around to archiving his emails from the early 2000s.

      My understanding is that since 2016 there has been a hard time limit for archiving. Something on the order of four weeks. One wonders how well the Trump administration is doing at complying.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    16. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 0, Troll

      "As Secretary of State, she had the authority to declare what server are secure!"

      Not true. The Sec of State only has classification authority over documents originating with the Dept of State. The classified info they found originated in other agencies.

      I believe, if you look at the documents themselves, out of the 110 or so found, none originated on her server that were classified at the time of sending. The rest were classified after the fact. That still doesn't get around the fact that Hillary, Rice, and Powell all used non-governmental email servers. Powell, at least, should have known better, and was the one that started the practice.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    17. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Classified means it was one of the following:

      Confidential
      Secret
      Top Secret

      There are various other things you can attach, like "no foreign nationals" or whatever.

      It is perfectly valid to summarize them as "classified"

    18. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Lordpidey · · Score: 1

      >Amusingly, her server turns out to have been more secure than the State Department server. The State Department got hacked, but the Clintons didn't.

      Alternatively, they both got hacked, but only one was able to detect the hack.

      --
      Some people encrypt by using rot-13 twice. I prefer the more secure method of using rot-1 a total of twenty six times.
    19. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by jimtheowl · · Score: 2

      "so that Russians could access it.."

      Citation? Actually, never mind.

    20. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

      Those are helpful points.

      In all the news about Hillary Clinton's email servers, I never saw ANYTHING that would indicate Hillary Clinton has any technical knowledge.

      I think it is likely that technically-knowledgeable people like those who comment on Slashdot accidentally overestimate the technical knowledge of others. Possibilities:

      1) Hillary plugged in her own email server and configured email accounts. (Makes me laugh.)

      2) Someone arranged Hillary's office for her. Who has never been revealed, apparently.

      I'm currently reading A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey.

      Many people think the October 28, 2016 message from James Comey about Hillary's emails was enough to cause people to avoid voting for her. See the bottom third of page 197 for the beginning of his discussion of that.

      To me, Comey seems like someone who realizes the importance of social sophistication, struggles for greater social understanding, but often does not deal well with social issues.

    21. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey fucking idiot. That was yesterday. THE CLINTONS GOT HACKED TOO.
      https://www.nationalreview.com/news/hillary-clinton-email-accessed-foreign-actors/

    22. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meh... In Russia's America the emails don't accomplish anything anyway, who cares?

    23. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by renegadesx · · Score: 1

      The question is, is what Comey did illegal too? What was the security classifications of the emails he used from his personal account? Not a rhetorical question I'm looking for the answer? I consider CNN too full of left wing bias and consider Fox too far right wing bias so I don't trust the mainstream media on either side.

      --
      Make SELinux enforcing again!
    24. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Ok

      Clinton wasn't accused of using personal email for business. She was accused of transmitting top secret documents over unsecured personal email (very illegal), and using personal email to communicate state business secretly outside of officially logged and recorded channels (also illegal).

      Is this what Comey is accused of? If not, everyone can fuck off with their "he did it too" shit.

      No.

      She was accused of two things:

      1) She used personal email for official business. This was against department policy, but I don't think it was against the law as long as she turned over the work related emails for record keeping (which she did, though she had to be reminded).

      This is incredibly common, it's what Comey is being accused of, it's human nature, if you talk to your friend about personal business and work business you're sometimes going to talk in the wrong channel. Clinton should certainly be criticized for looking at the grey area and disregarding the rule entirely, but it's not a fraction of the issue it was made out to be.

      2) She inadvertently communicated a few classified things over an insecure channel (her personal email). This actually has nothing to do with her personal server as it would have been just as big a problem if she did it over her official State Dept email since that wasn't cleared for classified traffic either.

      But it's even less a big deal than the personal server.

      Stuff like that happens all the time, when people are constantly sending emails they sometimes include information they're not supposed to. No one gets charged for it because everybody does it, it's only when it's particularly egregious or deliberate that people get in serious trouble.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    25. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Classified" is not a classification.

      The classifications are Unclassified, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, and then the various SCIs.

      Saying that "Top Secret" is higher sensitivity than "Classified" is like saying "Lions" are bigger than "Animals".

    26. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Stop. You are wrong.

      Information is classified - every agency has a large document called a Classification Guide that describes what sort of information that agency considers worthy of classification.

      Documents are supposed to be marked if they contain classified information, to allow people to know how to handle the document without reading it. Even if not marked, the information in the document is still classified; it just isn't labelled.

      The phrase "classified at the time of sending" is a lie. The documents may not have been MARKED as containing classified information, but they did. There is no such thing as "classified after the fact".
      Additionally, Clinton sent documents containing NRO imagery that was clearly labelled TOP SECRET at the time they were sent. They were classified, were correctly labelled, and were from an agency Clinton had no authority over. All of your BS excuses (even if they weren't lies) still wouldn't apply to those.

      Clinton sent classified info, knew it, and told the FBI to fuck off - then got away with it because the highly-ambitious Mr Comey thought she would be his next boss.

    27. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 0

      Those are helpful points. In all the news about Hillary Clinton's email servers, I never saw ANYTHING that would indicate Hillary Clinton has any technical knowledge.

      She doesn't, and she had someone help set all this up for here. At some point, I believe it was documented as to who that party was, but it is truly irrelevant, as it was merely someone following orders.

      Many people think the October 28, 2016 message from James Comey about Hillary's emails was enough to cause people to avoid voting for her. See the bottom third of page 197 for the beginning of his discussion of that. To me, Comey seems like someone who realizes the importance of social sophistication, struggles for greater social understanding, but often does not deal well with social issues.

      Comey was between a rock and a hard place, I'll grant you that. But he should have stuck to dept policy, especially considering he was also on the Russia investigation. He single handedly threw a grenade of unknown type into the election process. For that he should be punished, according to the policies and statements in hand. He did not deserve what Trump pulled on him, or others, for that matter.

      As for the effect on the election, given Hillary's unpopularity with the populace at large, yes, something as simple as that statement from Comey could throw the election. And that should tell you something about how unpopular Trump is. I happen to have some folks I know living in an over 55 area in a solidly red zone. They are not happy. This election cycle could be interesting.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    28. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by pots · · Score: 1

      Don't try to correct him, he's right - she was accused of all kinds of shit. According to somebody, she also murdered the cat of one of the staffers who displeased her. (I'm not making this up.)

      It doesn't matter what she was accused of.

    29. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump salutes North Korean Generals.

    30. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw it on RT.

    31. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      :golfclap:

    32. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 3, Informative

      AS Secretary of State, as a former senator, HRC is responsible for determining what is and is. It classified (at any of the three levels) WITHOUT relying on 'markings'. That's like saying it was OK for her to rob a bank because no one told her it was illegal.

      It's a childish defense for something that someone who was responsible to know better.

      --
      Ken
    33. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      HRC used a personal server exclusively for 100% of her work-related emails while Secretary of State - she never, in her entire tenure as Secretary logged into a state Department email account.

      Comey sent (3x) drafts of mass departmental emails he planned to send to everyone in the FBI to his private gmail account, presumably to work on them at home gonvieniently.

      These are in no way comparable 'offenses'.

      I find it hard to believe HRC's private server more secure than the state department email server she should have used - it is simply non-sensical, State had a full-time staff working round-clock to secure their servers, HRC bounced her server from part-time contractor to a web hosting firm.

      The IG report clearly states that HRC's email server was accessed by foreign agents - is it only a problem if the Russians hacked her server? Is it OK if it was the Chinese or North Koreans?

      --
      Ken
    34. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by superdave80 · · Score: 1

      As Secretary of State, she had the authority to declare what server are secure!

      Not saying you are lying, but that seems just a little hard to believe. The Secretary of State has final say on how secure software/hardware installations are?

    35. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So? Obama bowed to Japanese emperor.

      For goodness sake people .... itâ(TM)s just courtesy.

      Every president salutes back when their soldiers salutes them.

      Salute just means respect. It doesnâ(TM)t mean subordinate.

    36. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Boronx · · Score: 1

      The state department was continually hacked before and during this period. It was one of Hillary's stated reasons for wanting to run her own server.

    37. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Boronx · · Score: 0

      Since she didn't send classified material using her server, it hardly matters.

    38. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet these are the same people who will argue Trump obstructed justice when he is the president: The top justice official whose job is literally to direct justice investigations. Firing Comey was obviously not a wildly unethical move. The man was shit at his job, and any investigation he lead would be tainted in the public mind.

    39. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kqs · · Score: 1

      2) Someone arranged Hillary's office for her. Who has never been revealed, apparently.

      My recollection (though I don't recall the details of this pointless story) is that Hillary paid a state dept tech to set up and maintain her system, and after she left office she paid people to remove and dispose of the system (which they did not do in a timely fashion). It was all revealed by the leaking congresscritters in the House, repeatedly and in great detail.

    40. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by davide+marney · · Score: 1

      Her email server had NO SSL CERT for the first 3 months of operation. And it was running early-2000 Microsoft Server, with the email web interface enabled. Oh, AND she connected her unsecured Blackberry to it, and used her mobile device on the tarmac in China when she got out of her plane.

      She might as well put a big, red target on her back.

      "More secure than the State Department"? Don't make me laugh.

      --
      "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
    41. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kqs · · Score: 1

      I find it hard to believe HRC's private server more secure than the state department email server she should have used - it is simply non-sensical, State had a full-time staff working round-clock to secure their servers, HRC bounced her server from part-time contractor to a web hosting firm.

      So, you are saying that a committee burdened by "helpful rules" is guaranteed to be more effective than a single skilled individual? And that you believe that government always does a competent job while "the market" doesn't?

      More to the point, a well-configured email server with just a few logins gives you a lot less of an attack service than a complex system with thousands of users, some of which are careless or tempted by money. This part of the story seems very likely to me.

    42. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are lying. She sent classified emails, including TOP SECRET ones from other agencies.

      Sending classified materials over an classified connection was illegal, and she knew it (she signed off on her NDA, employment contract, and training that said so).

    43. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Even Comey stated in his July 2016 briefing that at least 8 of the email conversations contained information that was Classified as Top Secret, Top Secret is not Higher or lower than classified. Classified means one of the three main levels Confidential, Secret or Top Secret as well as any of the higher Caveat designated SCI classification groups.

      No she did not have any such authority to declare her server secure. The requirements for handling classified information are set in law, She had the authority to review and alter the classification of State Dept materials. But not how such classified information is handled and stored. And Comey again stated that several items of classified information involved belonged to other agencies than the State Dept. thus she didn't even have declassification authority over the information.

      Please don't speak about what you have so little real knowledge of. I spent 20 years in US Army Counterintelligence. Her server was illegal for avoiding the government networks and the mandatory storage of all official communications (classified and otherwise). And She violated the Espionage act by placing the classified information onto the unclassified server connected to the unclassified civilian internet. Classified information is processed and transmitted over separate networks for security reasons.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    44. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 3

      So, when saluted you return the salute. It's common courtesy regardless of who salutes you. As an NCO in the Army I occasionally had a nervous young soldier salute me, I'd return the salute then correct him/her as to my rank and that I was enlisted not an officer and thus not worthy of a sniper check.

      It would have been a problem if he hadn't returned the salute as it would have been an insult to ignore the salute.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    45. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      You have it exactly backwards. the 110 email conversations were all classified before the fact, they omitted conversations that were classified after the fact.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    46. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by JackieBrown · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In all the news about Hillary Clinton's email servers, I never saw ANYTHING that would indicate Hillary Clinton has any technical knowledge.

      Maybe it's because how flippant she was about it? "Wipe the server" "You mean with a cloth?"

      Maybe it's because she deleted so many emails before granting access to the FBI?

      Maybe it's because she was head of the Department of State and should have asked somebody if she honestly had no technical knowledge?

      Maybe it's because she has almost no credibility and the only ones voting for her were doing it of party reasons, anti-trump reasons, or for gender reasons>

    47. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Almost correct. There were a few conversations regarding her schedule that were later classified. But at the time of being sent they had not been classified. Prior Secretaries of state had similar accusations about similar emails send over unclassified networks where the schedule was later deemed to be worthy of classification but at the time they were transmitted were not classified yet.

      But for the most part you are correct.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    48. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Yes she did, and yes it does.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    49. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by XXongo · · Score: 1

      Nevertheless, the State Department server was hacked. At the time it was described as the "worst ever" cyberattack intrusion against a federal agency.

    50. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by XXongo · · Score: 1

      Please don't speak about what you have so little real knowledge of.

      And I would suggest you do likewise. Apparently your experience in the Army did not teach you civilian law. Fair enough: the military really does do things differently.

      The requirement for handling classified information correctly may be set in law, but the actual details of what this entails and who has control authority are codified in Federal regulations, not law, and these regulations stem from executive order. When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the applicable executive order would have been Executive Order 13292 (2003). The relevant section is 4.1 (g):

      (g) Consistent with law, directives, and regulation, each agency head or senior agency official shall establish controls to ensure that classified information is used, processed, stored, reproduced, transmitted, and destroyed under conditions that provide adequate protection and prevent access by unauthorized persons.

      Clinton was the agency head, so she actually did have the ultimate authority to determine whether her server was secure.

      She didn't do that, but she could have.

    51. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      The classified is actually a big deal. People do get charged and prosecuted and even convicted of it. A one time incident no, but multiple instances including TOP SECRET (at least eight instances according to Comey's briefing in July 2016) does get prosecuted. A one time event is a slap on the wrist a second or even a third time the same, 100+ instances is a pattern of willful criminal negligence that does get prosecuted.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    52. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are lying. She sent classified emails, including TOP SECRET ones from other agencies.

      Sending classified materials over an classified connection was illegal, and she knew it (she signed off on her NDA, employment contract, and training that said so).

    53. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by JackieBrown · · Score: 2

      It boggles my mind how liberals are ok with this but are outraged by a possibly illegal payment to a woman Trump allegedly had sex with.

    54. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you ask Clinton and Nixon whether the President can obstruct justice. This isn't some legal novelty, you're just a lying fuckwit apologist for a criminal administration.

    55. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by tbannist · · Score: 2

      You know if boggles the mind of liberals that you care about a handful of emails out of thousands sent over 4 years that contained bits of classified information, and you don't care that the actual President of the United States ordered illegal hush money paid and threats delivered to his former mistresses to keep them from speaking out during an election, then lied about the payments, and then lied about the affairs.

      You should be self-aware enough to recognize that if we swapped the Democrat and Republican in this scenario you'd be ever more outraged about the reverse situation. I doubt the liberals would still care about the emails, though. I'm basing that on the fact that liberals largely didn't care that much when Bush and Cheney were using a private email system to avoid presidential records requirements, but conservatives sure as hell cared about the President's sexual morality when Clinton was in office.

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    56. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by tbannist · · Score: 1

      The classified is actually a big deal. People do get charged and prosecuted and even convicted of it. A one time incident no, but multiple instances including TOP SECRET (at least eight instances according to Comey's briefing in July 2016) does get prosecuted. A one time event is a slap on the wrist a second or even a third time the same, 100+ instances is a pattern of willful criminal negligence that does get prosecuted.

      Honestly, you only wish that things actually worked that way. You're projecting fantasies of perfection onto imperfect people.

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    57. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by ooshna · · Score: 1

      But if her server didn't get hacked how was it the Russians that gave her e-mails to wikileaks? I thought the official narrative was the Russians hacked her server and got them?

    58. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Then how did those darn Russians get her emails?", They didn't. They phished the DNC (and the RNC who's emails oddly were not released).

    59. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      don't forget bowing to the Saudis too

    60. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

      Clinton was using a private email server so her email was not susceptible to Freedom of Information requests. The same reason other government officials use personal email to conduct government business.

      It looks like Comey used his to transfer information from account to account. Not especially smart, but not the same thing at all.

      In no way does used gmail equate to used private email server in my closet.

      I'm way more concerned with the obviously false lie about Comey not making decisions based on politics. It looks to me like the FBI covered for Clinton when they thought she would win and Comey got nervous when it became obvious to him she might lose. Had she won we wouldn't have found out about any of this.

    61. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      I spent 20 years as Army Counterintelligence. I speak from experience not fantasy.

      Try again.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    62. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

      It is absolutely not factual that Clinton did not know what she was doing was illegal. She had her assistant Huma Abedin copy marked classified messages from a classified system to an unclassified system to her email account. These emails were discovered on Anthony Weiner's laptop. Weiner was Abedin's husband at the time. When the FBI found the emails during an investigation into Weiner Abedin was given immunity from prosecution by the FBI in return for, well nothing really.

      Typically immunity from prosecution is given in return for testifying against a higher up in a criminal investigation. Best guess is Abedin was given immunity so she wouldn't testify against Clinton in an immunity deal with someone else.

    63. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Nope, there is still a process of declassification, including documentation and publication of the information being declassified.
      I do speak from knowledge, and not just of the Army, Joint operations get you working with all the intelligence agencies and having to know how they function and how intelligence is classified and declassified has standards across the board that all agencies must follow, even up to the Dept. Secretaries.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    64. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As opposed to Bush's kissing and hand holding. Very manly!

    65. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by tbannist · · Score: 1

      Sorry, there are other people who have better claims of experience who have already told me your interpretation is wrong.

      Plus there's an actual investigation that we actually know comes from the FBI that explicitly disagrees with your claims...

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    66. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      I'm way more concerned with the obviously false lie about Comey not making decisions based on politics. It looks to me like the FBI covered for Clinton when they thought she would win and Comey got nervous when it became obvious to him she might lose. Had she won we wouldn't have found out about any of this.

      This! 100 times this! Comey's bi-polar actions make no sense under any other scenario.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    67. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      And vice versa, you partison dolt.

    68. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      *partisan

    69. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      You aren't getting it. Declassification is irrelevant, as it wasn't needed.
      As a head of a federal agency, the secretary of state has the right to declare whether or not their server was "secure". Information need not be classified. That law defers to the executive in handling of classified material, and only seeks to punish where someone violates the executive controls on said material. The executive (by executive order) had delegated the responsibility for that information to any department head that may handle such material.

      I can't speak to your creds, but if you really do know what you're talking about, i'm finding it mind boggling that you don't actually understand the structure of authority with regard to classified information.

    70. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      The Secretary of State is not the DNC. I'm curious where you got that notion? Was it a right-wing publication?

    71. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      I've come to the conclusion that you're lying through your teeth.

    72. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      If we're going to toss around whataboutism's, Trump was using an unsecured Android for at least a year.

