Justice Department: no laws were broken with Hillary's emails

[Blue3]

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/11/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-crumbles-justice-department-laws-broken.html

Reality has bitten Republicans in the backsides again as the Justice Department is saying that Hillary Clinton’s emails broke no laws.

Justice Department lawyers argued before a federal court that Hillary Clinton’s handling of her emails broke no laws.

The Washington Times reported:

In the most complete legal defense of Mrs. Clinton, Justice Department lawyers insisted they not only have no obligation, but no power, to go back and demand the former top diplomat turn over any documents she hasn’t already given — and neither, they said, can the court order that.

The defense came as part of a legal filing telling a judge why the administration shouldn’t be required to order Mrs. Clinton and her top aides to preserve all of their emails.

“There is no question that Secretary Clinton had authority to delete personal emails without agency supervision — she appropriately could have done so even if she were working on a government server,” the administration lawyers argued. “Under policies issued by both the National Archives and Records Administration (‘NARA’) and the State Department, individual officers and employees are permitted and expected to exercise judgment to determine what constitutes a federal record.”

[HillOfANight]

Great news. Hopefully the FBI comes back soon regarding their opinion of the security of the server.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

"Hillary 2016. What she did was allowed."

[Crumpets]

This has never been about classified information in emails. All this controversy boils down to is State+Justice+Hillary supporters versus CIA+Hillary opponents. The FBI and DoD are the ones to watch.

[cinyc]

Just because a left-wing hack website believes it to be so doesn't make it so.  Hillary's alleged crime isn't just deleting personal e-mails.  It is, among other things, housing classified information on her own private server.

Sorry.  E-Mailgate isn't going away.  It will only get worse from here.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

So, Biden's not running?

[DrScholl]

Don't expect the Republicans and Sanders supporters to let go of it. They were scrape the bone on this all the way up to the general election if Hillary gets the nomination.

[pho]

The issue was never really about legal vs illegal. Clinton is being dishonest about it, and that's the bulk of the controversy. It's a classic case of the coverup being worse than the "crime".

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I thought the main legal issue here was that she had official emails on a personal account?

[Crumpets]

I thought the main legal issue here was that she had official emails on a personal account?

Not exactly. Everyone knew she had a personal account. And although State Department "guidelines" suggested having separate accounts, that's all they were - guidelines. The main issue is whether she mishandled classified information on that private account. Current evidence suggests that some material she had was later classified, but that nothing that came across her desk was classified at the time. If that's the case, she should be cleared, since the law says they have to know that the material they are handling is classified while they are handling it. The smoking gun would be if they found something which was marked classified when she received it. This doesn't seem too likely to me, but then again, I'm a Hillary supporter.

[Podgy the Bear]

The problem for Hillary is political.  She and her handlers have botched this so badly to this point.

Until and unless she has a convincing performance in front of Congress next month, the perception in many quarters that she did something wrong and illegal will persist.

[heatmaster]

Me thinks something is rotten in Denmark! 😮 why were we not surprised by that finding?  The Justice Department were going to bend over backwards to ensure that no "evidence" could be discovered about Hillary's cupability in the whole email saga, after all they are a wholly owned subsidiary of Obama's Democratic party. I hope they would be just as "fair" if a Republican was in the cross hairs over a similar matter.  Somehow I doubt it😉 they (the Justice Department) would be loaded for bear & there's nothing a Democrat on this thread can say to convince me & others who share my views otherwise.

[Torie]

I will be surprised if the Court agrees with the State Department's legal assertions. We shall see.

[Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez]

Nothing more will happen to HRC than to Haystacks Calhoun Chris Christie in Bridgegate.

[Consciously Unconscious]

Nothing more will happen to HRC than to Haystacks Calhoun Chris Christie in Bridgegate.

Bridgegate is what caused Christie to drop substantially in the polls...

[Sasquatch]

Damage is done.

[HillOfANight]

This has never been about classified information in emails. All this controversy boils down to is State+Justice+Hillary supporters versus CIA+Hillary opponents. The FBI and DoD are the ones to watch.

I was just curious if you had legal expertise on who has the ultimate authority to press a case? I think inspector generals can scream all they want, but it's ultimately the Department of Justice that decides, but not sure about how that works with the FBI (if they can do it themselves or if they need DOJ approval).

[Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez]

Nothing more will happen to HRC than to Haystacks Calhoun Chris Christie in Bridgegate.

Bridgegate is what caused Christie to drop substantially in the polls...

I don't think it's so much the facts of the Bridgegate Scandal (although there were indictments) as the scandal exposed the unsavory side of Christie's persona.

Hillary is not particularly likeable, and this hurts her.  She IS, however, able to keep her unsavory side under wraps moreso than Christie does.  What makes her unsavory is her generalized self-centeredness, which people catch onto.  Bill was the same way, but he was able to get away with narcissism to a remarkable degree.

[Crumpets]

This has never been about classified information in emails. All this controversy boils down to is State+Justice+Hillary supporters versus CIA+Hillary opponents. The FBI and DoD are the ones to watch.

I was just curious if you had legal expertise on who has the ultimate authority to press a case? I think inspector generals can scream all they want, but it's ultimately the Department of Justice that decides, but not sure about how that works with the FBI (if they can do it themselves or if they need DOJ approval).

I'm not a legal person, but this is my understanding of how this is organized: There are two separate investigations into what happened. The first is a "security" (non-criminal) investigation requested by the Intelligence Community being conducted by the FBI. Chances are this one will only amount to a slap on the wrist, unless Clinton is found to have done something really illegal, beyond anything that has been alleged so far. At that point, it would probably be taken up by the DoJ, but almost certainly not until that point.

The other investigation is being done by Trey Gowdy's Benghazi committee. Given Gowdy's record, I suspect he will be much more aggressive in trying to take down Clinton. That being said, there's only a limited amount that a House Select Committee can do without bringing formal charges against her.

There's also the separate issue of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuits trying to make the emails public. Again, there's only so far these lawsuits can go legally, but given the sheer number of emails, it's not hard to imagine some contain embarrassing information or text bites that the Clinton campaign would prefer remain under lock and key.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Safe to say if this was someone else, they would be in jail

You mean like Bush and Cheney are after deleting millions of e-mails from a government server back in 2007?