Columns

Attorney General Loretta Lynch made it official saying that Hillary Clinton will not be charged for using a personal email server during her tenure as secretary of state. She is relying on the FBI's recommendation that no charges be filed. 

To warrant a criminal charge, FBI Director James B. Comey said, there had to be evidence that Hillary Clinton intentionally transmitted or willfully mishandled classified information. The FBI found neither, and as a result, Comey said, “our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” It was recently reported that the State Department has confirmed that the two emails reportedly classified weren’t actually classified at the time, and had merely been marked incorrectly during the course of the investigation. Although moot now, this does support Clinton's claim that no emails were classified. 

While she was careless and even negligent, the FBI concluded that Clinton did not commit a criminal act. If she were still a federal employee, Clinton at most would be subject to administrative action. It should be noted that other politicians and officials in federal and state governments -- Colin Powell, Secretary of State under President Bush, for example -- have sometimes relied on personal email for official business. And then Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in 2003, 2004, and 2005 destroyed its emails, in violation of the requirements of the federal records act and potentially criminal law 

FBI Director Comey is no flaming liberal protecting Clinton. He is a republican, who graduated from William and Mary and the University of Chicago Law School. He was appointed by President George W. Bush the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York until appinted Deputy Attorney General during the Bush administration, and was pushed by White House officials for consideration for the Supreme Court. Comey should be intimately familiar with the facts of the case and the controlling law better than just about anyone else.  

As a former prosecutor, all Comey did was apply the applicable law to a set of facts and concluded that a criminal indictment of Clinton was not warranted. Remember, the applicable law is only part of the equation. The law must be applied to a set of facts, all of which have not been made public, including Clinton's testimony to the FBI.  

Now the critics are second guessing Comey's decision citing what they think is the applicable law but not knowing all the facts. Like the Benghazi incident, "emailgate" appears to be overblown and is really another political tactic to discredit Clinton.  

But the Republicans are not giving up. Next week both Comey and Lynch are to testify before House Oversight Committee next week.