Politics

Democratic Law Prof: ‘Difficult To Imagine’ Hillary Clinton Not Being Indicted

(REUTERS/Mike Segar)

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Casey Harper Contributor
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A Democrat law professor and former Department of Justice official with decades of experience in government secrecy says “it is difficult to imagine” Hillary Clinton not being indicted.

Dan Metcalfe dealt with information disclosure issues for more than 25 years as Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy, including during the Clinton administration. He now teaches secrecy law at American University’s Washington College of Law. He wrote in a Sunday column in LawNewz that “given that the facts and law are so clear in Ms. Clinton’s case, it is difficult to imagine her not being indicted” unless the White House or a top DOJ official intervenes.

For those of us who recognized from the outset that Ms. Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal email system for all her official business (not to mention her unprecedented use of a private server atop that) was a clear violation of the Federal Records Act (‘FRA’), the findings of the State Department’s Inspector General (‘IG’) to that effect in his May 25 report were no surprise.  In fact, on the admitted facts of the case, no other conclusion was possible, and it was simply another ‘shoe waiting to be dropped.’

Metcalfe describes himself as a “registered Democrat who has long said that he will vote for Hillary Clinton in November” if she gets the nomination and does not get indicted. He goes on in the column to refute Hillary’s many arguments defending her email use.

No, her self-serving email set-up was not ‘allowed’ under the State Department’s rules.  No, she was not ‘permitted’ to use a personal email system exclusively as she did.  No, what she did was hardly just a matter of her ‘personal convenience.’  No, there is no evidence that any State Department attorney (other than perhaps Secretary Clinton herself) ever gave ‘legal approval’ to any part of her special email system.  No, everything she did was not “fully above board” or in compliance with the ‘letter and spirit of the rules,’ far from it.  Yes, she was indeed required by the FRA to maintain all official emails in an official system for proper review, delineation, and retention upon her departure.  Yes, her private server equipment was in fact the subject of multiple attempted intrusion attempts (i.e., hacks), including by foreign nations.  The list goes on and on.  (Note that this does not even include Ms. Clinton’s many serious “misstatements” about her handling of classified or potentially classified information.)

The State Department Inspector General published a report in late May saying Clinton violated agency policy by using her personal email and server, the latest sign an indictment is a serious possibility. She has been under fire for months for sending classified information over her personal email using a private server she kept in her home instead of using secure government channels. The scandal has plagued Clinton as a potential indictment hangs over her head.

Read the rest of Metcalfe’s column here.

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