    73. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      Sorry but the Clinton era helped usher in a new acceptance of sexual infidelity. And after hearing the whole thing trivialized for the next 15 years, it's hard to muster up the outrage for infidelity.

      For 15 years we were told that we should understand why a husband would cover up an affair and use all his means to do so. It's funny now that the Clinton's don't matter, you are finally holding him accountable, but honestly, it's too late. Moral apathy is contagious.

      If you want to go the partisan route, only one party has impeached their own president (twice).

    74. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And if he was carrying around classified information on that unsecured Android it would have certainly been "leaked" to the public by now.

      That article is just chock full of speculation.

    75. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow you amaze me.

      So, you are saying that a committee burdened by "helpful rules" is guaranteed to be more effective than a single skilled individual? And that you believe that government always does a competent job while "the market" doesn't?

      The person she hired, worked for it for I believe the state dept(?) eitherway govt. IT dork.

      So you said in one sentence, the government employee was top notch in his field, and then you turn around and say the government employees are bottom of the barrel.

    76. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean this FBI what we have all learned not to trust along with the rest of the TLA's? you mean those? Come on man, you can lie to me, but done lie to yourself.

    77. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HRC was at best only in charge of State Department classified material. Much of the material found in her improperly used email was actually classified by non-State department organizations, which she was supposed to be responsible for keeping secret, but not able to affect the classification/declassification/storage rules for.

      In other words, the State department doesn't control the secure storage requirements of classified material for the entire government.

    78. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 1

      HRC is the first-ever cabinet member to have a political-appointee in the IT department, but he didn't manage HRC's private email server, he apparently got the cushy Federal IT job as a reward from HRC.

      --
      Ken
    79. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 1

      So a server that bounced around from part-time contractor to web hosting company and do on is MORE secure than a gov't server?
      Not the same, MORE.
      Not similar, MORE.

      You can invent all the facts you want to try and defend HRC and her 'highly-secure' web server, but the same people that protect POTUS, VPOTUS and other high-level security target's email accounts are, I have to believe, at least EQUALLY competent to 'the guy that set up bill's email server after he left office.'

      --
      Ken
    80. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 1

      She instructed one staffer in how to strip off classification markings and send classified work emails to her private account.

      We know this because the email she wrote was released to the public last year.

      --
      Ken
    81. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by kenh · · Score: 1

      Here is the email where HRC tells a staffer to delete markings and send classified material to her private email.

      --
      Ken
    82. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      I think you're going to require some other source - that only details her statements that she asked for those portions that were unclassified to be sent to her via the unclassified system so she could work as much as possible while awaiting the full document via secure fax. And this is just a transcript of an interview with nothing damning in it.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    83. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Nothing in there explicitly states she sent any such email that originated from her. She did receive email from the gov system which had some classified info on it. Email that was classified after the fact is irrelevant. In fact, the whole thing even from politifact is rather light on specific details only stating aggregated numbers. This means there's no meaningful conclusions you can draw from the information presented, other than to answer "yes, there was some classified info on HRC's servers" Who originated said classified information can only be known by reviewing the specific emails, which obviously we cannot see.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    84. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Firing Comey was obviously not a wildly unethical move. The man was shit at his job, and any investigation he lead would be tainted in the public mind.

      Pre (and even post) election, Comey came across as the Republican he is, partisanship seemed to play a large role in his statements, all set up to taint Hillary and spare Trump at all expense. Until he got too much limelight and tried to imitate Hoover and was fired.

    85. Re: Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Sorry but the Clinton era helped usher in a new acceptance of sexual infidelity.

      I believe the Clinton era ushered in a new level of partisan rancor about sexual infidelity and attempted to use it as a tool to remove a relatively popular president. You need to go back to LBJ, JFK, Eisenhower, and Harding to see how open and accepted sexual infidelity was.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    86. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Proof? Only 10 were classified in the first review IIRC. It's been a while, but what I reviewed when I had this discussion in depth was that this entire email thing was a red herring as far as classification went, at least with what we the public had access to. The only thing that really should have been addressed is that private email accounts should not be used for government business. Various government agencies had such policies back in the 90s already and it's inexcusable IMNSHO that the State dept didn't have such policies and that a 4 star general (Powell) who was subject to those policies used non-government email providers for state dept business.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    87. Re:Sites back, grabs a tub of popcorn... by David_Hart · · Score: 1

      The emails that you are referring to are from the DNC hack. There have been no reports or evidence of Clinton's personal email server ever being hacked. In fact, an inspection by the FBI found that there was no evidence of any intrusion and the report cited for this article criticizes Comey for even suggesting in public statements that it could have been.

      The main issues that were raised about Clinton's email server is that:

      - She was running a personal email server with no archiving of government communication. However, this was allowed by an exception/loophole in the rules that has since been closed.

      - It was being used for classified communication: About a dozen emails were classified after they were received. They were all sent by someone to Clinton. There hasn't been any evidence that she actually sent classified email herself using the mail server.

      - Email Deletion: A bunch of emails were deleted. There was a request by Clinton to delete personal email (vs Government related) months earlier but the Email Admin didn't do it until after a subpoena was issued. Either he was simply lazy and had a "crap, I forgot to..." moment or was ordered to do it, depending on your perspective. In any case, there was no evidence of anyone on the Clinton team communicating with the Email Admin after the subpoena was issued.

      While you or I may not like it, what Clinton did was actually legal under the rules. The rules have been fixed. The crappy part is that people only remember the accusations and hardly even revise their opinion when the facts come to light.

  2. At times like this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do not envy reporters who get stuck having to slog through a 500+ page report written by government drones just to condense it down into a 500 word article. That has to be enough to make a severe insomniac feel like they have narcolepsy.

    1. Re:At times like this by XXongo · · Score: 1
      Yeah, especially since this seems to really be a non-story. He sent copies of FBI memos he was writing that weren't classified to his home server.

      So? That's not illegal.

    2. Re: At times like this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's many stories in the 500 page report though. Pointing out this detail seems more like a dedicated spin bot than anything else though- Hillary sent and received SCI data and TS data on her private server. Coney forwarded incomplete memos so he could work them during his evenings like the gray soulless minion that he is. Even lumping these two together is silly.

    3. Re:At times like this by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 0

      They pulled a Comey and wrote the summary before the report was released. After all, if it's good enough for Comey's investigation of Hillary Clinton's illegal use of a home e-mail server, it's good enough for All The News That's Fit To Print!

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    4. Re:At times like this by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      It seems poor practice, as compared to using a VPN.

    5. Re:At times like this by gx5000 · · Score: 1

      of course this is non-story...
      Anything of any value will be washed away because "narratives"
      Is it really too much to want our Government and Journalists to have a shred of integrity?

      --
      End of Line.
  3. Hypocrisy in government? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well... I'll never! Color me shocked ... shocked, I TELL YOU!

    What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.

    1. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Train0987 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Comey was a useful idiot for the others trying to undermine the Trump campaign and then overthrow the election.

    2. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those two concepts aren't exclusive in the slightest. Just think of the October announcement of the reexamination of the case and it being shut again two days later as a way to reinforce that this is a non-issue right before the election.

      Also, the email scandal was, at best, a method to get out Republican/Conservative voters. It just wasn't a significant enough factor for voters who could have their vote swayed.

    3. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like double sweet sweet irony.

      Comey arguable lost Clinton the presidency (or at least contributed to it) by announcing the email investigation etc at with what we'll call "very interesting timing", or at best amounts to simply bad luck for Clinton.

      Trump got all steamed up over the some Russian stuff the FBI was looking into and fired Comey in an attempt to "make it go away", which then resulted in the special council being setup, the exact opposite of "making it go away".

      Credit to the founders of this nation that they designed a system idiots could run some 240 years later.

    4. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1, Troll

      Ahhh, Comey is the guy who gave tRump the electoral votes

    5. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 0

      No. Clinton lost herself the election. It had nothing to do with her computer crimes. No one cared about that shit. We voted trump because Hillary is less likable than poison ivy, and I'm not talking about the batman character (who isn't all that likable either).

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    6. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Tailhook · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.

      It's easy to understand. Comey and the rest of the beltway didn't even suspect Trump might get elected. The purpose of that farcical reopen/close stunt was to clean the slate; Clinton would win the election and enter office with no outstanding investigative hangups.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    7. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Train0987 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Plenty of people holding clearances and many whose careers were ended (or put in jail) for far less cared about that shit.

    8. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because the FBI put someone in the Trump campaign to spy, doesn't mean that person is a spy. There is a difference.

    9. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Train0987 · · Score: 2

      "Comey arguable lost Clinton the presidency (or at least contributed to it) by announcing the email investigation etc at with what we'll call "very interesting timing", or at best amounts to simply bad luck for Clinton."

      Well then by all means Clinton should run again in 2020. Pretty please?

    10. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Comey undermining Trump helped the people. Helped the people.

    11. Re: Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think most people would nail Poison Ivy given the chance, not so much with Hillary...

    12. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Train0987 · · Score: 1

      Comey was covering his ass after "clearing" Clinton only to find out months later that Anthony Weiner had more of her classified emails on his laptop.

    13. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a person who is spying is a spy

    14. Re: Hypocrisy in government? by Psion · · Score: 1

      Yeah, about that, I learned my lesson a long time ago: do NOT put Wee Willy in crazy.

    15. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 0, Troll

      No. Clinton lost herself the election.

      That's not being fair to the Trump team. They pulled off an amazing upset and they deserve credit for that. And the MVP for the team was either Comey, Putin, or Assange.

    16. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by presidenteloco · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Just think of the October announcement of the reexamination of the case and it being shut again two days later as a way to reinforce that this is a non-issue right before the election."

      Are you kidding me?

      Imagine tables reversed:
      FBI director has a press conference 11 days before the election and states "The FBI is reviewing allegations that Mr. Trump molested an under-age female." ...and then two days later has a press conference saying "on further review, not enough evidence has been found to proceed with charges."

      And you're telling me that wouldn't have been an election-killing attack on Trump?

      Get real.

      --

      Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    17. Re: Hypocrisy in government? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      "It's her turn." Just like it was Bob Dole's turn.

    18. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nobody except nameless trolls writing in shitty English has said anything about "overthrowing" the election. That's not at all how it works, and any actual American with at least a high-school education knows this. Actual Democrats have long since accepted the fact that Hillary is not going to be President this election cycle, because she's not.

    19. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Well, the fact that he was already aware of the Russian expenditures and illegal campaign coordination might have had something to do with it

    20. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by quantaman · · Score: 0, Troll

      What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.

      It's easy to understand. Comey and the rest of the beltway didn't even suspect Trump might get elected. The purpose of that farcical reopen/close stunt was to clean the slate; Clinton would win the election and enter office with no outstanding investigative hangups.

      That and the FBI was actually pretty pro-Trump.

      Giuliani had sources inside the Clinton email investigation and was dropping spoilers, if Comey didn't make the announcement there's a real good change Giuliani would have announced it and used the scoop to claim that the FBI was engaged in a cover-up.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    21. Re: Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely a cya move. No doubt he assumed Clinton would win, and thus assumed his timing wouldn't matter, and that her term would start with a clean slate. But he did it for himself, not anyone else.

    22. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Just think of the October announcement of the reexamination of the case and it being shut again two days later as a way to reinforce that this is a non-issue right before the election."

      Are you kidding me?

      Imagine tables reversed:
      FBI director has a press conference 11 days before the election and states "The FBI is reviewing allegations that Mr. Trump molested an under-age female." ...and then two days later has a press conference saying "on further review, not enough evidence has been found to proceed with charges."

      And you're telling me that wouldn't have been an election-killing attack on Trump?

      Get real.

      Depends: would the molesting involve "grabbing them by the pussy"?

    23. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Imagine tables reversed: [...] "The FBI is reviewing allegations that Mr. Trump molested an under-age female."

      And you're telling me that wouldn't have been an election-killing attack on Trump?

      Honestly, I doubt it.

    24. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Xenographic · · Score: 5, Informative

      > That and the FBI was actually pretty pro-Trump.

      Are we reading the same report?

      Page 5:

      A paragraph summarizing the factors that led the FBI to assess that it was possible that hostile actors accessed Clinton’s server was added, and at one point referenced Clinton’s use of her private email for an exchange with then President Obama while in the territory of a foreign adversary. This reference later was changed to “another senior government official,” and ultimately was omitted.

      Page 420 shows a text saying "we'll stop" Trump from becoming President--a text that was somehow completely omitted, rather than redacted, from previous disclosures.

      Page 430 shows FBI agents getting 'gifts' from the media.

      Page 461-2:

      First, Kadzik did not recognize the appearance of a conflict that he himself had created when he initiated an effort to obtain employment for his son with the Clinton campaign while he was participating in senior staff meetings where Clinton-related matters were discussed and signing letters to Congress regarding Clinton-related matters on behalf of the Department. Second, Kadzik created an appearance of a conflict when he sent Podesta the “Heads up” email that included government information about the FOIA litigation in an effort to be helpful to the Clinton campaign without knowing whether the information had yet been made public. His willingness to do so raised a reasonable question about his ability to act impartially on Clinton-related matters in connection with his official duties. Additionally, although Department leadership ultimately decided to recuse Kadzik from Clinton-related matters upon learning of Kadzik’s “Heads up” email to Podesta, Kadzik subsequently forwarded several emails communicating information related to Clinton-related matters within the Department and indicated his intent to speak with staff about those matters. We therefore concluded that Kadzik exercised poor judgment by failing to strictly adhere to his recusal.

      You may want to read more than just the conclusions at the end.

    25. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by superdave80 · · Score: 2

      "The FBI is reviewing allegations that Mr. Trump molested an under-age female."

      And you're telling me that wouldn't have been an election-killing attack on Trump?

      There is no way that would have 'killed' his election chances. There were allegations flying around about Trump walking in on underage girls changing their clothes all the time at Miss Teen USA, and 60 million idiots still voted for him. His voters absolutely do not care how or what Trump does to women (or girls).

    26. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Boronx · · Score: 0

      "Insightful"? This theory doesn't even make sense. How could Comey re-opening the investigation clean the slate?

    27. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.

      That is because you haven't bothered to inform yourself about it.

      Comey was tasked with investigating Hillary and report to congress. He did so without leaking it to the public.
      It was the republicans in congress that leaked the information to the public. (But only that Hillary was under investigation, not that the investigation didn't find anything.)

      Comey did his job as an FBI director in an apolitical fashion. It's just that the tasks assigned to him were done so with the intent of abusing the findings.

    28. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We voted trump because Hillary is less likable than poison ivy, and I'm not talking about the batman character (who isn't all that likable either).

      No, YOU voted Trump because 20 years of Fox have told you that Hillary is bad and I bet you can't find a single actual (true) reason to why she would be a bad president.

      It wasn't a choice between a turd burger and a shit sandwich.
      It was a choice between a turd burger and a yesterdays old stale sandwich and you were tricked into going for the turd burger because it seemed so juicy and moist.

      Yes, Hillary is boring, good politics are.
      It is when politics gets exiting that you know that you are in deep shit.
      That is why we spend the history classes studying wars and catastrophes and gloss over times of growth and prosperity.

    29. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. There is no way it would have been "reported" on Fox.
      Republicans can essentially do whatever atrocities they like, their viewer base will never find out about it.

    30. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The MVP for defeating Hillary Clinton was Hillary Clinton. She ran the worst campaign I have ever seen.

    31. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha, which reality are you coming from? That's the opposite of what happened in this one.

    32. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea definitely not pro-Trump. The IG's report just released is filled with negative things against Trump, but Clinton gets a pass throughout.

    33. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by davide+marney · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up.

      --
      "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
    34. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well.. this is *Trump* you're talking about.

      If anything, it would have solidified the orange position.

    35. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A more proper analogy would be "We found that Trump did in fact molest an under-age female, but we didn't find evidence that he did so intentionally."

    36. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Custard+Horse · · Score: 1

      There is no way that would have 'killed' his election chances. There were allegations flying around about Trump walking in on underage girls changing their clothes all the time at Miss Teen USA, and 60 million idiots still voted for him. His voters absolutely do not care how or what Trump does to women (or girls).

      Echoing the sentiment, it would have been interesting to have seen the effect of that allegation if it was underage boys rather than girls.

    37. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, more charitably, some people don't believe unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations. If I call you a child rapist and murderer, does that automatically mean everyone should come down on you?

    38. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you met any of Trump's supporters? Having him accused of molesting an underaged girl would have INCREASED his chances of becoming president.
      Other "PRO TRUMP" words to include in that imaginary press release would have been "Incestuous", "Daughter", "Small Animal", "Mayonnaise" and "Shotgun".

      His supporters are not a sophisticated crowd.

    39. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      What I don't understand about Comey is that he all but threw the election to Trump while panning Trump left and right.

      It's not that hard. He panned Trump after Trump was elected.

      The FBI was in the Republicans pocket from Day #1. Trump may have given some second thoughts, but there was enough "He can't really be like that, it's just an act!" going on that made the FBI stand firmly behind him, and against Clinton, until the election. Hence the covering up of the Russian investigation while loudly criticizing Clinton and pretending new evidence had been found against her just before the election.

      What you've seen from Comey since is buyer's remorse, coupled with an extended sob story pretending he was some kind of paragon of ethics who was brought down by how ethical he was, and a sympathetic media that's sympathetic solely because Trump is awful and he's a prominent establishment figure who's critical of Trump.

      Fuck him.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    40. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Yeah, there were two or three people in the FBI who were not pro-Trump/anti-Clinton. The report doesn't suggest they was typical. And moreover none of them were Comey.

      I like the fact you think your reference to page 430 is relevant. It says more about you than it says about the FBI, which is expected to have a good working relationship with the media.

      The reality, on the ground, is that the report criticizes Comey's handling of the emails investigation, specifically the fact that he broke protocol to scold Clinton rather than allow the DoJ to make a proper, formal, announcement, and it criticizes his decision to reveal the investigation into a cache of "new" (they weren't new, they were just duplicates) emails just before the election.

      Both of things Comey is criticized for turned out to be central to the throwing of the election to Trump.

      Selective quoting of the report might make it look like a report alleging pro-Clinton bias, but the main thrust of the report is to attack Comey for actions that ultimately helped Trump.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    41. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure it may have, but it isn't a fair comparison because it is a totally different crime. You just can't compare the two. She wasn't winning no matter what.

    42. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It must take serious effort to maintain your level of intellectual dishonesty day in and day out, quantaman.

    43. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't vote for either. She was a horrible choice IMHO and I am completely against voting in any more dynasties. No more bushes, no more clintons, etc.

