Obama’s Comments on Clinton Emails COLLIDE With F.B.I. Inquiry

[Segami]

"...But Mr. Obama’s remarks in the Clinton email case were met with particular anger at the F.B.I. because they echoed comments he made in 2012, shortly after it was revealed that a former C.I.A. director, David H. Petraeus, was under investigation, accused of providing classified information to a mistress who was writing a book about him.

“I have no evidence at this point, from what I’ve seen, that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,” the president said at a 2012 news conference, as the F.B.I. was trying to answer that very question about Mr. Petraeus....".

WASHINGTON — Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter. “I don’t think it posed a national security problem,” Mr. Obama said Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He said it was a mistake for Mrs. Clinton to use a private email account when she was secretary of state, but his conclusion was unmistakable: “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.” Those statements angered F.B.I. agents who have been working for months to determine whether Ms. Clinton’s email setup had in fact put any of the nation’s secrets at risk, according to current and former law enforcement officials. Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials. But to investigators, it sounded as if Mr. Obama had already decided the answers to their questions and cleared anyone involved of wrongdoing.



The White House quickly backed off the president’s remarks and said Mr. Obama was not trying to influence the investigation. But his comments spread quickly, raising the ire of officials who saw an instance of the president trying to influence the outcome of a continuing investigation — and not for the first time. A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. But Ron Hosko, a former senior F.B.I. official who retired in 2014 and is now the president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, said it was inappropriate for the president to “suggest what side of the investigation he is on” when the F.B.I. is still investigating. “Injecting politics into what is supposed to be a fact-finding inquiry leaves a foul taste in the F.B.I.’s mouth and makes them fear that no matter what they find, the Justice Department will take the president’s signal and not bring a case,” said Mr. Hosko, who maintains close contact with current agents. Several current and former law enforcement officials, including those close to the investigation, expressed similar sentiments in separate interviews over several days. Most, however, did so only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. The White House said Thursday that Mr. Obama was not commenting on the merits of the investigation, but rather was explaining why he believes the controversy over Mrs. Clinton’s emails has been overblown. The president, officials said, was merely noting that the emails that have been publicly released so far have not imperiled national security.



cont'


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/us/politics/obamas-comments-on-clinton-emails-collide-with-fbi-inquiry.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

[DURHAM D]

1. oh yawn

[jberryhill]

2. What nonsense

"Investigators have not reached any conclusions about whether the information on the server had been compromised or whether to recommend charges, according to the law enforcement officials."

That's fine.

They also weren't asked a question on 60 Minutes and expected to have an answer either.

"“I have no evidence at this point, from what I’ve seen..."

bfd

Is DU really going to keep yammering on about the emails?

How about they complete their investigation, and then we discuss what, if anything, they find?

[aspirant]

12. So you never heard of

"I can't comment on an ongoing investigation"

Our employee, President Obama can comment on the emails but his employer, We The People" can't. This is a joke right

[jberryhill]

20. Comment all you like

But as to whether the investigators give a shit about whether Obama wants to answer a question on the basis of his personal knowledge on 60 minutes, maybe they can wrap up their work someday.

And, no, the "we the people" who want to endlessly loop on this subject don't seem to match the "we the people" who have other pressing political concerns.

Apparently, the president hasn't seen anything that concerns him, and so answered.

[aspirant]

22. "can wrap up their work someday"

Or maybe they can be thorough and evaluate the newly found back-up server and do their jobs.

So "We The People" that want answers are irrelevant, Right

Now all legal responses to ongoing investigations should be yes or no opinions of their "concerns" of the case

[Fawke Em]

34. It's not the emails: it's the server

The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton's home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers while using software that could have been exploited, according to data and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Clinton's server, which handled her personal and State Department correspondence, appeared to allow users to connect openly over the Internet to control it remotely, according to detailed records compiled in 2012. Experts said the Microsoft remote desktop service wasn't intended for such use without additional protective measures, and was the subject of U.S. government and industry warnings at the time over attacks from even low-skilled intruders.

Records show that Clinton additionally operated two more devices on her home network in Chappaqua, New York, that also were directly accessible from the Internet. One contained similar remote-control software that also has suffered from security vulnerabilities, known as Virtual Network Computing, and the other appeared to be configured to run websites.

