Comey on Clinton: 'There are no special rules for anyone under FBI investigation'

On Wednesday FBI Director James Comey conducted a “pen and pad” Q & A session with several members of the media and much of the focus of the on-the-record inquiry centered around the ongoing investigation into Hillary CLinton’s use of an unsecured, personal email server for official government business during her four years as Secretary of State.

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Catherine Herridge, investigative reporter at Fox News, has been one of the leading journalists pursuing this story and she participated in the exchange with Director Comey.

I interviewed Herridge on Wednesday morning on WMAL in Washington DC along with my co-host, Brian Wilson. She revealed one fascinating and, perhaps, revealing exchange she had with Comey that has not gotten a lot of attention:

“We have not heard from one government employee who holds a security clearance who has not said that they believe they would already be in jail for doing a fraction of what is alleged to have been done by Mrs. Clinton and her team. So what do you say to people to reassure them that they will  be held to the same legal standard and that there is not a special set of rules for them because they are powerful and they are connected?

And he said ‘I’m not going to comment on that.’ But then he paused and he said, ‘But, what I will say is there are no special rules for anyone under FBI investigation.‘”


There are a couple reasons why this is a significant statement from Comey. His desire to circle back and emphasize that “there are no special rules” is a message of reassurance for many who are questioning whether Clinton and her cronies will ever see justice the like of which Gen. David Patreaus and various low-level diplomats who have suffered serious repercussions for mishandling classified information. But, it could also be interpreted as a warning shot to the political hacks at the Justice Department who will evaluate Comey’s recommendation and determine whether charges should be brought against Clinton or her close confidants who are also part of the FBI investigation.

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One other item of note is that very term: “FBI investigation.”  You see, the Clinton camp refuses to call the FBI investigation an FBI investigation.  It goes well beyond the meaning of the work “is.” They have actively spun the media in a way that many reporters and anchors will use the campaign’s preferred phrase “security inquiry,” despite the fact that Comey has specifically said that there is no such thing as a “security inquiry” as far as the FBI is concerned.

Just this morning, hapless DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told Fox News, “I think it’s important to underscore that Secretary Clinton isn’t even a target of this inquiry, investigation, whatever ‘I’ word you want to use.”

Really? Because if you look at Comey’s statement regarding special rules for Clinton, he certainly implies that she is the target of the investigation. Herridge asked how he responds to people’s concerns that Madame Secretary is being treated differently than plebes like you and I and he specifically said, “There are no special rules for anyone under FBI investigation.”

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The question was about Clinton and he answered broadly about anyone “under FBI investigation.” Anyone like, Hillary Clinton.

hillary clinton

 

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