    44. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Clinton lost herself the election.

      That's not being fair to the Trump team. They pulled off an amazing upset and they deserve credit for that. And the MVP for the team was either Comey, Putin, or Assange.

      Yeah or the 53 million Americans who voted for him. Yeah I know he lost the popular vote but literally if you take away LA/SF/Chicago, he wins by a huge margin.

    45. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Trump didn't pull off an amazing upset. The media, polling, and left/progressives were so out of touch that they ate their own bullshit and continue to believe that "doubling down" on the same message is the right reason forward. Which is why democrats are in the middle of a civil war right now. Those two sides fall into "we didn't go progressive/far-left enough" and "what the fuck are you doing? You're driving everyone away." Seriously, if you don't think democrats are driving their own voter base away, you're not paying attention.

      The only MVP for Trump, was the democrats and their own message(and lack of it). Just like with all those primary challenges, and RINO's getting tossed to the curb. Or the Liberal Party of Ontario going from a majority government to no longer being an official party. Same message, pushing more progressive crap and average people having enough of it.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    46. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Xenographic · · Score: 1

      I won't argue that Comey was a dirtbag, but he did everything to wrap up the investigation for Hillary, he just had to investigate further (and clean up after) Weiner's laptop with classified emails was found. That's not the same as intentionally throwing it for Trump. They also softened the announcement quite a bit to remove negligence.

      That said, he was found to be insubordinate and appropriately fired--which makes it odd for Trump to be investigated over firing him, but whatever.

    47. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      How does re-opening the case publicly have any effect on when they can close it again?

    48. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Actually, one theory is that Strozk unwittingly threw it to Trump. He sat on Weiner's laptop for a month, hoping it would go away. When the NY prosecutor's office raised it as an issue, Comey had to take action, or look corrupted.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    49. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      After the FBI twists itself into knots to say that Clinton wasn't guilty of anything, other people were coming out saying, "Look! We've found a bunch of those missing emails you haven't looked at!" Given the previous twisting on top of the tarmac meeting, if Comey didn't take action on them, then the opposition would have even more plausibility to scream, "See!! Cover UP!!", and the previous twisting would have been for naught.

      By re-opening, taking a peek, then shutting it down again in short order, Comey, et.al., hoped to sway the narrative back to "nothing to see here." The slate could not be clean until they pretended to look at the evidence and find nothing.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    50. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      I would tend to agree with you, except for ALL available evidence contradicting your weak narrative.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    51. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are YOU serious?! They had the orange goblin on tape admitting to grabbing pussy.

      Listen to Comey's interviews. He made a tough choice. The guy's a patriot.

    52. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      That said, he was found to be insubordinate and appropriately fired--which makes it odd for Trump to be investigated over firing him, but whatever.

      It actually doesn't.
      The question to how appropriate it was for him to be fired comes down to intent, which is an open question since Trump did himself no favors with regard to making it very believable he did it to stop an investigation that personally affected him.
      That he ended up being exonerated in that decision technically, it is his intent that is under investigation.

    53. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We aren't idiots. I'm sure my IQ is higher than yours.

    54. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could you tell us whether "That and the FBI was actually pretty pro-Trump." was in the purview of this report? If not, it doesn't belong in the report and pointing to it isn't prove anything

      But it does play great into right wing propaganda that is meant to cover or obfuscate pro-Trump agents while claiming anyone who doesn't support Trump should be fired or anyone who supported hillary before the election should be fired. Not the pro trump folks though.

      Which is 100% being a hypocrite, or as we say now, a Republican.

    55. Re: Hypocrisy in government? by boundandgaggedwomen · · Score: 1

      "It's her turn." Just like it was Bob Dole's turn.

      Wish I could mod this this up. Its so very true of both of their election runs and both ended the same way!

    56. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Xenographic · · Score: 1

      > The question to how appropriate it was for him to be fired comes down to intent,

      Which is largely a mind-reading exercise in this case. They had credible reasons to fire him, someone deciding that they can divine a bad motive out of that is something else entirely.

    57. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      No divining necessary. Trump cast his own motives in question to any reasonable person. Please tell me with a straight face you disagree.

    58. Re:Hypocrisy in government? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Far less concerned about everyday locker room banter than about the douche who goes around clandestinely recording it.

  4. But did he send any classified information? by MrNJ · · Score: 5, Informative

    That was the issue with Clinton. Handling classified material improperly. Bid difference.

    --
    I don't respond to or upvote ACs
    1. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Train0987 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws. That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place - so she could decide which emails would be preserved.

    2. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place

      Incorrect. There are multiple reasons why Clinton handled email the way she did while at State. FOIA requirements was just one of them.

    3. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How? He copied his Gmail account. He didn't remove those emails from the system. Copying himself doesn't prevent emails from being preserves.

      Perhaps I'm not as familiar with FOIA, but if 0 information is being removed from the system, whee is the problem?

      The only example I see being a FIOA issue is the: In one instance, he sent a "proposed post-election message for all FBI employees that was entitled 'Midyear thoughts,'" the report states

      Yet in this case the proof and copies of the email still lives on all the other inboxes. Should it have been sent from the FBI account? Yes, but that's still nothing compared to what Clinton did/was suspected of doing. Sadly I'm sure instances like the cases listed about Comey is probably "just another day" for most gov't employees.

    4. Re:But did he send any classified information? by polar+red · · Score: 1

      And using an external email service is legal for conducting official (and probably confidential) business?

      --
      Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
    5. Re: But did he send any classified information? by peragrin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That wasn't illegal in 2010. That was made illegal following Clinton leaving secertary of state position.

      It is currently illegal and yet Trump has not just one but multiple private data channels sitting on top of classified data daily. My favorite was a photo with the media that showed classified docents sitting underneath an unsecured phone in the room with reporters.

      That makes Clinton look sane. And that takes quite a bit

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    6. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because Hillary had an unclear maid print emails and pick up her FAXes from her SCIF room doesn't make it wrong. She is an original classification authority so she can grant access to a maid with an unclear immigration status.

    7. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws." Not true. Not true.
      Unfortunatelly, sending copies of unclassified info to personal email to work on and then send back to work is NOT illegal.....bad practice, but not illegal.
      Government often makes it nearly impossible to use official email services in all the locations one needs while developing draft documents.
      The courts have ruled that as long as the official email address is included in the email, it is semi-ok to send some stuff to personal email account -- this satifies being able to find the emails and info to comply with FOIA and Records Keeping requirements.

    8. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws.

      I believe that should read, "Maybe? It's still illegal _IF_ it circumvented the FOIA laws (and other data archiving laws)".

      Clinton's server was not archiving data in compliance with the law, had emails deleted that were not archived, later had a bunch of emails deleted/wiped because her people decided which were personal, and it went missing to boot. FWIW, I'm not a republican, nor am I a Trump supporter, and I think enough has been done regarding the Clinton email server stuff, and we should move on, but I don't know if Comey's setup and usage is anywhere near that level, or if it's out of compliance with any laws.

      AFAIK, there is no legal requirement to have emails end up on a specific server. It is a bit of a red flag, but I'd honestly be quite surprised if all the top level CIA/FBI/NSA folks were using the same mail server has entry level, and I'd be surprised if the folks that can setup that stuff haven't setup their own enclave that also conforms to the law.

    9. Re:But did he send any classified information? by DRJlaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws. That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place - so she could decide which emails would be preserved.

      How so? The email sent from his FBI account, to his Gmail account circumvented the FOIA laws because magically the sent email was not retained and preserved?

      Really?

    10. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Train0987 · · Score: 1

      Clinton wasn't sending copies from her gov't email address to her @clintonemail.com, that WAS her gov't email address. She refused to use her @state.gov account.

    11. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Xylantiel · · Score: 0

      Note that this report directly contradicts your assertion that she was using it to evade FOIA laws. The FBI found that she wasn't, and this report supports that decision as not being biased. The classified info thing was a red herring from the beginning. The issue was FOIA all along.

    12. Re:But did he send any classified information? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws. That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place - so she could decide which emails would be preserved.

      How so? The email sent from his FBI account, to his Gmail account circumvented the FOIA laws because magically the sent email was not retained and preserved?

      Really?

      > fwds official email from gov't account to personal

      > now has original sender's address in personal email address book

      > send all future communications from personal address, using personal email address book.

      Pretty simple.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    13. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Train0987 · · Score: 2

      Wrong. Clinton's intent is not mentioned once in the report. That is not its purpose.

    14. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol. You know email addresses can be memorized, right? Or written down. You don't need to forward an email to add someone to your address book. So if that's a FOIA violation because he could have added them address to his address book, then I guess every government employee with a memory or the ability to read and write is guilty of a FOIA violation because they could be adding addresses to their personal address book.

    15. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, but is that what happened or are you just concocting hypothetical scenarios? Actually reading the report, looks like you're making crap up.

      The point being made was that using a person e-mail address isn't "illegally bypassing FOIA" out of course, and this is in fact done all the time in FOIA-applicable contexts.

    16. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except 3 of the 5 of the examples were his OWN drafts. Presumably he already knew his own email address.

      Yes, I suppose he COULD have used the list of FBI employees to then email them about official matters from his private email address. Just like I COULD use the wrench I just bought to murder someone. Doesn't make it a crime or even inappropriate behavior unless I actually do it.

    17. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did he actually do that, or are you making shit up?

    18. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was not, in fact, the issue with Clinton.

    19. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not how it works. OCAs get to decide what classification goes on which documents. They do not get to issue security clearances; that's a separate process. (unless I missed the sarcasm)

    20. Re:But did he send any classified information? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws. That was the reason Clinton set that server up in the first place - so she could decide which emails would be preserved.

      Read the story below, and then fuck right off. Let's stop pretending that anyone really cares if someone in a presidential administration uses personal email.

      https://nyti.ms/2yoxME

      In case you can't figure out how to bypass the paywall:

      "WASHINGTON — At least six of President Trump’s closest advisers occasionally used private email addresses to discuss White House matters, current and former officials said on Monday.

      The disclosures came a day after news surfaced that Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, used a private email account to send or receive about 100 work-related emails during the administration’s first seven months. But Mr. Kushner was not alone. Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief White House strategist, and Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff, also occasionally used private email addresses. Other advisers, including Gary D. Cohn and Stephen Miller, sent or received at least a few emails on personal accounts, officials said.

      Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter, who is married to Mr. Kushner, used a private account when she acted as an unpaid adviser in the first months of the administration, Newsweek reported Monday. Administration officials acknowledged that she also occasionally did so when she formally became a White House adviser."

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    21. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Though not illegal in 2010, it did violate government policies, including State Department policies from a decade earlier. But then, as SoS, Clinton chose to ignore her own Department's policies, and to ignore all other policies and directives within the government. Business as usual.

    22. Re: But did he send any classified information? by TooManyNames · · Score: 1

      I'm not familiar with this photo, but I am genuinely curious: how do you know, just from looking at a picture, whether a phone is secured or not? I would have expected that secured and unsecured phones would appear the same. After all, a notable difference in outward appearance would seem to beg for phones that mimic the "safe" appearance in order to gain exposure to sensitive material, and it that difference would advertise that authentic secured phones have likely been exposed to sensitive (hence valuable) information, thus making them worthwhile to target for theft/*ware/etc. Did the phone clearly belong to one of the reporters or something?

      Again, maybe it's painfully obvious from the photo whether or not the phone is secure, but given my unfamiliarity, I'd just like to know.

      --
      "Is not a sentence" is not a sentence. Well damn.
    23. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Three fucking classified emails are the "big difference"? Note: Classified, not Secret, Top Secret or SAP.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    24. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hillary didn't send any classified email either.

    25. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Boronx · · Score: 1

      She set it up because state unsecured emails had long been compromised.

    26. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then maybe neither of the two should be president.

    27. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because that sounds like the best way to get an email address.

      Reach much?

    28. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Custard+Horse · · Score: 1

      Copying himself doesn't prevent emails from being preserves.

      That's precisely how they ended up in this sticky situation

    29. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey! Thanks for clearing that up, Train0987. I've always wondered why Secretary of State Hilary Clinton would do that.

      Now all we need to do if figure out when she TOLD YOU.

      The United States Justice System does not simply guess at motives, dumb ass. You need proof.

    30. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hillary-clinton-emails-contained-info-above-top-secret-ig-n499886

      Actually, above top secret. But don't let facts stop your shilling.

    31. Re: But did he send any classified information? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      That makes Clinton look sane. And that takes quite a bit

      This is the part I don't understand about the last election and the results since. Trumpists constantly defend their vote with "But Clinton", "But those emails", etc. I have been accused repeatedly of being a "Clinton supporter" because I voted for Clinton.

      Yet the issue here is that of all of the people that could possibly have run against Clinton, the Republican party picked the one major/serious candidate that was unbelievably, infinitely, more terrible than Clinton would ever be.

      Few of us who voted for Clinton went in thinking "Yay Clinton": at best, if we had a positive attitude it might have been "Finally a female President", or "Well, Sanders did get her to support a bunch of things I like", or even "I guess I have to admire the way she handled her campaign, she definitely made people aware of what Trump is."

      But we knew she was terrible.

      We just knew she was less terrible than Trump. So much less terrible that it wasn't even a contest. The guy was a proven fraud and liar. Always scamming his suppliers. An entire fake University. Eight years of racist attacks on Obama. A history of racism stretching back to the 1970s. Boasting openly about sexually assaulting women (whether he did or didn't, the fact he thought it was something to brag about was itself disqualifying.) Abusing his power in the beauty contests he sponsored to look at naked underage models. Promoting violence against those protesting against him. Promoting the abuse of the law to imprison his political opponents. Scapegoating the vulnerable, blaming them for problems that have nothing to do with them.

      And those were the verifiable claims.

      Clinton? She was widely disliked, enough for an entire machine to exist spouting bogus allegations against her - but if she wasn't unpopular, 25% of the population wouldn't believe nonsense about her straight out murdering friends of hers. She supported the bullshit policies of her husband, albeit she at least had the shame to walk some that support back. Initial support for unnecessary and stupid wars. A guarantee that Obamacare would be treated as the perfection of healthcare, rather than the bandaid it actually was. A desire to be popular with investors and banks, not with ordinary people.

      Horrible, but essentially the Democrat's Mitt Romney, not the Democrat's Trump or Nixon.

      We screamed into the void about this at the time. We said "She's not our first choice, but for the love of everything you hold dear, there's no comparison between her and Trump."

      And the Republicans didn't listen. And they invented an entire alternative universe where Clinton voters voted for Clinton because we liked her, where Clinton herself had described all Republicans as "deplorables" rather than half of Trump's voters during the primaries because, at the time and as she rightly pointed out, Trump was attracting massive numbers of white supremacists and MRAs.

      And now we have this.

      Thanks Comey, you piece of shit.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    32. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump has two phones most of the time. One that's absurdly locked down, and one that is more permissive. Both are pretty secure devices, but only the locked down one is approved for secure communications.

      He hasn't had his personal phone since the inauguration.

    33. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You expect them to produce a user interface where it is intentionally designed to make it hard to tell if you are using a secure phone or not? Because humans don't already make enough mistakes?

      Seriously?

    34. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      According to TFS, he sent mail from his FBI account to a personal account. There's a copy on the FBI account so FOIA is satisfied. So FOIA is satisfied and he didn't send any classified information, which is pretty much the opposite of Clinton.

    35. Re:But did he send any classified information? by dwillden · · Score: 1

      Yes She Did!

      Over 100 email conversations contained classified information. At least 8 contained information classified TOP SECRET or higher. Much of the info belonged to other Agencies meaning she had no authority to declare it unclassified. Nor did she ever document declassifying any of the information to be sent via the emails.

      As an OCA yes she did have the authority to declassify Information classified by the State Dept., but there is a process and it must be documented and published that the information has been downgraded or declassified. There has been no evidence of any such documentation for any of the State Dept. Info, and she did not have authority to declassify information from other agencies.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    36. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's pretty simple all right, and if he had done that, you might have something to talk about. But making up coulda-happened scenarios isn't productive. Did they look through his gmail account? TFA doesn't say, but if someone in the FBI had received an email from his gmail account, I think we would have heard about it. That would be easy easy to find. Until there is evidence he used his gmail account for official business other than from/to himself, stop making things up to get upset over.

    37. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the Republicans didn't have superdelegates to torpedo any chance of an unapproved populist getting in, that's why.

    38. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      No. It was the fruit of the investigation that created the jam.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    39. Re:But did he send any classified information? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      This is blatantly fucking false. The fact that you keep spouting literally false information with very heavy implications is disgusting. Is it a smear campaign, or are you really so willfully ignorant? Or just fucking stupid?

    40. Re: But did he send any classified information? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      massive numbers of white supremacists and MRAs.

      There is no such thing as "massive" numbers of people in these classifications in the United States, so your comment is impossible.

    41. Re: But did he send any classified information? by TooManyNames · · Score: 1

      Ah, I see. So the phone was face-up, on, the UI was visible in the picture, and you could determine that it was a standard consumer interface. Is that correct? Again, I haven't seen the actual photo. A link to it would certainly help.

      --
      "Is not a sentence" is not a sentence. Well damn.
    42. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      That line of excuse-making is extra dishonest because the kind of information Hillary dealt with was inherently classified. If Hillary got an email from the ambassador to South Korea on the status of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, that email was automatically classified. It didn't have to be stamped that way like someone hitting the "important" tag on an email.

    43. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Or just fucking stupid?

      Are you? The entire purpose of using private email instead of government issue is to hide information. It's why Democrats blasted the Bush Administration for using private email when Dubbya was in office. Democrats like.....Hillary Clinton.

    44. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      The United States Justice System does not simply guess at motives, dumb ass.

      Motives are irrelevant when it comes to being guilty for mishandling classified evidence, dumb-er ass. It's a simple yes/no question, like when the high school gym teacher is accused of sleeping with a 14 year old student.

      And that's assuming that Hillary's motives were pure. Of course we know they weren't, as she received extra training as one of a few Original Classification Authorities, and that she blasted the Bush Administration for using private email two years before she set up her own private email server and used it exclusively. Something no other official has done before or since.

    45. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Right, because the government is in the habit of using unsecured email for beyond-top-secret officials like CIA directors and Secretary of State.

      /inserteyerollemoji

    46. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      You fuck off. Parent poster isn't defending the Trump Administration's use of private email. That's what Dembots are doing for Hypocrite Hillary, who set up her own private email server a mere two years after she blasted the Bush Administration for using private email accounts.