The new details provide the first clues about how Clinton's computer, running Microsoft's server software, was set up and protected when she used it exclusively over four years as secretary of state for all work messages. Clinton's privately paid technology adviser, Bryan Pagliano, has declined to answer questions about his work from congressional investigators, citing the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

Some emails on Clinton's server were later deemed top secret, and scores of others included confidential or sensitive information. Clinton has said that her server featured "numerous safeguards," but she has yet to explain how well her system was secured and whether, or how frequently, security updates were applied.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/467ff78858bf4dde8db21677deeff101/only-ap-clinton-server-ran-software-risked-hacking

[jberryhill]

35. Let me ask you something

You have great concern over the security of Hillary Clinton's email potentially having been vulnerable.

What are your thoughts on Chelsea Manning having obtained gobs of State Department communications and passing them to a foreign national?

Is the issue here that Manning didn't have access to them that chaps your buns?

[riversedge]

3. Sanders would be disappointed in you. Shame on you, We are sick and tired of hearing

Last edited Fri Oct 16, 2015, 10:57 AM - Edit history (1)

about those damn emails.

[Segami]

5. Take your grievance to the FBI and NYT

I'm sure they'll listen to you.

[riversedge]

9. you are one repeating the crap

[Segami]

10. I'm sure the FBI would like to hear your assessment

of their email investigation as "crap". Please forward your comments to them and wait for their response. Let us know what they say.

[riversedge]

14. this should take care of it....

[jberryhill]

21. Longtime fan of the FBI are you?

[aspirant]

23. Longtime fan of a different set of laws for the rich are you

[jberryhill]

24. What "different laws"?

Is the FBI investigating whether a law was broken? Yes

You know how long it takes the FBI to figure out whether a bank was robbed?

The FBI investigates a lot of things - Occupy Wall Street, Martin Luther King, Edward Snowden... and now it's "How DARE the president comment on what he personally has seen thus far."

I can't imagine how much caffeine some people take before noon.

[aspirant]

28. Post 22

"Now all legal responses to ongoing investigations should be yes or no opinions of their "concerns" of the case"

From now on we expect comments on all ongoing cases!

[Segami]

26. Ah, the coffee-breath-laptop brigade

never ends.

[stonecutter357]

4. I am voting for Hillary Rodham Clinton....

[Todays_Illusion]

6. Thanks OP, for carrying water for conservatives and posting a political attack by conservative

NYTimes writers. Benghazi!

[moobu2]

7. The president said he had no evidence

and he didn't. Big deal.

[karynnj]

8. This was an impossible question for Obama to answer

First of all, Hillary Clinton was in the highest position that the President nominates someone to get. In addition, as part of his administration, what she does reflects on him - whether it is positive or negative. Note that Clinton used Obama's nomination as SoS as proof of his belief in her judgment on foreign policy. It will not matter why he actually named her - that he thought her the best qualified person to be the top diplomat, that he believed in the Lincoln cabinet of enemies, or that he thought HRC not tethered to him could be politically dangerous in his first term. The fact is that he put her in that position.

There is also the question of whether he "approved" the unusual email arrangement. It is very hard to argue that his team didn't understand what she had done. If that is true, it is likely because they intentionally did not look that closely at what was happening - no wanting to create a confrontation with HRC. If they clearly saw it, I would guess that they would have been concerned about the optics if it became known AND they would have insisted that there be a procedure to get the government emails extracted and archived on a regular basis. At any rate, this leaves Obama as the head of an administration where the FBI is investigating whether his Secretary of State compromised national security.

Note that his comments are CONDITIONAL -- as they were with Petraeus - ie "I don't think" or "I have no evidence". Note that while some here AND the FBI parsed those comments as arguing against there being anything untoward, it is very easy to defend Obama in both cases as simply being mostly neutral. As this is an ongoing investigation what could he have said that would not have been seen as being on one side of the other? (ie can you imagine if he said that there have been serious allegations that the FBI needs to investigate? Again a neutral statement on guilt, but one that would be parsed as throwing HRC under the bus.)

