From Whitewater to Benghazi: A Clinton-Scandal Primer

[Purveyor]

David A. Graham 11:50 AM ET Politics

All of Hillary Clinton’s emails are out there. Now, how bad will the fallout be?

On Monday, the State Department released the last batch of Clinton’s messages when she was secretary of state—a total of around 30,000. And late Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department has granted immunity to a former Clinton staffer to work with investigators, an indication of progress in the criminal case over the emails. Bryan Pagliano, the staffer, helped Clinton set up a server in her home in New York, which she used for her emails while running the State Department. Pagliano previously invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when called to testify by congressional committees. A spokesman said the Clinton campaign was “pleased” that Pagliano was cooperating, though what else are they going to say?

Clinton herself is likely to be questioned by the FBI sometime in the next few weeks. The Post reports:

As the FBI looks to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, agents will likely want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, how it was set up, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails, current and former officials said.

Obviously this is not good news for Clinton. The question is just how bad it is.

Clinton is effectively fighting a two-front war. On one side, she’s running a political campaign for president. On the other, she’s working to defend herself against charges of wrongdoing in the email investigation, since criminal charges could effectively doom her campaign. The latest developments in the email case come just as things were starting to look good on the political side—Clinton has hit her stride in recent primaries and seems to have a solid edge over Bernie Sanders, her rival for the Democratic nomination.

What isn’t clear yet is who might face criminal charges: Clinton? Other aides? No one at all? There’s not yet any evidence of a grand jury being convened to handle the investigation.

The case of David Petraeus, the former CIA director who it was one speculated might run against Clinton, looms over the case, and its impact is unclear. The Post reports that Petraeus’s wrongdoing is seen as worse, and since he got off with a light sentence of two years’ probation and a $100,000 fine, officials felt it would be hard to go after Clinton. But Petraeus’s escape angered some in the Justice Department and FBI who alleged political interference, adding to the scrutiny in this case and the pressure for an independent process. The final decision rests with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

more...

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/tracking-the-clinton-controversies-from-whitewater-to-benghazi/396182/

[nichomachus]

1. The most telling part is their granting immunity to the IT guy

They don't grant immunity unless they've got their sights set on someone bigger.

[Faux pas]

2. K N R

[Jitter65]

3. What Petraeus actually did and what Hillary is "alleged" to have done...apples and bricks. nt

[Hawaii Hiker]

4. What Petraeus did was worse

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-clinton-email-investigation-justice-department-grants-immunity-to-former-state-department-staffer/2016/03/02/e421e39e-e0a0-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html

1. Petareus lied to FBI.
2. Also, he KNEW the info he was sharing with his biographer/mistress was classified
3. There's a recording where he admits the info was classified.

What Clinton did amounts to jaywalking or didn't pay a parking meter violation compared to what Petareus did

[TalkingDog]

5. Ermmm... that's soft soaping it a bit.

She set up a private unsecured email server for herself and her top aides. It stored over 1,800 documents now deemed classified, some highly classified.

IT and security professionals agree the server was surely hacked by foreign agencies. Which put the information on it and the people that information involved at risk.

* Secretary Clinton specifically instructed aides to send her classified materials on that insecure network. We know of at least one such instruction. We don’t know how many others were redacted by the State Department.

* Some documents on the Clinton server contained the intelligence-gathering methods, the names of undercover agents, and real-time disclosures of top officials’ movements. Aside from the nuclear launch codes, these are the most closely guarded secrets in the U.S. government. That material is “classified at birth,” as Clinton, Mills, Abedin, and Sullivan certainly knew. To avoid any misunderstanding, they had all taken mandatory training in the proper treatment of sensitive and classified materials.

* Some of the classified materials on Clinton’s server originated in intelligence agencies outside the State Department and came into the department on a secure, classified network. They were marked as such. They could only be transferred to Clinton’s unsecured network by hand. Each occurrence was a felony. Since the server has now been recovered, the FBI and intelligence agencies know who sent those messages and who received them at the State Department.

* The Clinton Foundation and some private businesses were deeply involved in the State Department’s business. The lines were blurred between Hillary Clinton’s official role as secretary of state and her unofficial role at a major foundation, headed by her husband, that was showered with money from people and companies working with the State Department. At best, the arrangements were sleazy. At worst, they were criminal “pay to play.”

[bushisanidiot]

6. documents in question have been RETROACTIVELY classified.

they were NOT classified when she saved them.

This is 100% a partisan witch hunt designed to derail her presidential campaign just like
benghazi hearings were supposed to do, but failed.

Secretary Clinton has not broken the law, but the republicans, and now BERNIE supporters
keep desperately repeating lies about her in HOPES that it will keep her from becoming
the most powerful woman in the world.

She will win. Not because she paid someone. Not because she lied her way out of it. Not because she or Bill manipulated anyone.
She will win because she has not broken the law.

[TalkingDog]

8. The FBI and the DOJ are not a Republican Congress.

The head of the DOJ, Lynch, was appointed by Obama.

You can continue to think this is not serious. And it seems you are determined to do that by not reading what I wrote.

They. Had. To. Scan. Each. Document. By. Hand.

Each. Scan. Was. A. Felony.

[bushisanidiot]

9. RETROACTIVELY.CLASSIFIED.

.

[TalkingDog]

10. Classified AT BIRTH is the term you seem to not understand.

Some documents on the Clinton server contained the intelligence-gathering methods, the names of undercover agents, and real-time disclosures of top officials’ movements. Aside from the nuclear launch codes, these are the most closely guarded secrets in the U.S. government. That material is “classified at birth,” as Clinton, Mills, Abedin, and Sullivan certainly knew.

To avoid any misunderstanding, they had all taken mandatory training in the proper treatment of sensitive and classified materials.

They knew. They had been trained in protocol. They deliberately ignored it.

[bobthedrummer]

7. Sounds like a job for the Rendon Group to the real DU reality-based community

Rendon Group (SourceWatch)
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rendon_Group

There's always a risk factor that goes with investigation of powerful people and organizations too.

[panader0]

11. What about the air traffic at the Mena, Arkansas airport? When Bill was Guv.

Very strange.......

[bobthedrummer]

13. Then there was the Arkansas Development and Finance thing that was Gov. Clinton's masterpiece....

[Wilms]

12. ^