There has been much slackjawed amazement about the FBI’s decision to recommend that Hillary Clinton not be charged over her cavalier treatment of classified material on her private email server while secretary of state. FBI director James Comey, both in his initial statement and in a congressional hearing, has systematically dismantled her excuses and lies to the point of intimating that lesser mortals in similar circumstances would likely have been charged, and yet somehow what Hillary Clinton did doesn’t amount to criminal intent. ABC News even has footage of Hillary Clinton at a dinner party in 2000 saying, “As much as I’ve been investigated and all of that, you know, why would I—I don’t even want—why would I ever want to do email?” If that’s not evidence of knowingly setting up an email server in violation of State Department rules to avoid scrutiny—to say nothing of how her actions led Comey to conclude that foreign governments likely hacked her email account—we don’t know what would be.
But set aside the actual substance of the investigation for a moment. Let’s look at the political circumstances surrounding it. One would think the Obama administration would be invested in making sure that the FBI investigation at least appeared free from political pressure. However, whether from arrogance, incompetence, or both, the Obama administration and the Clintons made no visible attempt to act honorably.
Let’s recap what happened here. There was always a conflict of interest involved in the Obama administration investigating Hillary Clinton, but that was dramatically heightened when Obama came out and endorsed Clinton on June 9. Despite this, there was no clamor in the press or otherwise about why this may have been improper, with the administration still overseeing an FBI investigation into her. Incredibly, calls for a special prosecutor—and if ever there were a situation that might call for one, this is it—were summarily ignored. Then on June 27, Comey’s boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, randomly met at the Phoenix airport with Bill Clinton. On July 1, at the Aspen Ideas Festival—a confab designed to connect the super wealthy with liberal politicos, which could not be a worse setting if you’re an ordinary American who thinks the system is rigged—Lynch calmly announced she would accept the recommendation of the FBI director. Over the following weekend, CNN reported sources saying the FBI would decline to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton. Then “Democrats close to Mrs. Clinton” floated the idea of keeping Loretta Lynch on as AG in her administration. On July 5, Comey held his press conference saying the FBI won’t, in fact, recommend prosecuting her. Comey’s announcement came just hours before Obama officially began campaigning with Hillary Clinton. On July 7, it emerged that while the FBI did interview Hillary Clinton for three-and-a-half hours as part of their investigation, the interview was not recorded and Hillary Clinton was not put under oath.
Comey assured Congress that lying to the FBI could still be criminal under these circumstances, but the treatment of Clinton seems quite exceptional. In the Bush administration, Scooter Libby was sentenced to prison ostensibly for lying to investigators, even though his supposed untruths could easily have been interpreted as mixing-up details. Then again, Libby had to face a zealous special prosecutor.
What’s most galling in the end is not that Hillary Clinton got away with her l’état-c’est-moi contempt for the laws that apply to the little people—that’s a family tradition we’ve become sadly accustomed to. It’s the administration’s brazen indifference to even pretending that the outcome of the investigation wasn’t foreordained.
