Re: Campaign 2016 Part XXIII: The Penultimate Thread
Just a moment of reflection as Clinton lambastes the FBI investigation going public 11 days prior to the election: it was 24 years ago yesterday when they were publicly jeering GHWB over an additional Iran Contra investigation that went public only 4 days prior to that election - an investigation that was later dropped that December for lack of evidence.
Different situation.
CNN a pretty good investigation about the situation and its current status. Yeah, its CNN but you can't argue with the facts.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/31/politics/what-is-the-hatch-act/index.html. Key points:
1. The Hatch act is currently in full force...its been defended multiple times in the supreme court in the face of the first amendment and was addressed earlier this year the Justice department sent an email across the government to remind all employees.
2. The Hatch act states "use [their] official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election." The key is that there doesn't need to be any real impact, just intent.
3. Guilt in these cases comes down to Comey's intent can be inferred from the absence of a good reason for sending the letter. In the case of the Iran Contra affair, there was a subsequent investigation. In this case, there is no planned investigation. In fact letters were sent without Comey even knowing what the contents were and whether there was in fact one piece of incriminating evidence. In fact, he couldn't have known anything about their contents prior to sending the letter.
"In this case, where Comey communicated with Congress knowing that none of the e-mails were to or from Secretary Clinton, is difficult to understand the argument that the value to public discourse outweighed the potential prejudice to Clinton.
That calculus could well have been different if the e-mails contained information tending to incriminate (or exculpate) Clinton, but Comey had no way of knowing whether they did at the time of his communication -- and, at least so far, they appear not to do either."
Where are we at?
"Painter on Saturday formally filed a complaint with Office of Special Counsel -- and with the Office of Government Ethics -- seeking to trigger an investigation of Comey's conduct.
But unlike most federal employees, the director of the FBI serves at the pleasure of the President (and for no more than 10 years). Although Comey's term will not expire until September 2023, nothing prevents President Barack Obama (or his successor) from terminating him."
Obama should suspend him pending resolution of the investigation...but as its BO's weakness, he probably won't.
