So Hillary Clinton is raising the roof, demanding that James Comey produce the goods if he thinks he’s got anything on her. That’s not going to be an easy feat under the current conditions because he doesn’t have a warrant to officially sort through them yet. (Yahoo News, emphasis added)
When FBI Director James Comey wrote his bombshell letter to Congress on Friday about newly discovered emails that were potentially “pertinent” to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, agents had not been able to review any of the material, because the bureau had not yet gotten a search warrant to read them, three government officials who have been briefed on the probe told Yahoo News…
As of Saturday night, the FBI was still in talks with the Justice Department about obtaining a warrant that would allow agency officials to read any of the newly discovered Abedin emails, and therefore was still in the dark about whether they include any classified material that the bureau has not already seen.
“We do not have a warrant,” a senior law enforcement official said. “Discussions are under way [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.”
You may recall that we quickly learned how Loretta Lynch didn’t want Comey publishing his letter to Congress. Maybe that’s because of long standing policy at the Justice Department or perhaps it would have created too much awkward conversation with her good friend Bill during their next private plane chat on the tarmac. But no matter the motivation, it’s not James Comey standing in the way of Clinton’s demand that the goods be put on the table for all to see. If she wants fast action on this matter, Hillary should probably be talking to the Attorney General.
But is there any fire under this new trail of smoke? The fact that there isn’t a warrant allowing an “official investigation” of the documents doesn’t mean that Comey or one of his agents hasn’t already seen them. They just can’t report on (or in the case release) them until the proper forms have been filed. If those emails all had subject lines such as, “Can I wear these yoga pants to your daughter’s wedding?” there would have been no letter from Comey and we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now.
Perhaps Team Clinton should be a bit more careful what they wish for.
Everyone on the Democrats’ side of the political world – and most particularly Hillary Clinton herself – is upset over the FBI digging further into this mess and Comey makes for an easy scapegoat. But a less biased look at the past couple years of revelations offers a far simpler explanation. We’ve learned about Hillary’s technical team and their adventures with private servers and bit bleaching software. Her staff was juggling access to the State Department with million dollar gigs for Bill. Huma appears to clearly have engaged in perjury after previously having been recommended for prosecution on charges of embezzlement. Sensitive national security information was hobnobbing in bathroom closets and mixing it up with Carlos Danger’s collection of “fashion blog” entries. All in all, Clinton’s operation resembled a wild west bank robbing crew more than Reagan’s kitchen cabinet. And if you’re going to operate your political team like Butch Cassidy’s Hole in the Wall Gang, don’t go acting all annoyed when the Pinkertons keep showing up.
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