    47. Re:But did he send any classified information? by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      "No it's still illegal because it circumvents the FOIA laws." Not true. Not true.

      Completely true. Aside from FOIA, Hillary's private server flouted record preservation laws that were on the books before the internet was a gleam in anyone's eye.

    48. Re:But did he send any classified information? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      I call someone out for calling a legal behavior that he doesn't like illegal, making no argument whatsoever on the intelligence or ethics of the said action... and you counter by giving your argument as to why it shouldn't be done as well? You're an imbecile.

  5. When criminals investigate criminals .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this is what we get. Meh.

  6. Re:Trump isn't a Conservative, but a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Process crimes. Nothing to do with collusion. You're wrong.

  7. Comey wasn't the only one by ASCIIxTended · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Strzok and Page also used personal email to conduct FBI business. And yes, it was probably illegal - their work-related communications must be subject to FOIA’s disclosure provisions.

    --
    I do not belong to the church of the lowercase 'i'
    1. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And?

      When a person at a public institution sends an e-mail to a person with a G-Mail account, is it bypassing FOIA because the other receiver isn't in a retained account? Why not?

      Oh, that's right, sent items are retained, not just as an afterthought, but as an actual requirement of having FOIA make sense.

      In additom, it's not "illegal". If a FOIA request comes for information that resides in their personal e-mail accounts, then they have to produce the information from their personal e-mail accounts. The law doesn't care where the information resides, just that it exists and can be retrieved. It might "break XXXX policy" to use a non-instututional mail address, since the institution can get in deep shit if it loses track of information, but that's up the institution to decide.

      The only thing of legal question is if the information is *confidential*. Then it's criminal liability is from that, but not from the FOIA.

    2. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by Gr8Apes · · Score: 0

      I think you need to see a difference here. It seems like Hillary, Strzok and Page were all trying to hide things by using their personal email.

      Hillary - following example set by Powell and reinforced by Rice. Wasn't the bulk of her primary contacts for all government business email government servers?

      Strzok/Page? Really? I thought the problem there was that they were sending personal messages on government devices and services. Stupid is what I call that those two.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    3. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      Intent means nothing about violating the law. You use a personal e-mail server for official Government business? That's illegal. Now, intent may shade what kind of punishment you receive - but you still violated the law.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    4. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 1

      This is the point Hillary defenders/anti-Trumpers always miss, either due to ignorance or willful design. The statute for handling classified material makes no mention whatsoever about intent being required. If you handle the material improperly you violate the statute. Period. There is no gray area, no wiggle room, no get-out-of-jail-free card. Comey invented the "there was no intent" defense for Hillary before he usurped the legal authority of the Justice Department in deciding there would be no prosecution. Saying Hillary shouldn't be prosecuted because "there was no intent" is like saying you shouldn't prosecute a drunk driver because "well, nobody got hurt." Try that defense at your next DUI trial and see how well it goes.

      Let's also not forget the Comey's drafts being "corrected" to remove phrases that automatically made Clinton's actions a violation. The only "intent" in this whole farce is the FBI's willingness to defend the indefensible in an attempt to cozy up to the then-presumed new Commander In Chief. That the FBI bungled it so badly it ended up throwing the election to Trump is both an example of how stunningly incompetent they were and how blatantly political they still are.

      --
      In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    5. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Intent means nothing about violating the law. You use a personal e-mail server for official Government business? That's illegal. Now, intent may shade what kind of punishment you receive - but you still violated the law.

      It isn't illegal. It might be against department policy now, but nothing makes it illegal unless you don't turn over the records. In Comey's case he was merely forwarding a copy of records, so that is totally legitimate. Like making a photo copy of a government record. Unless that government record was classified then it is basically a public record anyway which he had every right to copy... although technically it probably had to be approved for release. Again an administrative employment matter of not following policy and not a criminal matter.

    6. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      Wrong. The FOIA makes no comment on whether or not their emails must be retained, or where they must reside.
      The FOIA only requires agencies to have a plan to give the public access to the records it does keep.
      Several other unrelated (FRA is a big one) acts create the statutes that detail things they must retain, as well as a myriad of rules imposed all up and down the bureaucracy.

      Please, educate yourself before you continue spouting complete fucking falsehoods masqueraded as facts. This shit is why the media is such a shit show. They're marketing to idiots such as yourself who don't fucking care what the difference between fact or fiction is anyway.

    7. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1
      Literally nothing you said here was factual. Congratulations.

      Intent means nothing about violating the law.

      Mens rea is a component of many laws.

      You use a personal e-mail server for official Government business? That's illegal.

      No, it's not. Against the rules in some cases, yes.

      Now, intent may shade what kind of punishment you receive - but you still violated the law.

      See #1.

      Now riddle me this, batman- are you stupid, ignorant, or gas lighting?

    8. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Cite the statute please - and show where it requires intent to be enforced. She broke her own State department rules. And in fact she violated her own dictates in using her private server and illegally handling classified, secret, and top secret communications.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    9. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But she's a Clinton !

    10. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      This is what bugs me about you. You're not even aware of the text of any imaginary statutes that you're accusing her of violating. You're confusing things you don't like with law. You're confusing department rules with law. These distinctions are important. Nobody said what she did wasn't stupid, and against the rules. But idiots like you calling it a crime sound like rabid dogs foaming at the mouth, and it's pathetic.
      I've already shown that you were completely full of shit in your former post, now you're just throwing more spaghetti at the wall hoping something will stick. Why don't you cite what statute you think she is in violation of, and then actually read it.

    11. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      Miss handling classified information. This is illegal

      Horse shit. The only statute that comes close to "mishandling classified information" is Title 18 of the USC, Section 1924, which no sane prosecutor would try to bust her for, as it not only require intent, but has a nebulous requirement of lack of authorization, while federal rules in place actually give her, as the head of the State Department, the authority to so authorize the location they were stored. When you make stupid arguments, you make it really easy to defend her. You make it hard to actually be critical of her stupid behavior, when you're clearly too fucking stupid to critically assess the situation.

      In short, quit making assertions that aren't factual. Quit being full of shit. Educate yourself. Quit dragging our fucking country down.

    12. Re:Comey wasn't the only one by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      Plenty of lawyers say she broke the law I will take their word for it.

      And plenty of lawyers say she didn't. Why won't you take their word for it?
      At the end of the day, the law enforcement agency investigating her behavior decided her behavior was not criminal. That's really the end of the discussion.

      Assuming you are a lawyer there can be different legal opinions and that is why you have a trial

      No. You do not have a trial because two lawyers have differing opinions. You have a trial because there is reason to believe that you have committed a criminal act. The agencies charged with investigating this decided there wasn't enough to indict or prosecute. Ergo, no criminal act. The opinion of some lawyers really doesn't matter. Everyone has opinions.

      As for dragging the country down, a white wash is what does that.

      Nobody is white washing shit- you're gaslighting. Trying to confuse the truth you claim to be trying to get out. Peddling opinions with no basis in fact. They're nothing more than dressed up conspiracy theories by people who should fucking know better. You- as an engineer- should know fucking better.

      showing that we have one system of justice for all this is setting the country straight

      How the hell does trying to force indict someone under the espionage act against the wishes of the professionals who do such charging showing we have one system of justice? It isn't that at all- it's lining up nobles at the guillotine.

      A country needs to get rid of corruption and where if shows up we should stamp it out with the full measure of the law

      Who could possibly disagree with this? The problem, is that this isn't what you want. What you want is to indict someone for a crime they did not commit, simply because you do not like their politics and behavior. That is sickening.

      If you cannot see that then you are deliberately blind or blinded by the media.

      No, asshole. That's the problem, I'm not blinded by the media. These fucked up efforts to wield the justice department as a weapon, on both sides of the spectrum, are fucked up, and you have swallowed that load, and asked Big Daddy Fox for more. Your lack of independent thinking has dropped our collective IQ. Thanks.

  8. Bush admin lost 22 million emails by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Cybersecurity needs to be a real concern in Washington, for everyone, regardless of party. This tit for tat thing will only backfire since everyone is guilty.

    1. Re:Bush admin lost 22 million emails by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that wasn't on an official server. If the government had approved the expense of providing the White House a server and did so, then that would have been an issue. Instead the Republicans paid out of their own pockets for the server and its Internet connection so while they should have kept the emails, that's less worse than Hillary that had a State Department email server but still refused to it. You're forgetting how different things were almost 18 years ago.

    2. Re:Bush admin lost 22 million emails by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This tit for tat thing will only backfire since everyone is guilty.

      No it won't. Republican/democrats still get over 98% of the vote, and that's not about to change. Business is good, babe...

  9. Oh My God by rsilvergun · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Who the hell _cares_?

    Can we maybe talk about how Trump's administration is moving to end protections for pre-existing conditions? That's kinda big news if you're a human being with a body.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Oh My God by epine · · Score: 1

      Attempting to overthrow the President of the United States by members of federal law enforcement is more important. And it's ongoing.

      The other name for this is calling Trump to account for his past actions. Under rule of law, these investigations are slow and deliberate. This would also be true for any common criminal, when the law is working as the constitution intends.

      Furthermore, investigations into wealthy criminals is almost always a slow process, because they can afford to erect so many barriers of due process, launching one appeal after another. This is ongoing.

      I have no issue with weaponizing due process (tax avoidance v. tax evasion), but only a world-class idiot (or brazen hypocrite) thinks you can weaponize due process to a quick conclusion.

    2. Re:Oh My God by polar+red · · Score: 1

      >that would be murder,

      At what point is the murder justified if you save thousands of lives with it?

      --
      Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
    3. Re:Oh My God by Maelwryth · · Score: 1

      "At what point is the murder justified if you save thousands of lives with it?"
      ...said the Roman soldier as he plunged the spear in.

      --
      I reserve the write to mangle english.
    4. Re:Oh My God by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      Attempting to subvert the United States of America into an authoritarian dictatorship and the government into some Dominionistic nightmare out of The Handmaid's Tale is more important than anything else, which is why Trump and all his appointees need to be shoved into a wood chipper.

      The definition of histrionic. Calm down before Hippocrates fumigates your vagina.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    5. Re:Oh My God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can we maybe talk about how Trump's administration is moving to end protections for pre-existing conditions? That's kinda big news if you're a human being with a body.

      Why is that news? That's how insurance WORKS.

      You can insure your car only after it's had a tree fall on it and you can't insure your house only after the tornado hits it. Disallowing preexisting conditions is the ONLY way to make health insurance solvent. One of the reasons costs started spiraling out of control due to Obamacare is that Obama didn't understand this very basic fact.

    6. Re:Oh My God by ichimunki · · Score: 1

      ... said the right-wing terrorists (and their supporters) who kill doctors and bomb medical clinics.

      --
      I do not have a signature
    7. Re:Oh My God by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      >that would be murder,

      At what point is the murder justified if you save thousands of lives with it?

      After the fact.

      If you killed Hitler before he did anything wrong, there'd be no justifiable reason to kill Hitler.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    8. Re:Oh My God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Most people have no control over their insurance. It changes when they switch jobs, move to a different state or for a variety of other reasons. Because most can't carry insurance forever with one company, this creates system where many people would not be covered due to a pre-existing condition at some point simply because of life's circumstances. The idea is to have coverage to cover people throughout life, not to knock people off the insurance roles because they got sick.

      Another point of the health-care is that its much cheaper to help people before they get into tremendous debt due to health issues. The idea is that if you have healthy people, they won't be a drag on the system, and corporations can make a whole lot more money off of a healthy person working in the system.

      And another point of the health-care system was to save on costs for hospitals that were going out of business or going bankrupt because we, as a society, don't just let people die at their doors. It is cheaper to give people preventative health care in almost every case than to wait until everyone is broke and at the hospital door because they had an infection that cost $100 to treat instead of a cancer that will bleed the system dry.

      My opinion is that a private insurance model is the wrong way for health care to be setup for a national system but that is neither here nor there.

    9. Re:Oh My God by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and the left-wing terrorists (and their supporters) who attempt to assassinate congressmen.

    10. Re:Oh My God by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      One of the groups promoting the creation of the NHS in the UK was businesses. They wanted healthy workers, and didn't want to have to pay for a multi-payer insurance scheme, so it was subsumed into National Insurance, a single-payer scheme funding by employer and employee. You can argue that current NHS funding isn't enough (tax has been cut overall in the last couple of decades), but the principle is fairly good. Even in places like Germany, where it is more complex, it still seems to work pretty well. No system is perfect, but perfect should not be the enemy of good, or better. Sadly, I can't see a £350 million weekly Brexit bonus for the NHS.

    11. Re:Oh My God by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      ... said the right-wing terrorists (and their supporters) who kill doctors and bomb medical clinics.

      ... said the left-wing terrorists (and their supporters) who assault and kill average people, doctors, attempt to assassinate politicians and burn down/shoot up public/private buildings and damage infrastructure.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:Oh My God by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Attempting to subvert the United States of America into an authoritarian dictatorship and the government into some Dominionistic nightmare out of The Handmaid's Tale

      That is incredibly funny given what is actually happening.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  10. The OIG report also says by Train0987 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The OIG report also says Comey claims he didn't know Anthony Weiner was married to Clinton's chief of staff Huma Abedin...

    Director of the FBI.

    1. Re:The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently the NYPD didn't know either since they kept his laptop with his wife's classified email on it after they arrested him for a sex crime with a minor.

    2. Re:The OIG report also says by hey! · · Score: 1

      My jaw dropped when I read that in the OIG executive summary.

      But in a way this seems consistent with Comey's various misjudgments. He made some really naive errors.

      Comey may be a case of the Peter Principle, a man who has "risen to the level of his incompetence". For him that level was where he had to handle matters with political implications. Comey made a complete hash of those when all he had to do was do things the usual way.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:The OIG report also says by Tailhook · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Comey is the quintessential empty suit and everyone in Washington knows it. Senator Graham toyed with him once during a hearing. He asked Comey if guns ordered on the Internet would be shipped to his house, avoided a background check. This is the director of the FBI employed during Fast and Furious; a person who should have detailed knowledge of FFL laws in the US. So what did he think?

      "... I assumed it's shipped to you, but I don't know for sure actually ..."

      Graham didn't pursue it. He knew what he was dealing with and was just amusing himself.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    4. Re:The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, the conclusion that doesn't appear to be present in common discussion is that Comey was the patsy for reducing Clinton's chances of getting elected because the Russian ad campaign didn't appear to be working well enough. The main reason is because the best presidential candidate for government workers is the presidential candidate that supports a large defense budget, to avoid it shrinking more than it has after the cold-war era. If they cared about costs more, it would have been cheaper to provide extra financing for the Russian ad campaign.

    5. Re:The OIG report also says by Train0987 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Those "Russian ad buys" were in favor of progressive causes though. They funded Black Lives Matters, Clinton campaign rallies, etc.

    6. Re:The OIG report also says by Train0987 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention most of those "Russian ad buys" occurred after the election.

    7. Re:The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Russian's used their MIND RAYS!!!!

    8. Re:The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The OIG report also says Comey claims he didn't know Anthony Weiner was married to Clinton's chief of staff Huma Abedin...

      Director of the FBI.

      Given that Anthony Weiner himself apparently didn't know he was married to Abedin, I'll give Comey a pass on just this one.

    9. Re: The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Putin's bots supported progressive causes they were trying to split and suppress Hillary's vote. You also didn't mention the Russian social media trolls. You lie a lot but then I guess that's your job.

      Mueller's indictment focuses primarily on propaganda efforts of one Russian group in particular: the Internet Research Agency. The groupâ(TM)s operations - social media posts, online ads, and rallies in the US - were "primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump," the indictment claims.

    10. Re:The OIG report also says by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yup. huma. who has ties to the muslim brotherhood.

      that's exactly the kind of damm thing we have the fbi for!

      comey is a traitor and should goto the gallows. yesterday.

  11. Unsurprising. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've long suspected that use of personal email accounts is so rampant in government that if the FBI did prosecute, half of congress would be torn between destroying their own emails and trying to dig up anything the other party sent them from a person address. It's only a big deal with it can be turned into a political weapon.

    1. Re:Unsurprising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not about using personal email for government work. It's about sending classified information to and from your personal email address. Which is a big no.

    2. Re:Unsurprising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's *assassins accusing assassins*. What else is there in this filthy business?

      I can hardly wait to see what follows Trump/Clinton. Such masochism on display! Indeed it is most profitable...

    3. Re:Unsurprising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No doubt. A large part of that is the FOIA laws and other regulations regarding use of technology in Government. Its so onerous that its made breaking the law to do government business a worthwhile risk.

      Especially given this exact scenario where those making the laws and enforcing the laws are the same people. The fox is in the henhouse so to speak.

      I dont know how you fix it either. No matter how you go, you have a third party IT guy who winds up with more power than the people he works for. Maybe we need a fourth branch of government just to deal with the information passed to it by the other branches.

      Or just go back to paper.

  12. Powell did too by sdinfoserv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Go back to the Bush administration and Colin Powell had a personal server too... and he too used it for business...
    1,2,3 the righties scream .. but, but, but, but, but ..... HILLARY!!!!
    Meanwhile the IG report drops and results in no new indictments, no firings... a big nothing burger... yawn.

    1. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only that, Comey WAS NOT BIASED, they found! "Comey 'broke norms but not biased' - agency watchdog report" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44488351

    2. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't know about Powell, but at the time the White House didn't have an email server so the GOP paid out of pocket for one. The GOP helped with communications and didn't cost us any tax money.

    3. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tell everyone who died at Benghazi how everyone is so mean to poor old Hillary...

    4. Re:Powell did too by CajunArson · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Nice to see "Whataboutism" is alive and well and upthumbed when used against an alleged "Republican" who is a well-known supporter of Hillary. While we're playing the "whataboutism" game, how many times did Trump hypocritically defend Colin Powell? I'm pretty sure the number is zero.

      But where was Powell's server exactly?
      Inappropriately using a non-official address is *not* equivalent to setting up an incompetently secured server in your bathroom.

      How many classified emails were confirmed to have been hacked in Powell's account?
      Because the IG report has stated there's concrete proof at least one classified Hillary email in her server was compromised by a foreign government.

      http://www.foxnews.com/politic...

      And you people hypocritically scream that Trump uses a regular cellphone to send Tweets that are intended to be public anyway.

      --
      AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
    5. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Of course there was no political bias, James Comey is a Republican and his second in command, Andrew McCabe, is a Republican too. Yet the GOP blowhards constantly tell their base this is a conspiracy by the Democrats.

