It appears that Hillary Clinton may have committed perjury back in October when she testified before the House Benghazi Committee that she did not send or receive any information “marked” classified information via email.
On Tuesday, before FBI director James Comey recommended “no charges” for Clinton over her having classified information on her private email server, he said, “Only a very small number of the e-mails containing classified information bore markings indicating the presence of classified information. But even if information is not marked ‘classified’ in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.” (RELATED: FBI Recommends ‘NO CHARGES’ For Hillary Clinton [VIDEO])
“None of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system, but their presence is especially concerning because all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers not even supported by full-time security staff,” Comey said. (RELATED: FBI Director Comey Obliterated These Hillary Talking Points)
Back in October during questioning by Rep. Jim Jordan, Clinton said that “nothing was marked classified at the time I sent or received it.” (RELATED: TRANSCRIPT: FBI Director James Comey’s Statement On Hillary Clinton’s Emails)
Clinton’s testimony before Congress and then repeated public statements declared that nothing was “marked” classified were struck down by Comey when he said, “Even if information is not marked ‘classified’ in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it.”
In a statement provided to The Daily Caller on Tuesday, Rep. Jordan said, “Once again the politically connected get to play by a different set of rules than everyday Americans. Despite her statements to the contrary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent and received Top Secret classified information through her unclassified email server, and yet the FBI sees no case. This is a travesty, and just another reason why Americans feel like the game is rigged against them.”
House Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said back in October that Clinton lied during the hearing. The South Carolina representative said, “I’ve always injected an element of wholeness and completeness, and also truthfulness in the definition of cooperative. So did she cooperate in answering the question? Yes. Was it accurate answer? No.” (RELATED: Trey Gowdy: Hillary Clinton Lied Under Oath At Benghazi Committee Hearing [VIDEO])
The crime Clinton may have committed back in October was perjury. According to Title 18, Section 1621 the “perjury generally” statute prohibits people from lying to Congress while under oath. The punishment for perjury include fines up to $100,000 or up to five years in jail.
However, “The perjury statute is a technical statute,” says Mark Hopson, managing partner at Sidney Austin LLP. “It is especially difficult, if not impossible to prosecute statements that may be misleading or evasive but subject to an arguably truthful interpretation.”