The Campaign “What If” Scenarios
By James Donahue
Throughout the current high-profile race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for their party nominations for the November presidential election there has been a very large and troublesome elephant in the room.
While most media outlets are ignoring the problem, it has become well-known that the FBI has been conducting an extensive investigation of possibly criminal wrong-doing by Clinton and her aides during her term as Secretary of State.
For the past two years the national Intelligence Community and the FBI have been studying thousands of e-mails found on Clinton’s private computer and utilizing techniques to reveal thousands more deleted e-mails to determine if Top Secret information was transmitted via unsecured computer communications.
While Ms. Clinton denies any wrongdoing the FBI, which is still heavily involved in the case, claims to have found at least 40 messages that could have disclosed highly classified information if they had been “hacked” or seen by unauthorized eyes.
One report noted that an estimated 150 FBI agents are now involved in the Clinton case as the final days before the July national Democratic Convention loom. They are attempting to determine if Clinton’s computer was invaded by hackers and if any real damage to national security has occurred.
A report in the Daily Caller notes that FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are in constant communication over the Clinton investigation. In spite of Hillary Clinton’s insistence that the investigation is “just politics,” the FBI is considering serious charges that have the potential of not only destroying her candidacy, but threatening prison time.
Clinton may face felony charges cited in Title 18 of the U.S. Code of the Espionage Act. The law states that it is a felony for a federal official who, “through gross negligence permits” information “to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, to be lost, stolen, abstracted or destroyed.” The law also makes it a felony for a federal official to “knowingly and willfully” communicate classified information to “an unauthorized person.” It also is a felony to lie about having done the above criminal acts.
Washington politics being what they are, there are various scenarios that could play out in the weeks ahead. One is, of course, that Attorney General Lynch will decide to dismiss the case in spite of two years of exhaustive research by the FBI. It seems that Lynch appears to be a political crony of the Clintons. She served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York during the years Bill Clinton was in the White House. She also was a litigation partner at the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson LLP, that served the Clintons.
Lynch was appointed Attorney General by President Obama in 2010.
If the allegations prove to be too serious to be quietly swept under the rug, and Lynch is forced to take action, it is impossible by U.S. law for any person found guilty or even charged with a felony to hold presidential office. Consequently we might expect chaos at the July 25-28 Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia.
Bernie Sanders may find himself a shoo-in for the nomination at that convention. Or delegates may have the option of recruiting a newcomer. A very likely person to be picked would be Vice-President Joe Biden.
What might happen to Hillary Clinton if she is found guilty of the alleged charges? Under law the penalties for Espionage Act felonies such as those in her case may include fines of $10,000 and 10 to 15 years in prison.
Even if an indictment is not carried out, it seems very likely that Clinton’s credibility is severely damaged. To put her up as a lone party candidate is sure to draw extensive political fire from the controversial Republican Donald Trump.
If that scenario occurs and the season concludes with an ultra heated race between Clinton and Trump, we can be quite sure that Mr. Trump will not allow anything Lynch chooses to sweep under a rug to remain there for long.
By James Donahue
Throughout the current high-profile race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for their party nominations for the November presidential election there has been a very large and troublesome elephant in the room.
While most media outlets are ignoring the problem, it has become well-known that the FBI has been conducting an extensive investigation of possibly criminal wrong-doing by Clinton and her aides during her term as Secretary of State.
For the past two years the national Intelligence Community and the FBI have been studying thousands of e-mails found on Clinton’s private computer and utilizing techniques to reveal thousands more deleted e-mails to determine if Top Secret information was transmitted via unsecured computer communications.
While Ms. Clinton denies any wrongdoing the FBI, which is still heavily involved in the case, claims to have found at least 40 messages that could have disclosed highly classified information if they had been “hacked” or seen by unauthorized eyes.
One report noted that an estimated 150 FBI agents are now involved in the Clinton case as the final days before the July national Democratic Convention loom. They are attempting to determine if Clinton’s computer was invaded by hackers and if any real damage to national security has occurred.
A report in the Daily Caller notes that FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch are in constant communication over the Clinton investigation. In spite of Hillary Clinton’s insistence that the investigation is “just politics,” the FBI is considering serious charges that have the potential of not only destroying her candidacy, but threatening prison time.
Clinton may face felony charges cited in Title 18 of the U.S. Code of the Espionage Act. The law states that it is a felony for a federal official who, “through gross negligence permits” information “to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, to be lost, stolen, abstracted or destroyed.” The law also makes it a felony for a federal official to “knowingly and willfully” communicate classified information to “an unauthorized person.” It also is a felony to lie about having done the above criminal acts.
Washington politics being what they are, there are various scenarios that could play out in the weeks ahead. One is, of course, that Attorney General Lynch will decide to dismiss the case in spite of two years of exhaustive research by the FBI. It seems that Lynch appears to be a political crony of the Clintons. She served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York during the years Bill Clinton was in the White House. She also was a litigation partner at the Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson LLP, that served the Clintons.
Lynch was appointed Attorney General by President Obama in 2010.
If the allegations prove to be too serious to be quietly swept under the rug, and Lynch is forced to take action, it is impossible by U.S. law for any person found guilty or even charged with a felony to hold presidential office. Consequently we might expect chaos at the July 25-28 Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia.
Bernie Sanders may find himself a shoo-in for the nomination at that convention. Or delegates may have the option of recruiting a newcomer. A very likely person to be picked would be Vice-President Joe Biden.
What might happen to Hillary Clinton if she is found guilty of the alleged charges? Under law the penalties for Espionage Act felonies such as those in her case may include fines of $10,000 and 10 to 15 years in prison.
Even if an indictment is not carried out, it seems very likely that Clinton’s credibility is severely damaged. To put her up as a lone party candidate is sure to draw extensive political fire from the controversial Republican Donald Trump.
If that scenario occurs and the season concludes with an ultra heated race between Clinton and Trump, we can be quite sure that Mr. Trump will not allow anything Lynch chooses to sweep under a rug to remain there for long.