      It is the same with the special prosecutor Robert Mueller. He was selected by Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, who was appointed by Trump. Both Rosenstein and Mueller are Republicans. In fact Mueller was the FBI Director under Bush.

    6. Re:Powell did too by Bigbutt · · Score: 1

      That's kind of a puzzle there, that the White House didn't have an email server. I worked at NASA HQ just down the street in the mid-90's and we had email servers (I ran them) and I knew people who worked at the White House who'd come from NASA. It's weird to me that they had a web site but no email server.

      [John]

      --
      Shit better not happen!
    7. Re:Powell did too by XXongo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Powell never used his personal email for official government related emails. That is a lie. The Left tried to get him on it and it failed for that precise reason.

      To the contrary, he did. But it wasn't illegal to use personal servers for government related email. It only became policy after Hillary left office: https://www.wsj.com/articles/c...
      https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/colin-powell-defends-personal-email-227889
      https://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/fbi-colin-powell-email-probe-218748

      (it was probably illegal for him to not archive them, though.

      In fact, it was Powell who advised Hillary on use of personal e-mail: https://abcnews.go.com/Politic...

    8. Re:Powell did too by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      Powell didn't have a private server. He had a private email account (accessed via dialup on a laptop no less), and used both it and his official state.gov email account.

      Hillary set up a private server and used it for all her official email. She never used her state.gov email account.

      Comparing the two is like comparing someone who occasionally drives over the speed limit, with someone who always drives 100+ MPH.

    9. Re:Powell did too by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Informative

      But it wasn't illegal to use personal servers for government related email. It only became policy after Hillary left office

      Then why, in his original testimony to Congress, did Comey specifically state that Clinton did break the law? He chose not to pursue the case because, in his opinion, she had no intent to commit those felonies, but he did, very specifically, state that she committed them.

      I guess maybe he was referring to the willful destruction of evidence in an ongoing investigation, a la interns with phones and hammers?

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    10. Re:Powell did too by Prien715 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Just a friendly reminder:
      No one is going to believe any story on Fox News who doesn't already agree with you. You should try finding a more neutral source if you want to convince people.

      --
      -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
    11. Re:Powell did too by blind+biker · · Score: 1

      Go back to the Bush administration and Colin Powell had a personal server too... and he too used it for business...

      Aren't people getting tired of whataboutism like this? It's a logical fallacy and it doesn't help the conversation.

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    12. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people that try to debate which party is more evil here on slashdot completely distract from the real issue. The rules our government security officials have set up have done so for good reason, and there are similar rules at any privately owned corporation. If I did what Hillary's team did on handling information from my company incorrectly, I would have been fired, and maybe even prosecuted as well. The problem is that high ranking people in our government do not follow the rules, because they are big and powerful, and the underlings are way too submissive to dare confront the crimes. We need to change the culture from deep-state government, and also start using technology responsibly.

    13. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All the criminal statutes (18 U.S. Code 798) for classified material require "knowingly", "willfully", or "with intent", and only in sending. Simply receiving classified material is not actually illegal. So without intent, there is no law broken, which is why Comey stated that prosecutors wouldn't have a case. What he did say is that such actions could have warranted administrative punishment from within the State Department, but of course she no longer worked there so it was moot.

    14. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Not only that, Comey WAS NOT BIASED, they found! "Comey 'broke norms but not biased' - agency watchdog report" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44488351

      Quit lying. The report merely stated the IG couldn't find any evidence Comey was biased. That's not the same thing as saying he wasn't biased.

      Given everyone thought Hillary was going to win, Comey's actions can easily be interpreted as a clumsy, biased attempt to whitewash the investigation into Hillary's blatantly illegal email server - after all, why would you piss off the next President? But if you go public with data just a few days before an election she wins anyway - you give the impression of being transparent.

      Because, get this:

      IG refers five FBI employees for investigation, as more anti-Trump messages revealed

      Yep - five FBI agents in the Hillary email investigation are demonstrably biased against Trump - and that was the same group that handled the "Russia investigation" that's the foundation of Mueller's "Russia! Russia! Russia!" collusion investigation.

      This IG report rips the roots right out from under Mueller.

      Because do you really think that if this office tossed protocol and procedure out the window in order to exonerate Hillary, they didn't do the same in order to frame Trump?

      So if Mueller actually does have anything on Trump (almost certainly nothing at all - given Mueller keeps charging his witnesses with process crimes that destroy their credibility as witnesses, and given anything on Trump would have been leaked by Mueller's partisan clown posse by now...), it's going to be fatally tainted.

      And Mueller doesn't have anything anyway.

    15. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      793 f does not require intent: " Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, ..., or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) ...—

      Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

    16. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > In fact, it was Powell who advised Hillary on use of personal e-mail: https://abcnews.go.com/Politic... [go.com]

      True! This also makes Comey's statement about "lack of intent" to be nonsense as they discuss the records retention laws when Powell advises her to cheat.

    17. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Interesting side note, Lisa Barsoomian is Rod Rosenstein's' wife. She is also the lawyer for Hillary, Comey etc I don't think it matters if you believe if someone is a democrat or a republican - corruption does not delineate between the two.

    18. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, McCabe tried to get revenge on Flynn for backing another employee's sexual harassment charge (against McCabe). McCabe was fired for this. McCabe was probably also responsible for putting a spy/wiretap on the Trump campaign.

      The Bush clan hates Trump, so Mueller working for Bush is not a good sign. Political parties can have different internal factions. Obama and Hillary weren't in the same faction. Bernie wasn't with either of them.

    19. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So involuntary felonies are OK?

    20. Re:Powell did too by will_die · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So you prefer to stay ignorant than to read something from a news source you don't like?

    21. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when a email was sent to the Whitehouse during the Bush administration, it did not go to a email server?

      That is alien Technology right there.

    22. Re:Powell did too by Boronx · · Score: 1

      Even this fox news propaganda piece doesn't say what you said it does. There's no mention of her emails being hacked or "compromised" by foreign agents.

    23. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She broke a law made after her term. But, hey, lying doesn't matter if you're making lies that those in power (Repubicans) want to see being said.

    24. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Following Fox News is a very good way to stay ignorant. Exhibit A: Donald J.Trump.

    25. Re: Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Itâ(TM)s all Russiaâ(TM)s fault anyways, amirite? ;-)

    26. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh!
      I didn't know that, having voted for Bill Clinton and Obama, I was forever a "Democrat" and everything I do, even when it has blatant bias, is forever to be viewed through the lens of old time political affiliation. Or maybe people who were once Republicans will become Democrats and vice versa.

      Or maybe Republicans will fuck over other Republicans of a different faction, just like Hillary and the DNC fucked over Bernie Sanders.

    27. Re:Powell did too by XXongo · · Score: 1
      Hard to prosecute. There was no evidence that anybody who wasn't allowed to see the emails actually accessed them.

      Prosecutors want a case that's a slam dunk.

    28. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "interns with phones and hammers"? Can I get some of what you're taking?

      On second thought, no thanks. I don't want to be a delusional idiot.

    29. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it wasn't illegal to use personal servers for government related email. It only became policy after Hillary left office

      Then why, in his original testimony to Congress, did Comey specifically state that Clinton did break the law? He chose not to pursue the case because, in his opinion, she had no intent to commit those felonies, but he did, very specifically, state that she committed them.

      I guess maybe he was referring to the willful destruction of evidence in an ongoing investigation, a la interns with phones and hammers?

      There are two issues. First, using a private email server to conduct government business. That is the issue which has been discussed in this thread so far.

      Then there is the mishandling of classified documents. That is another issue entirely and what Comey says that Clinton did wrong but would not prosecute.

    30. Re:Powell did too by argStyopa · · Score: 1

      You mean, like the results of a 2 year investigation into Russia/Trump collusion?

      Same result.

      --
      -Styopa
    31. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The FBI investigation was focused on the handling of classified information not on use of a private email server for official business which was purely a matter of department policy and a private lawsuit over a FOIA request for documents. Oversight of compliance with the federal archive law was some other agencies responsibility and there was never a criminal referral.

    32. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet, McCabe's wife ran as a Democrat in VA, McCabe appeared at rally's, and she received over $600K from Clinton connected folks (Terry McCauliffe) which was over 1/3rd of her funds. Nobody ever mentions if she spent all that money in her losing bid, or if there was "takehome" at the end.

      Democrat?

    33. Re:Powell did too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Lisa Barsoomian has never been the personal lawyer for the Clinton's or James Comey. She is a career government lawyer that specializes in civil cases, first with the DoJ and now the NIH. This rumor originated from Roger Stone and gets regurgitated often on right-wing news outlets.

      Let me guess, you have shit for brains.

    34. Re:Powell did too by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Not only that, Comey WAS NOT BIASED, they found! "Comey 'broke norms but not biased' - agency watchdog report" https://www.bbc.com/news/world...

      Probably the most unbelievable part of that whole report. He was absolutely biased or Hillary would be in jail right now just like you or I would be if we did anything like that.

    35. Re:Powell did too by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Aren't people getting tired of whataboutism like this? It's a logical fallacy and it doesn't help the conversation.

      That and it's just digging their hypocrisy hole deeper. Democrats most certainly did complain of the Bush Administration's use of private emails at the time. Democrats like....Hillary Clinton.

    36. Re:Powell did too by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Doesn't have to. She ran it on a woefully insecure private server. The head of any foreign intelligence agency of any repute who didn't hack it should be fired for incompetence. Also, this is the same party that blames Russian hackers for everything - but they left Hill's server alone out of the goodness of their hearts?

    37. Re:Powell did too by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Hard to prosecute.

      No harder than prosecuting a 40 year old teacher who's admitted to sleeping with a 14 year old student. Because intent is irrelevant - it's a simple yes/no question on whether or not it happened. Hillary mishandling classified material is not in dispute.

      There was no evidence that anybody who wasn't allowed to see the emails actually accessed them.

      Irrelevant. The case of Kristian Saucier debunks all the Hillbot excuses for her criminal hypocrisy. Former sailor went to jail for taking selfies on a sub - even though the government agreed there was no sign of intent or that the photos were subjected to espionage.

      Prosecutors want a case that's a slam dunk.

      Not only was the mishandling charge a slam dunk, so would have been the extra 20 years for obstruction of justice (destroying evidence). If it was Hillary Smith, state department flunky, who committed the same offenses for the same reasons, she'd be serving an effective life sentence in prison.

    38. Re:Powell did too by XXongo · · Score: 1
      Nice to see somebody who is not a prosecutor and knows nothing whatsoever about it speak so authoritatively!

      That's what makes slashdot great: self-proclaimed experts.

  13. Re:Keep things in perspective by Train0987 · · Score: 3, Informative

    But he's still subject to the same records retention laws that Clinton was willfully subverting.

  14. Re:Keep things in perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except, as a government employee, he knew the rules. Too big to fail my ass.

  15. right by viperidaenz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    so nothing confidential at all, just employee memo drafts?

    1. Re:right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently so....NOT sensitive information.

  16. So what is this then? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the report:

    "In addition, we identified instances where FBI employees improperly received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events. We will separately report on those investigations"...

    And nothing was ever heard of it again.

    But nothing nearly so juicy as the previously unreported text from the FBI agent to his mistress, saying "We will stop it" referring to Trump being elected.

    It was unreported, because in the texts the BFI gave congress, that line was removed...
    Not redacted. Removed.

    Is that enough perspective for you?

  17. True by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I mean who hasn't used a work device to send a home message, or vice versa? And this is frequently against official (but routinely ignored) policy too.

    Inappropriate use is an issue, and I don't agree with what Clinton did, but it's mainly a matter of scale and duration. The occasional lapse is hardly worth talking about.

    It's also a problem when anyone thinks they are above the law or exempt from the rules. Ahem.

    1. Re:True by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A work device for personal communications? Never.

      A personal device for work communications? Only within the confines of the company's policy.

  18. Re:Keep things in perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    But the scope and the scale matter.

  19. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you high?

  20. Re:Keep things in perspective by Agent0013 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But he's still subject to the same records retention laws that Clinton was willfully subverting.

    And how would sending an email from his official FBI account to a personal Gmail account subvert any record retention laws? In one case there are no records retained in government servers, in the other case there are. This does not sound like the same thing. Possible leaking of secure information is another matter, but that is not the main problem from my understanding.

    --

    -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
  21. Re:Keep things in perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But the scope and the scale matter.

    Only for sentencing.

  22. "Foreign actors" also accessed HIllary's server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    'Foreign actors' accessed Hillary Clinton emails, documents show

    Fox News link just to piss off the Clintonistas - might as well pick that one, as they're all true.

    1. Re:"Foreign actors" also accessed HIllary's server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CN;FDC

      (Citation Needed; Fox Doesn't Count.)

    2. Re:"Foreign actors" also accessed HIllary's server by Boronx · · Score: 1

      So Hillary sent emails to foreigners when she was Secretary of State. You guys are priceless.

  23. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get that penis out of your mouth for five seconds and listen up! Both of them deserve to be in jail. That is the fair, impartial view.

  24. Re:Trump isn't a Conservative, but a traitor by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 0

    Ahhh, "Unregistered agent of a foreign power" i.e. the RUSSIAN backed gov't of Ukraine.

  25. Re:No fag, you're wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't know what you're talking about.

  26. Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    (U) Comey was investigated former Secretary of State Clinton for her handling of classified materials.
    (U) Unclassified materials were found on an insecure personal server that she had set up to work from home
    (U) She claimed that she had no knowledge that any of the documents on that server were classified -- meaning some variety of confidential (C), secret (S), or (most likely at her level) top secret (TS). She believed it was all unclassified (U)
    (U) Her claim is fucking ridiculous, because in classified documents every page, heading, sentence, and bullet point, and source reference is preceded by note just like this: (U) (FOUO) (C) (S) (TS)
    (U) Is this painful to read? This is the sort of thing that she claims was missing from her documents.
    (U) You can't get such documents off of the secure network. To get such documents on her private server, she or a lackey uploaded them.
    (U) For her story to carry water, she would need someone with clearance level similar to hers to print, re-type, scan, and emailed her such documents, all while lying to her about doing so.
    (U) She fucked up. Badly. It may have hurt her chance to become the de facto ruler of the world.
    (U) Most people who get caught for lesser fuck-ups end up going to jail.

  27. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The rhetoric about this issue is highly partisan, including your post. However, I don't think this is a liberal/conservative issue, really.

    As a state employee, I'm allowed to use my personal email address for official business. Once in awhile I do so, if I want to have a particular discussion outside of work hours while not checking my work email for other business. Nothing I'm doing is sensitive, and I'm allowed to do it provided the emails are sent to an official state email address reasonably soon.

    If Comey is using a personal email address to send himself drafts of agency-wide letters, that doesn't seem problematic. Comey isn't going to be sending sensitive information to the entire FBI.

    Comey did completely mishandle investigating Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Neither liberals nor conservatives approve of how Comey handled that investigation, so I don't think that's a controversial statement. Clinton was also incredibly reckless, to say the least, in using a personal email server for handling sensitive information. That is, indeed, problematic. As for there being a political bias, Mike Pence also used a personal email account to conduct official business while he was the Governor of Indiana. That email account was hacked, exposing sensitive information. Mike Pence didn't break Indiana law, and I'm not aware of him ever being investigated over the matter.

    While both Clinton and Pence have been heavily criticized for using personal email for conducting work-related business, neither has faced serious consequences for doing so. I don't see a political bias here, for or against conservatives.

    As for Comey, using a personal email address for a few emails that don't appear sensitive doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Comey's credibility is gone, but it doesn't have anything to do with this. This seems like a non-issue to me, especially compared with all of the other issues surrounding Comey.

  28. Whut? by Cyberax · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What? Comey undermined Clinton _twice_. First when he publicly excoriated her for her personal email server use in June and then when he announced a new investigation just two weeks before the election.

    If anything, he was Trump's tool.

    1. Re:Whut? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 0, Troll

      And, of course, when you say "known facts", you mean "Faux News fantasy theories".

    2. Re:Whut? by Train0987 · · Score: 0

      No, Congressional testimony under oath.

    3. Re:Whut? by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 2

      Feel free to provide a shed of evidence that even remotely resembles what you said.

    4. Re:Whut? by fafalone · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He cleared Hillary of violating a law with no intent requirement because she lacked intent and claimed being extremely careless wasn't negligent. Almost everyone with a security clearance will tell you there's not a chance they'd not get charged for similar behavior, and indeed people have been prosecuted for far less, the submarine guy being the most egregious example. He clearly gave a pass to Hillary; the most reasonable explanation for the other actions was to try to make it seem like that's not what was going on. And if you think this is just one more partisan opinion, a quick glance at my history will illustrate how much I loathe Trump (and all (R)'s), a necessary point to make since people automatically assume anyone who thinks Hillary should have been charged is a Trump supporter.

    5. Re: Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have you wandered in from a different conversation?

    6. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's in the OIG report itself.

      Both the intent portion, and the security clearance portion related to State Department handling of classified information.

      I recommend you skim it at the very least before demanding others spoon feed you information that's in the public domain and there for review.

    7. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First when he publicly excoriated her for her personal email server use in June and then when he announced a new investigation just two weeks before the election.

      He didn't. That information was leaked to the public by Republican congressmen and they only leaked part of Comeys report to make it sound incriminating.

    8. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What? Comey undermined Clinton _twice_. First when he publicly excoriated her for her personal email server use in June and then when he announced a new investigation just two weeks before the election.

      He was hedging his bets. He was Hillary's tool but he was worried that Trump might win, so he deviated from her side and took a middle path in the hopes that if Trump won he wouldn't be too much on his bad side.

    9. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

      I might not have been charged but I would have lost my clearance and therefore lost my job had I done anything remotely similar to what Hillary did. You don't move classified data to unclass systems. It's really that simple. We fired a contractor get getting "confused" about the red and black networks and connecting a red network directly to a black network. You can't have a security/network administrator that can't get basics right.

    10. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm very sure it won't be possible to provide a 'shed' of evidence, considering that even providing a 'shred' of evidence will be difficult.

      (Forget everyone else, grammar nazis are the only real suppressed minority.)