As I said this is an impossible question for Obama. That HRC is the likely Democratic nominee makes this even more difficult than the already difficult factor that having nominated her and kept her in place for 4 years means that her actions in that job reflect on him and his administration. (It doesn't matter that even if he had seen this and was troubled by it, he could not have kicked her out without shattering the Democratic party and likely imperiling his own reelection. That was in reality the bargain he made when nominating her -- any other person in any cabinet position was serving at his discretion. )

One thing that could be noted is that President Obama did help HRC in one way. The very fact that the FBI is investigating whether national security was breached indicates that the unusual email setup carried that risk. You could make a case that whether there was a breach or not, it created an unacceptable risk. Implicitly, what Obama did was shift that bar in HRC's favor -- so there is a problem only if breaches can be proved.

[aspirant]

13. Impossible

How about I can't comment on an ongoing investigation, is that possible/

[karynnj]

18. He could have said that, but consider what the follow up questions could have been

Not to mention, that would have been spun by HRC's opponents and the Republicans as essentially throwing her under the bus.

[aspirant]

19. Any follow-up question could be answered the same way

and now its spun as throwing the investigators under the bus and they are pissed and I don't blame them

[Segami]

25. He knows...

White House press secretary Jay Carney says "it would not be appropriate" for President Obama to comment on the Secret Service prostitution scandal that occurred just prior to his visit to Colombia.

"This is matter that is being looked in an appropriate manner by the Secret Service itself. It would not be appropriate for the president to characterize something being looking into the Secret Service at this time.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/04/14/carney_not_appropriate_for_obama_to_comment_on_ongoing_secret_service_investigation.html

'I cannot, and he [Obama] cannot comment specifically on an ongoing criminal investigation,’ he would say repeatedly. ‘It would be wholly inappropriate.'

Yet as one journalist pointed out to the chagrined press secretary, Obama made repeated public comments about the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in 2011 in a case that sparked hostile race-based controversy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324982/A-THIRD-committees-House-Representatives-investigating-Obama-administration.html

CBS' Major Garrett follows up on the "60 Minutes" report last week, in which one NSA official said there should be a conversation over whether to grant Edward Snowden amnesty if the remainder of his stolen documents are secured. Obama did not comment directly, citing an ongoing investigation.

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-press-conference-live-recap-question-dec-20-obamacare-2013-12

“And many of these incidents are subject to ongoing investigation, so I can’t comment on every specific one.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/254303-obama-no-contradiction-supporting-police-and-criminal-justice

[askew]

32. Obama answered quite clearly that he was not aware of what Hillary did with her private

email server. Her set-up violated his explicit directive to use .gov email exclusively for government work. He also said it was a legitimate issue. Hillary superfans overlook that when using the rest of his comments to say Hillary did nothing wrong.

There is a part of the espionage act that says handlers of government information must inform their superiors. Hillary didn't do that when she set-up the server.

I think the FBI is going to recommend charges but the DoJ will override them like they did with Gen. Petraeus and her nomination will be done.

[randome]

11. .

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Birds are territorial creatures.
The lyrics to the songbird's melodious trill go something like this:
"Stay out of my territory or I'll PECK YOUR GODDAMNED EYES OUT!"[/center][/font][hr]

[workinclasszero]

15. Bernie says STOP the republican witch hunt email BS!

(Democratic Debate) Sanders: 'People are sick of hearing about Clinton's emails'

What part of this do you not understand OP?

[aspirant]

17. The part where HRC is against TPP

and now ALL of her followers are aggressively supporting the defeat of TPP, right?

[workinclasszero]

27. Nice way to change the subject

that you can't deal with.

[aspirant]

29. Deal with the TPP

and let us know exactly how you are going to defeat it, we'll be waiting

[workinclasszero]

30. Change the subject x2

Hey you are good at this!

[aspirant]

31. Are you working to defeat the TPP

or do you disagree with HRC on certain issues? The subject is clear

[askew]

33. Bernie was wrong with that comment. The emails are not a witchhunt.

Once the FBI and IG get involved, it started being real. And people who are acting like this is a big nothing are terribly naive IMO.

[silenttigersong]

37. Notice the word EMAILS

as opposed to SERVER.Also Sen.Saners said let :it play out.One could surmise this is part of it playing out.

[WillyT]

16. K & R !!!

[George II]

38. WHAT is the point of this?