    11. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system:

      “For example, seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. These chains involved Secretary Clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails from others about the same matters. There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. “

      From https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/798:

      “Employees of the Commission shall be subject to appropriate sanctions, which may include reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions in accordance with applicable law and agency regulation, if they:
              Knowingly, willfully, or negligently disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified under Executive Order 13526 or predecessor orders;”

      From https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/798:

      “Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”

    12. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The submarine guy, I think, really highlights how "justice" is heavily skewed versus the "haves" and "have nots". I'm not going to squabble over the legal definition of negligent. From colloquial usage, she was negligent. She knew better. She has way higher authority than some peon on a submarine, indicating she is better informed about classifications. The guy on submarine was more or less just being dumb in what he did by trying to show people the cool thing's he does on the ship. If one can argue that the submarine guy is negligent in his actions, then the same can clearly and easily be applied to Hillary. The question is, do they deserve to be raked over the coals for it? Do they deserve a punishment? If we find the submarine guy deserves punishment, then again, clearly Hillary does as well. Mishandling classified information is mishandling classified information.

    13. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish I had mod points to mod you 'overrated'. Comey viewed himself as King - especially when he thought AG Loretta Lynch was conspiring with former President Bill Clinton and that any statement from her about a) not recusing herself and b) possibly any judgement she might make AFTER the Mr Clinton/Mrs Lynch tarmac conversation might look as if it ( and her decision) to charge/not charge might be tainted and is the reason why he stepped up and said "...no charges would be pursued."

      He stepped over his pay-grade.
      Acted as the AG when he had NO authority to do so.
      Wanted to clear the path so she could assume the presidency because, let's laugh, "...there's no way Donald Trump is going to be President. You can take it to the bank." He wanted her to be free and clear as she became...(gag)...President of the United States.

      If he was Trump's tool then he was unwittingly so.

    14. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear this crap about "anyone with a security clearance" all time by people who either a) never held a clearance or b) never understood the rules. Speaking as someone who was involved in security clearance work and investigations I can assure you that this is bullshit. The primary factor for what happens in the event of a security violation is the rank of the offender. Make sensitive NOFORN available to foreigners? Hey, if you're a commissioned officer that's alright. Specifically, "pursuing this would be detrimental to [his|her] career" so it gets dropped. Even for second lieutenants. Not so much for enlisted where you can get hung out to dry for pretty much anything.

      The people who rail against Hillary and the "email case" either a) have no idea about discovery or b) willfully misrepresent. When responding to discovery you provide only things that are responsive. Not providing unresponsive items or even missing something that was responsive is not "destroying evidence" and for those who are involved with or knowledgeable about discovery to say otherwise is dishonest. And, even if you've never dealt with discovery, if you've ever had occasion to search a huge mess of data using keywords or regex you know how easy it is to include things that you don't want and miss things you did. And, in general, the lower you tune the FN rate the worse the FP gets.

      The last one I did was minuscule so I was able to review all items by hand and can be certain that nothing was overlooked. Hillary's lawyers managed to find 30,000 responsive items. The FBI, going through the entire stash and spending lots of man-hours to review manually for completeness, "found" 14,900 more -- of which more than 9,000 were deemed non-responsive. There were around 5,600 found by manual review to be responsive. Color me shocked: an intensive manual review can find more than a keyword/regex based filter.

      For those who don't do this: keyword/regex is how you go through tens of thousands items -- not only does manual review take time, it simply doesn't scale due to fatigue which results in it taking even longer. In discovery the cost/burden of responding is taken into consideration. We pushed back once on an order that would have been overly burdensome while not having any probability of providing anything responsive. The order was amended to restrict it to 2% of the original scope. In complying with that order I was *required* to delete items that were unresponsive from what was ultimately provided. Which is tricky...

      All this suggests is that Hillary's lawyers didn't have enough time to conduct the same kind of exhaustive review that the FBI did.

    15. Re:Whut? by nomadic · · Score: 1

      Civilians who mishandle confidential documents have historically not been charged, and that's been a policy since at least the Bush administration:

      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      As for the statute, people miss the point when they complain about "reading intent" into it, because the operative question is whether she was "grossly negligent," and the evidence seems to suggest that no, she wasn't.

    16. Re:Whut? by tbannist · · Score: 1

      You know, if I had been me who was planning to make sure that Trump didn't win the election, I would have released that information before the election when it could actually influence people's votes, but maybe I'm not as smart as the masterminds behind this conspiracy that you claim exists...

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    17. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree with not prosecuting because I think the mishandling of classified documents was inline with trying to do her job and there wasn't an intent to harm the US government. I also disagree with some of the prosecutions where you could say the same about those people that were prosecuted for far less extensive mishandlings of classified information...

      And people make inadvertent mistakes all the time with classified information and even keep their jobs for first offenses, usually if it is mitigated quickly.

      Hillary Clinton went well beyond a few incidental mishandling of classified information and clearly was reckless and showed on one documented occasion that there was intent to send classified information on unsecured computer systems. So there was evidence of intent that I don't think she was truthful when she told the FBI that she meant for her employee to merely "take the state department logo" off of a document when she said to "strip the headers off" and send other.

      Still I think it was all inline with her trying to do her job so I would think the more moderate approach would be to simply revoke her clearance if she still has an active clearance. And yes she lied to the FBI, but it would be hard to prove... especially without any testimony to the contrary from any of her employees... who were given immunity for their testimony.

      Which is perhaps the most damning part of this whole thing. If people did nothing wrong then why give them immunity so easily in return for their testimony?

      Freely handing out immunity is really the most clear evidence of bias in the email investigation.

      Imagine the scandal if Mueller giving everyone who worked for Trump immunity in the Russia investigation and then everyone just testifies that they did nothing wrong? So, now you have to prove that everyone lied and just inadvertently sent dozens or hundreds of pieces of classified information accidentally.

      Usually immunity is only given out when the person has some information useful towards a prosecution, but they themselves have done something illegal they need immunity for. In this investigation Hillary Clinton apparently got immunity for everyone that could have testified against her to establish a pattern of reckless mishandling of classified information.

      The Justice Department rolled out the red carpet for Clinton and treated her as one of their own.

    18. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Comey undermined the conspiracy to select Clinton _twice_. First when he publicly excoriated her for her personal email server use in June and then when he announced a new investigation just two weeks before the election.

      Fixed that for you.

    19. Re:Whut? by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Since Hillary did not grant unauthorized access, publish anywhere, nor use intel against the interest of the United STates...WTF are you ranting about?

    20. Re:Whut? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Compare this to when the FBI kicked down doors with their guns drawn while investigating "collusion".

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    21. Re:Whut? by fafalone · · Score: 2

      I know the Secretary of State is technically a civilian, but come on. That article is talking about researchers and cases where strong administrative action was taken. And if she wasn't grossly negligent (having your housekeeper handle it doesn't count? Really?), it was only because it was explicitly intentional (she removed classified headers). So again, really?

    22. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You conveniently skipped "or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States"

      Storing classified information on a private server connected to the internet is probably not a use which is in the interest of the United States.

    23. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The purpose of her unofficial server wasn't to do her job, it was to avoid complying with FOIA requests the State Department might get for her emails.

      She probably didn't deliberately include all that classified information in her emails, but she definitely was neglectful and careless with the information and disregarded basic precautions, all of which was illegal.

  29. Re:No fag, you're wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're going to find out what Prison is about, Trumptards. Your bitch beta traitor sons and feckless cunt daughter you wanted to fuck are going too. #Family Leavenworth Reunion 2024

  30. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IKR this place is a liberal utopia with herds of pitchfork grabbing leftists flaming anyone who dares enter their domain and not follow blindly.

  31. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Ksevio · · Score: 1

    Comey's a conservative, so is it illegal for him? A lot of Trump's team also say they are conservative so it's illegal for them too?

  32. Not a professional guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Comey to me was never a guy who should have been in the FBI period. He appeared to me to be more of a politician then a guy who should be leading our national law enforcement agency. But he a lot of company in terms of this non professionalism at the FBI.

  33. Powell's the one who suggested Hilary do it by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    to her credit she didn't throw him under the bus for it.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  34. Re:Almost two years after Trump won... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clinton didn't deserve to win.

    Neither did Trump.

    We are all fucked.

  35. Comey is a Statist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'll find them on both sides of the aisle.

  36. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then maybe Trump is right about the "witch hunt" because nobody is ever going to find a conservative in today's government. Once all the conservatives got kicked out of the GOP, the ones who joined the Democrats lost and went home. And the ones who didn't join the Democrats, probably lost even harder as Libertarians. Either way, they all left Washington.

  37. This is what the Trump administration wants by damn_registrars · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The Trump administration wants you to see this, so that you will come away thinking Comey did a shitty job of prosecuting a terrible crime in the spirit of covering his own ass. Naturally conservative echo chambers like slashdot are happily sharing this breaking news with all of us because it's good for the Administration. Once sufficient doubt is sewn regarding the Clinton email matter, it can be opened up again and used as another giant distraction so we don't notice what other atrociously illegal things the Trump administration is doing this week.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once sufficient doubt is sewn regarding the Clinton email matter, it can be opened up again and used as another giant distraction so we don't notice what other atrociously illegal things the Trump administration is doing this week.

      You mean like negotiating an historic agreement to denuclearize North Korea? Posting some of the highest job growth numbers the nation has ever seen? Record stock market highs?

      Why would Trump want to distract the media? The media gets distracted all on their own, as hell-bent as it is on finding ways that Trump is "bad for America," despite all objective evidence to the contrary.

      But go ahead, try and name what illegal things you think Trump is doing. You'll have a hard time: despite an investigation that's nearing two years, the FBI is still unable to name a single illegal thing it thinks Trump or anyone in the Trump campaign has done.

    2. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Naturally conservative echo chambers like slashdot

      Get some perspective, my nigga.

    3. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      All that you've said is that he hasn't yet totally destroyed the Obama economy and that words have been stated about denuclearizing North Korea. We'll see what you're saying about the former in late 2019. The recession should be well under way by then. The rest of the world is thanking him though for all of his work to separate the US from the world economy beforehand. As to the latter. You actually believe NK will denuclearize? Can I offer you some investments? Please?

      Also, he routinely tears up papers that legally have to be preserved and has fired the people who were taping them back together. He has no business criticizing anyone on adherence to records-keeping laws.

    4. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

      Stock Market going up from Inflation and the rich getting richer.

      Meanwhile, veterans are dying without shelter and healthcare.

    5. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

      You mean like negotiating an historic agreement to denuclearize North Korea?

      His summit with North Korea did not lead to Kim agreeing to anything he hadn't already agreed to. In fact what he signed did not concede anything at all, and recognized Kim as the leader of North Korea.

      Posting some of the highest job growth numbers the nation has ever seen?

      The change in job growth between 2016, 2017, and 2018 is not statistically significant. That gives no reason to expect that this would not have happened had anyone else been president.

      Record stock market highs?

      You're ignoring the record stock market falls in with those "record" highs.

      Why would Trump want to distract the media?

      To try to distract us from his repeated use of the constitution as toilet paper, of course.

      But go ahead, try and name what illegal things you think Trump is doing.

      If you can't google the growing list of laws Trump has broken, I'm not going to waste my time doing it for you.

      despite an investigation that's nearing two years, the FBI is still unable to name a single illegal thing it thinks Trump or anyone in the Trump campaign has done.

      You have several things wrong with that statement.

      For one, this is not an FBI investigation, it is a DoJ investigation. That is an important distinction as it changes - amongst other things - the jurisdiction of the investigation.

      Two, there have been numerous charges - and several guilty pleas - already brought against the Trump campaign.

      Three, a two year investigation is actually quite quick considering the magnitude we are dealing with. The investigation into Bill Clinton's affair with Lewinski took much longer and lead to zero criminal convictions. The Trump investigation already has people behind bars or awaiting sentencing, and others awaiting criminal trials.

      Four, Trump is still yet to be interviewed or served with a subpoena. The notion that he won't is at best pure speculation. Considering how much his attorneys are trying to argue that he is above the law is strong support that they are aware he has indeed broken the law.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    6. Re:This is what the Trump administration wants by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Meanwhile, veterans are dying without shelter and healthcare.

      Treating veterans like shit is an american traditional dating back to WW1 at a minimum (bonus army), I have no doubt that it is actually an older tradition but I haven't bothered to look.

  38. No, Different leak [Re:Sites back, grabs a tub...] by XXongo · · Score: 5, Informative

    The State Department got hacked, but the Clintons didn't.

    Then how did those darn Russians get her emails? The alternative to badly secured server hacked by Russians is the Seth Rich conspiracy theory. Pick your poison carefully.

    The DNC email leak was from the DNC, not the Clinton server (and was years after Hillary left the Secretary of State office). It was done by phishing John Podesta's account: https://www.apnews.com/dea73ef...
    https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/03/ap-investigation-russia-hack-dnc-clinton-emails/

  39. Re: Trump isn't a Conservative, but a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you mean the ukrainian govt that is trying to buy weapons from the US to fight Russia since their territory of Crimea was annexed after an invasion by Russia? Oh right, I forgot, Russia==Ukraine...

  40. There was more than was reported by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Classified, actually. Top Secret is considerably higher; "classified" is not the same as "top secret".

    There was a top secret picture of North Korea on there, though, as we know from other emails discussing that same fact and saying they were worried about it.

    Note that there's an appendix at the end for classified info that we didn't get.

    1. Re: There was more than was reported by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, CLASSIFIED is an umbrella term encompassing CONFIDENTIAL, SECRET, and TOP SECRET; they are different in terms of how damaging they can be to national security. The problem that arises from this is the absolute need to also separate SECRET from TOP SECRET, because it is extremely difficult if not impossible to take something down from TOP SECRET to SECRET.

  41. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh look I found one

  42. Personal SERVER, not personal email by mveloso · · Score: 0

    Clinton had her own email server in her bathroom. Comey probably used gmail/aol/yahoo. There's a difference.

    1. Re:Personal SERVER, not personal email by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Clinton had her own email server in her bathroom. Comey probably used gmail/aol/yahoo. There's a difference.

      It's the difference between a true geek and a luser. Who here doesn't have a server in every room?

      --
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  43. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In America we have a representative democracy and have chosen a president who won over a strong, well financed opponent.

    To imply he is a dictator is foolish.

    Do you know who threatens violence and name calls? Take a look in the mirror.

    You've alienated your base and no one wants to be associated with you, even with the media programming going on a mass scale.

    So much for that "Blue Wave"

  44. Revisionist History? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IIRC - Hillary wasn't cleared - she was just given a free pass because 'no-one would prosecute her'

    1. Re:Revisionist History? by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Correct. There is no legal impediment to handing the data collected over to DoJ prosecutors (not Lorretta Lynch), and letting them indict Hillary.

      --
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      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  45. 4 more years! by gatfirls · · Score: 0

    ...of "bbb-but her emails" as the nation crumbles from within....*sigh*.

  46. I was a govt contractor for 5 yrs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would send myself emails as reminders for things I needed to do at home and in the morning, I'd send work or reminders back to work via email too. I never did this with anything sensitive.

    Comey did the same thing. Basically, he worked on a speech or document that was going to be public in a day or so anyway. No confidential or higher material was involved. No harm.
    If Comey is ever found to have sent classified materials to gmail, lock him up.

    Ms. Clinton had 83 classified (Secret or above) email threads (not just a single email) traversing her unclassified server. The woman belongs in jail for each 1 of those. Period. She doesn't belong in jail for having an external email server or using it for personal or political things. Also, the people in her staff who removed the Classified markings and sent the emails to her server need to be in jail too. Those messages should never have been off an air-gapped network. They seriously need jail time for this conspiracy.

    Comparing Ms. Clinton's violation with Comey's just shows how little people understand.

  47. Fox, is that you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh my god. Is this site run by Fox now? Why is this even here?

  48. Re:More diversionary tactics by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 0

    Come on Trump supporters, where's my (-1, Troll)? Don't hold back, show us how angry you are that someone is dragging the lies out into the light! Where's the crude insults? Where's the hate from the AC's? You're not even trying!

  49. Don't resort to violence by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    not from the Left. The right wing is way, way better at it. They rely heavily on authoritarianism, which naturally lends itself to violence.

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    1. Re:Don't resort to violence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Right. Because left-wing authoritarianism isalways peaceful and never resorts to violence.

      Remember, kids. No amount of actual left-wing violence will ever stop the hand-wringing over potential right-wing violence.

  50. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So much for that "Blue Waffle"

    TFTFY

  51. Smear. by WolfgangVL · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what a smear campaign looks like.

    Sigh. Political games are not headlines, but I guess the morning show folks need something to cluck about.

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  52. I can't evense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would you ever used your personal email for business?

    That makes no sense.

    These people have no separation between life and work?

  53. Crooks accuse crooks. Tell us something new! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the perfect way to do it. That way they remain untouchable. And the Hillary crybabies are unstoppable This is what you people vote for. Knock yourselves out!

  54. Re:It is only Illegal if... by techno-vampire · · Score: 0

    Neither liberals nor conservatives approve of how Comey handled that investigation...

    Really? Most of the liberals I know are thrilled with the investigation because it ended up with the results they wanted. Never mind the fact that the investigation was very badly mishandled and that he had no business deciding that nobody would be willing to prosecute, it ended up with Hillary safe, and that's all they care about.

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  55. Fuck her emails! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The DNC emails are much more damaging. I suppose that's why everybody is ignoring those. The sports fans just don't care.

    Trump/Clinton - 2020!

  56. Re:It is only Illegal if... by vtcodger · · Score: 1

    Indeed. It seems to me that virtually EVERY government official is going to have a personal email account. After all you are not supposed to use your government account to transact personal business like scheduling a dental appointment or arranging for flowers to be sent to your spouses' mother on her birthday.

    If you have a personal account, sooner or later, someone who knows your personal address, is going to send you an email about something governmental. Bingo, you have government business in your personal account. My understanding is that's not only unavoidable, but also OK. You just have to make sure that all the messages are archived in an appropriate fashion in a timely manner.

    --
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  57. It's Conservatards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It has nothing to do with government. Comey is a conservatives. Conservatives are almost always hypocrites.

  58. twit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hope they did not use their personal twitter

  59. Re:Almost two years after Trump won... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are all fucked.

    Yeah, well, y'all did it yourselves. But the blame passing will continue. You people are no different than any other alcoholic, still in denial of what you are doing.

  60. Re:Almost two years after Trump won... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump did deserve to win. That's why he won. Like your personal life is effected by Trump. Get a job and move out of your parents basement.

  61. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Record unemployment. Greatest personal and business tax breaks in years. Manufacturing is coming back to the USA in record numbers. Lowest black unemployment ever. Republicans are doing a great job. I'm getting raises at work. Best foreign policy we've had since Reagan. I like how the country is moving right now. If Trump runs in 2020 he has my vote.

  62. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    It will not be a blue wave. It will be a big chunk of blue ice, sliding off the wing of the DNC charter aircraft.

  63. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

    How could it not be a shitty job? It involves running the government. The thing we can hope is that while running the government they can dismantle as much of it as possible.

  64. FBI agents received bribes from journalists by schwit1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On page XII in the report, the IG says the department “identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters.”

    The IG expressed “profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered our review.”

    The contact between FBI agents and the media extended to receiving “improperly receiving benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”

    “The harm caused by leaks, fear of potential leaks, and a culture of unauthorized media contacts is illustrated in Chapters Ten and Eleven of our report, where we detail the fact that these issues influenced FBI officials who were advising Comey on consequential investigative decisions in October 2016,” the report states.

    The IG is forceful in its opinion that the problem with leaking is not “with the FBI’s policy, which we found to be clear and unambiguous.” Instead, the leaking phenomenon “appears to be a cultural attitude among many in the organization.”

    According to charts provided in the IG report, one reporter had contact with 12 FBI officials, including an FBI executive and unit chief.

    Another reporter contacted an assistant director 21 times and a special agent 23 times, according to the IG. Some FBI employees were in contact with multiple reporters, with one special agent contacting various journalists 32 times.

  65. Obstruction. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    She wiped server and instructed her team to break their phones..wow...no obstruction there...geez no bias from muellers team nor comeys based on the text... /sarcasm

  66. If Comey undermined Hillary he sure left out a lot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    If Comey were out to undermine Hillary!, why'd he leave off the fact that Hillary! and Obama communicated via her blatantly illegal email server?

    If Comey were out to undermine Hillary, why'd he water down to "it's possible" the known fact that "foreign actors" had accessed her email, including getting access to classified data?

    If Comey were out to undermine Hillary, why did he allow Strzok to water down his findings from "gross negligence"?

    If Comey were out to undermine Hillary, why'd he go beyond FBI policy to make up some crap about "no reasonable prosecutor"? When it's neither the job nor the policy of the FBI to make those decisions?

    The only reason Comey came out with the report about finding Hillary emails on perv Weiner's laptop right before the election was known Hillary! partisans Strzok and McCabe slow-rolled the investigation for a month or two - Strzok explicitly to focus in his presumable "insurance policy" (Russia! Russia! Russia!) in order to try to make good on his, "We'll stop him." promise.

    Isn't that funny?

    If you're going to blame Comey for Hillary's loss, you have to admit that had Hillary not broken the law by setting up that server and putting classified information on it, Comey never would have had reason to "undermine" her.

  67. Re:Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classif by quantaman · · Score: 1

    (U) Her claim is fucking ridiculous, because in classified documents every page, heading, sentence, and bullet point, and source reference is preceded by note just like this: (U) (FOUO) (C) (S) (TS)
    (U) Is this painful to read? This is the sort of thing that she claims was missing from her documents.

    It's also the thing the FBI claims was missing from her documents:
    Three emails, out of 30,000, were found to be marked as classified, although they lacked classified headers and were only marked with a small "c" in parentheses, described as "portion markings" by Comey.

    (U) You can't get such documents off of the secure network. To get such documents on her private server, she or a lackey uploaded them.

    Or someone wrote up some information in an email, either not realizing it was classified or not realizing it shouldn't be sent over email, and clicked send.

    (U) Most people who get caught for lesser fuck-ups end up going to jail.

    No one doing what Clinton did would be sent to jail, all of the examples of people going to jail are for far more deliberate mishandling of classified data.

    --
    I stole this Sig
  68. If you knew Mike Pences history by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    you wouldn't call it histrionic. One of the reasons everybody thought Trump would lose is his running mate is a bonefide Kool-Aid drinker. Seriously, look up some eps of his old radio show. That guys nuts, and he's the second most powerful man on earth right now.

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    1. Re:If you knew Mike Pences history by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be Trump. After Xi.

      Trump's power is on a downward trajectory, given his intent to and demonstrable progress in destroying the western alliance the US forged after WWII.

    2. Re:If you knew Mike Pences history by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      Second best armed, perhaps. As for powerful? World news is making it pretty clear that America's soft power is declining rapidly with the lack of respect for Cheetoh.
      I'd say Xi in China is probably the most powerful man alive right now.

  69. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...after the ice caused the aircraft to crash...

  70. Makes my head hurt by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 2

    I swear, on Slashdot, Trump & Hillary have become Godwin's Law 2.0

    It is nearly impossible NOT to find a reference to one or both of these idiots in every single topic. Every Damned One. O.o

    1. Re:Makes my head hurt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hitler and every hyperbolic comparison in the last fifty years sighed.

  71. And the swampy IG cannot see a problem here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Swamp dwellers protect their own.

    Imagine a scenario in which YOU are hired by the federal government to do a job and you:
    [1] Do all your work on a private account, that's not accessible to government archivists, investigators, and oversight comittees (contrary to law)
    [2] Delete your content from that private account when you get a subpoena for it
    [3] Have your underlings tell the courts and congress that there IS no such private account
    [4] Go on national television and claim you do not know one of your peers is doing these things even though you yourself are sending them mail on that account.

    Think YOU would get away with it?
    The rule of law is gradually being destroyed, and has been since the Clinton administration back in the 1990s. We're all supposed to be subject to the same laws and treated the same when we run afoul of them - that's why the statues of Lady Justice always portray her as blindfolded.

    Incidentally, Comey and Hillary both did #1, Hillary did #2 & #3, and Obama did #4

  72. By implication, it destroys the idea that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey (particularly since the firing had ZERO impact on the investigation).

    First, the Constitution gives the president the authority to fire ANYBODY in the executive branch for ANY reason, so the obstruction case was always a silly tactic to mislead ignorant people, but to proceed...

    Rosenstein recommended Trump fire Comey, and then Rosenstein appointed Meuller to go after Trump for the firing...making this even sillier, but now this Inspector General report makes clear that Comey actually WAS incompetent and corrupt and needed to be fired. It turns out he did not know basic fasts that were VERY publicly known, and he himself was guilty of some of the same actions Hillary was doing (hiding official business from the courts and from congressional oversight, and from the folks at the national archives by doing it in a private account off of government servers). somehow we are now supposed to believe that Trump obstructed justice by firing an incompetent and corrupt guy who was he was advised to fire for incompetence and who an independent review has now found was even more incompetent that anybody previously knew.

    Wow. just....wow.

  73. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not sure if trolling... blue is the voter so you're saying the voters fall off the wings metaphorically as the DNC leaves them behind and moves on?

    I think this post needs self identification markers for team red and blue as friendly fire is a real thing.

  74. Re:It is only Illegal if... by pots · · Score: 1

    Neither liberals nor conservatives approve of how Comey handled that investigation, so I don't think that's a controversial statement.

    The investigations were only covered in scrupulous breathless detail by the right-wing press. It's unlikely that most progressives have a terribly developed opinion on the way in which the investigations were handled. They're more likely to care about the number of investigations, the length, the results, the way in which the results were revealed to the public, etc.

    It's pretty easy to identify your political affiliation here based on what you think everyone believes. Not just the above, but also your statement, "Comey's credibility is gone." That fact is a sad testament to how corrupted our press has become.

  75. Re:No fag, you're wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I suggest you clean up your language and move out of your parents basement. Get a real job. Get married and have some kids. Pay your taxes. Be active in your community. Even try to go to church every Sunday. Make something of your life.

  76. Re: Trump isn't a Conservative, but a traitor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, the last Ukrainian regime, you know the one run by a corrupt, kleptocratic Moscow-controlled puppet.

  77. Re:Keep things in perspective by avandesande · · Score: 1

    You aren't required to keep every draft of a document.

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  78. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To call him a dictator is half right.

  79. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is what Putin wants.

  80. Don't mess with the God Emperor! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is not illegal for the God Emperor. In no law does it state the God Emperor cannot do as he pleases! Why do you hate America? #MAGA

  81. Re:Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classif by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one doing what Clinton did would be sent to jail, all of the examples of people going to jail are for far more deliberate mishandling of classified data.

    Again, wrong. I have personally done produced evidence for investigations that have sent people to jail for less than Clinton did.
    One guy brought in a personal computer to practice his tech skills on, because he wasn't allowed to do "non-work" on the government's computers. When people reported him, he lied about the computer belonging to him. He spent 18 months in jail.

    In 20 years as a cleared information security contractor, I have seen a few dozen people violate the rules. The #1 rule is that accidents happen - and when reported honestly, will be forgiven. Deliberate violations and lying will ALWAYS result in prosecution.

    Unless your name is 'Clinton'.

  82. Lock them all up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guillotines 2020

  83. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember when Obama was President and unemployment going down consistently for dozens of months didn't mean the economy was strong?

  84. Re:No, Different leak [Re:Sites back, grabs a tub. by ilguido · · Score: 3, Informative

    The DNC email leak was from the DNC, not the Clinton server (and was years after Hillary left the Secretary of State office). It was done by phishing John Podesta's account:

    There were three distinct leaks: one from the Clinton server, one from the DNC and one from Podesta. The Podesta leak has nothing to do with the DNC leak and the phished Podesta account is on gmail.

  85. There were no investigations. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And since trump's entire "evidence" for how he should win was Hilary was under invesgitation "Crooked Hillary", him being likewise under investigation would AT LEAST remove his chants to the knuckledragging crowd.

  86. What about Obama? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Last March

    CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante asked Mr. Obama when he learned about her private email system after his Saturday appearance in Selma, Alabama.
    "The same time everybody else learned it through news reports," the president told Plante.

    Yesterday's IG report (footnote of page 89):

    President Barack Obama was one of the 13 individuals with whom Clinton had direct contact using her clintonemail.com account.

    Lying to the press might not be a crime, but it looks like he was in on it.

    1. Re:What about Obama? by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Sure he was but he's Obama. Can't criticise or talk about him or you're racist/fill in the blank. You can't expect a very educated lawyer such as Obama to know the law now can you?

      He should be in an orange jumpsuit.

  87. Nonsense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A lot of the time intent is the only thing that makes something illegal.
    I drive down the street, I try to run you over. Only intent makes it different.

  88. Citation Needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Trump administration uses anything they can to divert the attention of the public and the press away from the inhumane, anti-American, anti-Christian (which I only mention because that's supposedly the base of his supporters), and downright evil shit that he and his appointees keep committing against the United States, it's citizens, and the human race in general; [...]

    So what has he done that's so evil? He might be a bull in a china shop and lack tact, but I'd say that he's getting more and better results than any other American president that I can remember (since the mid-90s).

  89. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pence didn't have classified information in his email. Pence didn't have classified information stolen by foreign agents. Pence didn't have the FBI wipe the fact that classified information was swiped when the FBI reported to Congress/public about the incident.

    See a difference here? If using personal email is ok, that is fine. Using it for classified information and having it stolen by foreign agents, then having the FBI cover it up for you is ILLEGAL.

    Big difference. But thanks for showing you are biased like the FBI and think "your side" shouldn't face consequences for their actions.

  90. Re:No, Different leak [Re:Sites back, grabs a tub. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You can of course provide proof that there was in fact a leak from the Clinton server, because you want to set the same high standard as the post you replied to. You just forgot to add it. Amiright?

  91. Makes me wonder by Cute+Fuzzy+Bunny · · Score: 1

    How people feel about Jared and Ivanka using their own private server since before the campaign, and continuing to do so today?

    Or trump using an unsecured phone after the inauguration, with rumors of that still happening?

    Or Mike Pence using his AOL account email to discuss matters of homeland security while Governor and during the campaign?

  92. Re:Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classif by quantaman · · Score: 1

    The #1 rule is that accidents happen - and when reported honestly, will be forgiven. Deliberate violations and lying will ALWAYS result in prosecution.

    Unless your name is 'Clinton'.

    Except the point is she didn't deliberately expose the classified records, and if you believe she didn't realize classified information ended up on there then she didn't lie either.

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  93. Re:No, Different leak [Re:Sites back, grabs a tub. by pgmrdlm · · Score: 0
    --
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  94. Re:Trump isn't a Conservative, but a traitor by butzwonker · · Score: 1

    Okay, I'm expressing the sentiment of pretty much the whole rest of the world outside of the US here, at the risk of hurting the feelings of some poor US Trump fans.

    It's pretty obvious that he's neither a traitor nor a conservative. He's really just a narcissist asshat clown who was born into a rich family, there is otherwise nothing remarkable about this mostly harmless conspiracy theory nutter real estate guy. The most annoying thing about him is that the whole world is bombarded with news about him every day and has to endure his idiocy. It can only be described as a constant intellectual assault, like when you had to meet someone every day who makes outrageous and obviously false claims and ignores anyone who points out that he's wrong. It's mildly infuriating. Otherwise nobody gives a fuck about him. Nor should they.

  95. got attacked by both parties by mapkinase · · Score: 2

    He must be the most honest man in government.

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    1. Re:got attacked by both parties by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He must be the most honest man in government.

      I read Comey's actions as he was trying to play both sides and hedge his bets, so pretty much the most dishonest man in government looking out for #1. Like a mini J Edgar Hoover giving out favors and demonstrating his power to punish either side that stepped out of line in order to keep himself in his job and punish criticism of him.

      Comey played the Washington game and his engineering of the Mueller investigation is merely him following through on his power play to try and punish Trump. Comey would have just as easily turned on Clinton if she had fired him so disrespectfully.

  96. Re:It is only Illegal if... by tbannist · · Score: 1

    Neither liberals nor conservatives approve of how Comey handled that investigation... Really? Most of the liberals I know are thrilled with the investigation because it ended up with the results they wanted. Never mind the fact that the investigation was very badly mishandled and that he had no business deciding that nobody would be willing to prosecute, it ended up with Hillary safe, and that's all they care about.

    See what this comment tells me is that you don't actually know any liberals...

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  97. Re:It is only Illegal if... by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

    See what this comment tells me is that you don't actually know any liberals...

    Well, they call themselves liberals, and who am I to argue with them about it?

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  98. Re:Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classif by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except it was actually deliberate and Hillary Clinton clearly lied to the FBI about it:

    "They say they've had issues sending secure fax. They're working on it."

    Clinton responds "If they can't, turn into nonpaper [with] no identifying heading and send nonsecure."

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/01/08/boom-in-newlyreleased-email-hillary-orders-aide-to-strip-classified-marking-n2101680

    Really isn't any reasonable way to accept Hillary Clinton's explanation that the "heading" was just the state department logo and not the classification markings in the context of a conversation about sending classified information.

  99. Re:If Comey undermined Hillary he sure left out a by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

    Once again, NOT illegal, just contrary to policy

  100. Not really a big deal, don't you remember? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doesn't anybody remember that the state department's official server was hacked as well?!

    Nothing major has come out about info leaked other than the usual BS about secrets causing harm and any actual minor harm likely traces back to the official government servers that were hacked and likely continuously get hacked at various points.

    This is also the state department we are talking about, the department of artful lying (aka diplomacy.) They strategically leaked things since their inception! Like the double agent who's not punished for their treason because that was part of the whole plan...

    They may screw up now and then but some mistakes are INTENTIONAL and when the public gets whipped up about things they do not understand the people in the know are just irritated and ignore it because they know better. (hubris has it's downsides... Clinton had plenty of it, along with just about anybody who's been in the know for a while.) Again, this is the state department we are talking about; and while you don't want others to see your hand, everybody knows your a serious poker player and nobody still can see the cards not yet dealt. You might want others to see a few of your cards "by accident" so they believe your bluff later.

    Besides, the email thing is a matter of policy, not law-- the only places the law applies is classified info leaking; some of which was not classified at the time of the email which is impossible stuff to prosecute in the legal system because it's ex-post-facto. So then you have the accidental leaks which lack motive so they have minor punishments and finally, the intentional leaking of secrets which sometimes are unofficially part of a larger more complex game. You have to wonder about those larger games of misinformation when the people do not get punished in a normal way... (unless they are a fall guy nobody cares about.)

    The bigger issue behind all this is organizational complexity; you have jobs that need to be smaller because nobody can comply with all the laws and policies without a few full time legal advisors besides the unintentional limitations they try to work around in order to do their jobs. The other side is that some positions require a breadth of power while also being too complex for a single person to handle effectively no matter how smart they are. This is a problem in any system... when do you subdivide and how many troubles does the loosened coupling create? The world is growing more complex and the organizations to deal with that have to adapt and scale with it; aside from growing pains, we are not doing much thoughtful adaptation and ignorantly believe our old ways are up to task

  101. Missing article about stopping Trump by micahraleigh · · Score: 0

    Why does Comey's personal email for business get an article on \. and not that FBI (Peter Strzok / Lisa Page) was telling itself “we'll stop” Trump from becoming president?

  102. Re:It is only Illegal if... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    Law enforcement exercises its own jurisdiction on deciding whether to send a case up to prosecutors every single day. That's literally how it works.
    What I want to know, is did you really not know that, or are you so blinded by partisan hatred that you're willing to sacrifice your intellectual honesty to crank up your blood pressure a few more notches?

  103. Re:It is only Illegal if... by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

    My understanding is that he made the decision based on the fact that he expected her to win and that nobody was going to be willing to press charges against the President Elect. My personal opinion is that that shouldn't have been his call. He should have passed the results of his investigation over to the proper people and let them decide. Then, if the decision was not to prosecute, his hands were clean. As it is, there are people who say that he closed the case for partisan reasons. Personally, I don't know his motives, but it does make me wonder.

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  104. Re:Almost two years after Trump won... by Shotgun · · Score: 1

    Clinton didn't deserve to win.

    Neither did Trump.

    We are all fucked.

    I agree. Fucked with the highest employment numbers in history. What a crap way to live.

    --
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  105. Re:Except Clinton's official bussiness was Classif by quantaman · · Score: 1

    Except it was actually deliberate and Hillary Clinton clearly lied to the FBI about it:

    "They say they've had issues sending secure fax. They're working on it."

    Clinton responds "If they can't, turn into nonpaper [with] no identifying heading and send nonsecure."

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2016/01/08/boom-in-newlyreleased-email-hillary-orders-aide-to-strip-classified-marking-n2101680

    Really isn't any reasonable way to accept Hillary Clinton's explanation that the "heading" was just the state department logo and not the classification markings in the context of a conversation about sending classified information.

    Was the information in question actually classified or just inside a document that was classified due to the presence of other information?

    Not saying it wasn't deliberate in this instance, but it's still not clear what the intent or result was.

    --
    I stole this Sig
  106. Re:It is only Illegal if... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    As far as optics are concerned, and given the fact that half the country now think he was part of a conspiracy to elect Clinton, which is, imho, one of the stupidest fucking things I've seen come out of the righty conspiracy theory mill, you're right. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble by punting it off his side of the field.

    What's important though, is non-optically speaking- what he did was completely normal. He has discretion to decide of an alleged infraction is worthy of prosecution, or likely to be prosecuted, and according to the IG report- he was correct in his assertion that it wouldn't be, making claims of conspiracy seem kind of strange to me.

  107. Hillary is now 70 years old. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    "Maybe it's because she has almost no credibility and the only ones voting for her were doing it of party reasons, anti-trump reasons, or for gender reasons."

    Good points. It seemed to me that she was often surprisingly lacking in logical understanding.

    However, look at this article: Hillary Clinton Jokes About Wiping Email Server 'With A Cloth Or Something'. Hillary: "What? Like with a cloth or something?" she asked, then laughed. "I don't know how it works digitally at all."

    That was NOT "joking". Hillary is now 70 years old. Most people her age don't understand computer technology, and don't want to understand.

    1. Re:Hillary is now 70 years old. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Oh bullshit. Fricking BULLSHIT. My sister is 72 and she teaches this stuff. Excel, Server administration, server security, all that crap. She's not alone. I remember running into women in their 70s still working for the Government 20 years ago that knew about Solaris and ufsdump! No shit. Much to my surprise during the Reagan/Bush years they were re-trained from the mainframes to use Unix. So being 70 has nothing to do with it. Having no clue about how the world works is all of it. She's just a lawyer that nearly was disbarred in the 1970s when she worked at the Rose law firm. She's been in a lot of people's opinion - unethical in her profession all her life. Thank our lucky stars she wasn't elected. While the alternative isn't a whole lot better, the country is still a country and doing great. We're #1 in GDP now. Unemployment is at a 50 year low. Everyone is benefiting while he trolls the stupid press. Maybe we should dispense with politicians for President and use businessmen from now on. People that know something about money.

      Being older doesn't mean we're stupid or don't know what's going on. Some people, sure. I can point to 20 year olds that are clueless as well. Very clueless. Clueless to the point they text while driving and drive into things. Sometimes people around that age eat laundry pods or shoot things like heroin into their body. Really stupid things to do unless you want to die. There are more effective ways. I've met people that were 100+ years old and were sharp as a tack.

      No, she knew damn well what she was doing with that server. She's been around Washington. She knew what trouble people got into during Reagan's era with e-mail. Yes, even back then. They used Unix boxes. In fact the Clinton's used a Unix based OS in the state government. Microsoft was a joke at the time. Joke aside, she knew what she was doing. She knew the Department's computers could be subject to FOIA. I remember requests during Bill's term for that so I'm sure she was aware of it. So there's no doubt in my mind she knew exactly what she was doing. She knew it could put her in jail where she belongs. We really need to make sure she's not above the law.

      Now get off of my lawn.

  108. Re:It is only Illegal if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, a prosecutor in the Justice Department decides if something is worthy of prosecution. The FBI investigates and gathers the facts that the prosecutor uses to make the determination.

    The fact that he decided instead of the Justice Department is one of the procedural problems the just released IG report cites as one of Comey's major deviations from the required process.

    He did it because the person who should have been deciding was tainted in the public's eyes by having a private tarmac meeting with the target of the investigation's (err... "matter", as politically changed) husband, who was one of her past major career benefactors. What they legally should have done is appointed a special prosecutor to look at the specific crime and make all the decisions to prosecute or not, but that wouldn't have assured the "proper" result was achieved.

  109. Re:It is only Illegal if... by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    Not on the Federal level. Every Federal employee, Civil Servant or Contractor, they ALL have to go through what's allowed and what's not allowed. They have been clear on this even back in the 1990s - you don't use outside e-mail for department business. You also never say you represent an agency on any public media unless you really are a spokesman for the agency. You are not to use Government resources for personal use. It's ok to check your e-mail during lunch or a break, otherwise you're not allowed to. Official use only.

    I've been a security guy for years. I've busted people using Government resources to do income taxes for people on the side, all kinds of other stuff including some that were very illegal. Things I can't un-see and wish I could.

    Do yourself a favour AC. Never use your personal e-mail for stuff. Never use outside resources that you're not supposed to use for your job. Keep everything professional and where they're supposed to be. You'll never get into trouble for things like this. You just have to watch out for the SJW bullshit.

  110. I said "most people". by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    I said "Most people her age don't understand computer technology, and don't want to understand." Most people, not all.

    I've known many people who responded like the stories say Hillary did.

    My opinion: Hillary Clinton showed many, many times in many ways that she was not deeply logical. She exhibited the behavior of people I've known who didn't want to try to understand technology.

    Did Hillary Clinton give any deeply insightful ideas when she was Secretary of State? None of which I am aware. It seemed to me that she lacked depth everywhere, not just concerning technology.

    This story, Understanding Hillary, says she is admired by her co-workers, and only weak in elections. It has seemed to me that she is weak everywhere in public.

    1. Re:I said "most people". by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Man you hit the nail on the head. Nail went right in!

      Further, it's clear she used her position for financial gain. Very clear. At the expense of the United States. A Republican would already be years into his prison sentence by now if he did what she did at the same time.

    2. Re:I said "most people". by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Further, it's clear she used her position for financial gain. Very clear. At the expense of the United States.

      Is it? Is it really? Want to provide some proof of that financial gain? After all, if it's so clear, you should be able to provide whatever's needed for those hapless FBI guys so she can be charged tomorrow, right? TBH, I'm sick of you conspiracy nutjobs (both sides) that just keep on repeating some tripe you heard in one of your echo chambers. Put up some real documentation or shut up.

      A Republican would already be years into his prison sentence by now if he did what she did at the same time.

      Well, Trump's still going, and it's been documented that he's benefiting from his elected position. (His hotel in DC alone has a 50% increase in revenues since the presidency started, along with the sudden large number of legal actions in China going his and his family's way post election) I think you'll see more unsavory stories as administration actions are traced back to those that benefitted from them. Zinke is my personal favorite for next indictable current administration official. His actions as EPA head and interactions with lobbyists are billowing smoke. All that's needed is to find the fire.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    3. Re:I said "most people". by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Further, it's clear she used her position for financial gain. Very clear. At the expense of the United States.

      Is it? Is it really? Want to provide some proof of that financial gain? After all, if it's so clear, you should be able to provide whatever's needed for those hapless FBI guys so she can be charged tomorrow, right? TBH, I'm sick of you conspiracy nutjobs (both sides) that just keep on repeating some tripe you heard in one of your echo chambers. Put up some real documentation or shut up.

      Really? I don't even know where to start.

      Here, I don't think you can call the WashPo a right wing paper. So have at it -
      https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      So how come the IRS never audited them? I think it's certain they took money from the foundation from what I've read.

      Ever hear of the Clinton Foundation?
      Ever hear of Uranium one? ... and so on. Not hard to find. Not hard to find references to actual court cases and such though that doesn't seem to matter to liberals. Nothing does. They're far to emotional to listen to reason. Let's see how you do.

      https://www.investors.com/poli...
      https://www.theatlantic.com/po...
      http://thehill.com/policy/nati...

      How about the health care bit that she couldn't shove down our throats in 1994, shoved it down our throats as the ACA? Here, listen to Mr. Gruber (the "expert" that pushed it through) tell you how stupid you are - http://thehill.com/policy/heal...

      The Clintons seem to be as corrupt as they come. From Hillary nearly getting disbarred when she worked at the Rose law firm to Bill & Hillary being disbarred after they left the WH. They are not nice people.

      A Republican would already be years into his prison sentence by now if he did what she did at the same time.

      Well, Trump's still going, and it's been documented that he's benefiting from his elected position. (His hotel in DC alone has a 50% increase in revenues since the presidency started, along with the sudden large number of legal actions in China going his and his family's way post election) I think you'll see more unsavory stories as administration actions are traced back to those that benefitted from them. Zinke is my personal favorite for next indictable current administration official. His actions as EPA head and interactions with lobbyists are billowing smoke. All that's needed is to find the fire.

      Interesting. So what law has Trump broken because the Democrats would love to know of an actual law he's broken instead of the fake one - collusion. They've tried emoluments, other things that are very obscure and haven't been complained about in the history of the country. One by one they've been ruled to be not a concern. They're trying to conduct a coup. Just like they tried to do with Nixon.

      GDP is doing very well, we're #1 again in the world. Consumer confidence is way back up. Unemployment is at a 43 year low. Black people are doing better than they have done under ANY Democratic President. Things are working a whole lot better. He's even bringing peace to the Korean peninsula. Something Obama really wanted to do and failed. He's putting politicians to shame all the way back to at least Eisenhower. Probably more like Lincoln. I thin

    4. Re:I said "most people". by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Really? I don't even know where to start.

      Here, I don't think you can call the WashPo a right wing paper. So have at it - https://www.washingtonpost.com...

      So how come the IRS never audited them? I think it's certain they took money from the foundation from what I've read.

      Ever hear of the Clinton Foundation? Ever hear of Uranium one? ... and so on.

      So, what in the WashPo indicates anything was wrong, other than 1 $500K donation in 2010? And the only thing wrong there appears to be clerical. And you don't think the IRS audited them? I know they audited them again in 2016, at the behest of 64 Republicans. Where are those Republicans when it's time to audit the Trump Organization charities? As for them taking money - please provide proof. That they take money for speaking? Yes they do. As does every other single ex-president. Uranium One - again, provide proof. I've seen a lot of accusations, zero proof. And that's the problem.

      Not hard to find. Not hard to find references to actual court cases and such though that doesn't seem to matter to liberals. Nothing does. They're far to emotional to listen to reason. Let's see how you do.

      https://www.investors.com/poli... https://www.theatlantic.com/po... http://thehill.com/policy/nati...

      A reference to an editorial that links to another set of editorials? That's the best you can do? In fact, your second link proves that there was nothing untoward with the Uranium One deal. If anything, it shows extreme partisan bias being wielded to denigrate a potential candidate. (After all, where's the investigation of the other 8 departments that approved U-One, or even the assertion that Clinton swung the vote somehow, or influenced the other 8?)

      How about the health care bit that she couldn't shove down our throats in 1994, shoved it down our throats as the ACA? Here, listen to Mr. Gruber (the "expert" that pushed it through) tell you how stupid you are - http://thehill.com/policy/heal...

      Ah yeah, Gruber, the self-important self-grandizing model that Gulliani is out-grandizing.... Anyone that didn't get the message that the healthy would pay in to help lower (subsidize) the costs for the unhealthy should probably be in a mental ward. I'm no fan of Obamacare, but it at least attempted to address the healthcare issues for the people, no matter how badly. The then existing system was setup to only support healthy people and maximize profits. Not really a healthcare solution.

      The Clintons seem to be as corrupt as they come. From Hillary nearly getting disbarred when she worked at the Rose law firm to Bill & Hillary being disbarred after they left the WH. They are not nice people.

      The only argument I have with your statement is that Hillary was not disbarred. Facts are important. And FWIW, back in 2000 or so, when people said Hillary would make a run for president, I pointed to the TV and stated that the only way Hillary would be elected is if someone like Trump, standing next to Bill and Hillary, was her opponent. I really do wish I'd bet on her presidential run. Make no mistake about it, the only reason she lost to asshat Trump is because of large amounts of disinformation floating about the rather fertile minefie

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    5. Re:I said "most people". by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      If only people realized that under every Republican administration since Reagan government has gotten bigger and the budget more unbalanced as the rich got richer. Essentially that means that Republicans are robbing everyone to pay the 1%. Numbers don't lie. Note that the ONLY balanced budgets came under Democratic presidents, and that the general standard of living of the populace was better. I'd guess that Republicans would change their tune. However, I believe that the general lack of morals by the pedophile and general assault promoting Republican leadership might change them sooner. Emotion is a much faster conduit to opinion than reason for a large group of these folks.

      Trump inherited a terrible economy. People really have no idea just how bad off we were. In Detroit they were changing neighbourhoods back into farm land. Chicago was a shooting gallery, still is due to the Democrats running things. Obama's first two years we were in free fall, sky rocketing unemployment, things were terrible. He also piled on the useless regulations. It was like a land mine field. Screw up and you can go to jail. Over nothing. Obama couldn't pull even a 3% growth in GDP. There was a nice chart of all of this and for some reason I can't even pull up www.bea.gov. Sigh. Anyhow, China overtook us - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Look at average values of GDP, not nominal. We just overtook China recently Making American Great Again.

      About the balanced budget - No you don't. There has been one balanced budget and it was because the Republicans made Bill Clinton sign the bill kicking and screaming by shutting down the government. I remember it all too well. That's the only time we saw a reduction in the deficit to the point they actually gave the people a rebate, which the Democrats tried to run off with to give the poor instead of the people like me that were overcharged and actually pay our taxes. Contract with America, remember? Remember Bill saying to remember to blame the Republicans when it didn't work? When it worked he said it happened during his administration, as if he had something to do with it? Remember how they went after Newt Gingrich and he was cleared of everything? It was like 70 charges. Not so much as a - "we're sorry" from the democrats. Same old BS now. Just fling crap around.

      If you read elsewhere, you'll see I'm no fan of Democrats either. I pretty much despise the 2-party system we've devolved into and find the machinations that continue to support that system to be likely unconstitutional. After all, elections are to be fair - how is a designated red/blue line vote "fair" to any other party or individual? For that matter, how is noting party affiliation even pertinent on a ballot? The assumption is that you're an informed voter. Think about it.

      So let me bring you back to the e-mail server. This is something that there is no dispute on. She clearly violated the espionage act and I think everyone knows it. She tried to destroy all of that with bleach bit and hammers to the cell phones. Does this sound like a woman that is innocent? There is no intent in the law. If it were you or I, we'd be in a cell right now. In my case probably for what's left of my life. They usually don't let you out any time soon, unless you're a Democrat and a Democrat gets into the white house to let all of his criminal buddies out.

      The rest of it I'm not even going to address. Sounds like you either skipped out during your civics class, were asleep or they didn't teach it. In your response I see a lot of basic misunderstandings. The last part a lot of people don't understand. Your party affiliation is important during the primary. That's how the party finds out who is strong within their party. Why open it up to everyone? That's not terribly useful to the party. I'm a registered Democrat. Have been since I could vote. The way I see it, no matter who gets

    6. Re:I said "most people". by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Trump inherited a terrible economy. People really have no idea just how bad off we were.

      Seriously? Are you even in touch with reality?

      In Detroit they were changing neighbourhoods back into farm land. Chicago was a shooting gallery, still is due to the Democrats running things.

      I don't believe either of those things have materially changed, as you note for the second.

      Obama's first two years we were in free fall, sky rocketing unemployment, things were terrible.

      Why, yes they were. A continuation of the Republican delivered deregulation of the banking industry that resulted in that little depression back in 2008. Do recall who handed the government over to Obama. And what was the condition Bush got the economy in? Oh right, one of the best ever handed off, at least until this latest hand-off.

      He also piled on the useless regulations. It was like a land mine field. Screw up and you can go to jail. Over nothing.

      I think you're confused there. Seriously confused. But, that goes back to my first statement in this post. Those regulations were useful, although they do prevent unbridled capitalism, which is a good thing actually. Unbridled capitalism leads to things like the crash of 1929 or 2008....

      Obama couldn't pull even a 3% growth in GDP. There was a nice chart of all of this and for some reason I can't even pull up www.bea.gov. Sigh. Anyhow, China overtook us - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Look at average values of GDP, not nominal. We just overtook China recently Making American Great Again.

      You might want to check those GDP numbers Trump's broken 3% barely, while Obama broke 5% at least one quarter. Granted, Trump's policies have only really had 6 full months of unfettered potential - neither quarter broke 3%. As for GDP, the average for 5 years includes a couple of really bad ones from the 2008 crash. In terms of GDP, we're still almost twice as large as China with 1/6th the population. We also have a lot less pollution and other issues that in concert with Trump's trade war is going to possibly crash China's economy. The only question is whether we go down with it. Making America Great shouldn't be done by sinking everyone and crawling over the corpses.

      About the balanced budget - No you don't. There has been one balanced budget and it was because the Republicans made Bill Clinton sign the bill kicking and screaming by shutting down the government. I remember it all too well.

      And you're wrong again.

      So let me bring you back to the e-mail server. This is something that there is no dispute on. She clearly violated the espionage act and I think everyone knows it. She tried to destroy all of that with bleach bit and hammers to the cell phones. Does this sound like a woman that is innocent? There is no intent in the law. If it were you or I, we'd be in a cell right now. In my case probably for what's left of my life.

      Unlike you, I actually worked in a job with those types of restrictions. I also happen to know about a few real violations. Trust me, I have yet to see anything on Hillary that violates anything other than policy. I've had this discussion with others and they have failed to provide any proof other than... but but but.. she must be dirty. She can't even be nailed for using private email for government work, as that was apparently "acceptable" at the time. Not in my job, but apparently my dept works under different and more strict rules.

      In your response I see a lot of basic misunderstandings. The last part a lot of people don't understand. Your party affiliation is important during t

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  111. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    So you're the expert on what Putin wants?

  112. Re: It is only Illegal if... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    No, blue ice metaphorically falls off the wings of the DNC plane. Mostly onto the voting public.

  113. Re:It is only Illegal if... by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

    No, a prosecutor in the Justice Department decides if something is worthy of prosecution. The FBI investigates and gathers the facts that the prosecutor uses to make the determination.

    You can say that as many times as you like, but it just doesn't make it true. I'm sorry.

  114. Agency head by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    You missed the point of the comment.

    The upthread poster didn't say she had the authority to declassify material. They said that she had the authority to say whether a given storage location is secure. The executive order quoted above says that the agency head has that power, so that seems accurate.

  115. maybe that's why Comey covered for her by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Summary is written as if Comey was engaging in hypocrisy - ignoring the fact that Comey bent over backwards to clear Hillary while at the same time the DOJ was prosecuting others for mishandling classified evidence. Using Dembot talking points like the emails weren't "marked as classified" which is asinine, as the information was 'born' classified. And that she didn't have intent to mishandle evidence, which 1) is crap given that she blasted the Bush administration for using private email 2) intent is irrelevant. It's like statutory rape: either it happened or it didn't. Doesn't matter what the person's intent was.

  116. Willful Dumbfuckery by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    You no more need to be a prosecutor to see the double standards in play than you need to be a Supreme Court justice to see the five conservatives were full of shit on their back-to-back rulings on gay wedding cakes and Muslim travel bans. You only need not have your head planted deep in one's partisan ass.