Commentaries on the Clinton-Huma-Weiner-Comey brouhaha

NRO: I Guess the Landslide Is Off . . . "I was clearly wrong again, underestimating again the appeal of Trump (and/or the repulsiveness of Clinton). I still think Clinton will win easily, but there’s no evidence of a landslide (winning by 10 percent or more) at this time." . . .

David French: The FBI’s October Surprise Is Devastating for Hillary Clinton  . . . "Third, unless the FBI announces the investigation and clears her within the span of basically one work week (an action that would be deeply problematic on its own terms), Hillary’s closing argument to the American people is going to be that Donald Trump is so dangerous that it’s worth gambling your vote on a woman under current criminal investigation." . . .

Jonathan F. Keiler: Comey's Mess  . . . "Comey took it upon himself, stepping into a politically charged situation he could have avoided simply by doing his duty as a federal policeman.  Comey could have referred the case to Justice for Loretta Lynch to take the embarrassing step of refusing to empanel a grand jury, or simply resigned on principle if he was pressured to do otherwise.  Instead, he tried to have it both ways, trying to accommodate Clinton, Loretta Lynch, and the president by finding clever excuses to overlook Hillary's obvious criminality while excoriating her ethically." . . . Is Huma Abedin open to perjury charges?

Hillary’s bogus ‘unprecedented’ complaint about Comey  . . . "Hillary knows full well that special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh actually indicted Casper Weinberger four days prior to Bill Clinton's election in 1992. As with almost everything Hillary does, she lies.

"As for unprecedented: Never before have we had a presidential candidate who:

- As Secretary of State used a private server and broke the nation's security laws by trafficking classified documents on non-secure devices- Unilaterally decided which E mails to dump. Does anyone actually believe that the number she destroyed was only 33,000? 

- As Secretary of State approved the sale of uranium reserves to the Russians and diverted money from the Haitians to her friends and family. She has taken kickbacks throughout her adult life starting with the $100,000 for cattle futures almost 40 years ago. 

- When answering questions to the FBI and Judicial Watch her most favorite go-to answer was I do not recall. This has been her favorite answer throughout her adult life.  . . . 

- Had a White House, State Department, Justice Department and others who also violated security laws and therefore spent their time protecting the Presidential candidate instead of working for the American people. 

- Had subordinates, who like her, were willing to commit perjury to protect themselves and her.- Had an FBI director and Attorney General who essentially admit that she violated the law but decided that she might not understand the law so wouldn't charge her. That is mind-boggling. 

- Had a media that was so in the tank that they have never cared what she actually did or said. Can anyone imagine the reporting on WikiLeaks if it were her opponent’s secrets being revealed?

. . . "The media, Democrats and Hollywood knew who they were getting with Hillary, a law breaker, perjurer and serial liar, and they always looked the other way.  But now they are outraged that someone in Government might actually do their job because they want power, nothing else." . . .

Are the Democrats victims of their identity politics? . . . "Why didn't one Democrat stand up against Obamacare or call on Mrs. Clinton to put country over party?" . . .

Clinton’s State Department: A RICO Enterprise

Andrew C. McCarthy

"She appears to have used her official powers to do favors for major Clinton Foundation donors."

McCarthy

. . . "One thing, however, is already clear. Whatever the relevance of the new e-mails to the probe of Clinton’s classified-information transgressions and attempt to destroy thousands of emails, these offenses may pale in comparison with Hillary Clinton’s most audacious violations of law: Crimes that should still be under investigation; crimes that will, in fitting Watergate parlance, be a cancer on the presidency if she manages to win on November 8. 
. . . 
"Hillary and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, operated the Clinton Foundation. Ostensibly a charity, the foundation was a de facto fraud scheme to monetize Hillary’s power as secretary of state (among other aspects of the Clintons’ political influence). The scheme involved (a) the exchange of political favors, access, and influence for millions of dollars in donations; (b) the circumvention of campaign-finance laws that prohibit political donations by foreign sources; (c) a vehicle for Mrs. Clinton to shield her State Department e-mail communications from public and congressional scrutiny while she and her husband exploited the fundraising potential of her position; and (d) a means for Clinton insiders to receive private-sector compensation and explore lucrative employment opportunities while drawing taxpayer-funded government salaries." . . .

Also by Mr. McCarthy: James Comey’s Dereliction: Of course the Obama administration was not going to prosecute Hillary Clinton
" . . .defending Obama’s non-enforcement of immigration law, promoting the administration’s narrative that predatory banks (not lunatic government housing policies) caused the 2008 financial meltdown, sculpting indictments in conformance to Obama’s see-no-Islam conception of terrorism, etc. His is the most politicized Justice Department in American history." . . .

"This should be news to none of us. It certainly was not news to the FBI director. The president did not want Clinton indicted. The rest is just details."

 

"Andrew C. McCarthy III is a columnist for National Review. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A Republican, he is most notable for leading the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others." . . .

Resignation letters piling up from disaffected FBI agents, his wife urging him to admit he was wrong: Why Director Comey jumped at the chance to reopen Hillary investigation

UK Daily Mail  "James Comey's decision to revive the investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server and her handling of classified material came after he could no longer resist mounting pressure by mutinous agents in the FBI, including some of his top deputies, according to a source close to the embattled FBI director.

" 'The atmosphere at the FBI has been toxic ever since Jim announced last July that he wouldn't recommend an indictment against Hillary,' said the source, a close friend who has known Comey for nearly two decades, shares family outings with him, and accompanies him to Catholic mass every week.

"Some people, including department heads, stopped talking to Jim, and even ignored his greetings when they passed him in the hall,' said the source. 'They felt that he betrayed them and brought disgrace on the bureau by letting Hillary off with a slap on the wrist.'

"According to the source, Comey fretted over the problem for months and discussed it at great length with his wife, Patrice. 

"He told his wife that he was depressed by the stack of resignation letters piling up on his desk from disaffected agents. The letters reminded him every day that morale in the FBI had hit rock bottom.

. . . 

" 'He talks about the damage that he's done to himself and the institution [of the FBI], and how he's been shunned by the men and women who he admires and work for him. It's taken a tremendous toll on him.

" 'It shattered his ego. He looks like he's aged 10 years in the past four months.'

"But Comey's decision to reopen the case was more than an effort to heal the wound he inflicted on the FBI. 

. . . 

'Lynch and Obama haven't contacted Jim directly,' said the source, 'but they've made it crystal clear through third parties that they disapprove of his effort to save face.'
Morale has soared in Hollywood, however:

Two Eminent Rabbis On The Election...

JOSHUAPUNDIT  "It's a foregone conclusion that a majority of the secular, non-religious Jewish vote will go to Mrs. Clinton for reasons I've explored already here. So I found the reactions of two well known and highly regarded Rabbis, both with secular educations as well as religious ones to be of interest.

. . . 
"Of course, I am disgusted by the stories that dominate the election campaign. I am disgusted as a law professor, an attorney, a father of daughters, and as a rabbi. Women making accusations that they have been sexually abused — Paula Corbin Jones who received an $850,000 settlement from Bill Clinton; Kathleen Willey who went to Bill Clinton in the White House, desperate for a job after her husband killed himself; Juanita Broaddrick, a Clinton volunteer who insists he raped her; the new list of women whose names I am only now learning who say that Donald Trump groped or kissed them against their will. The abused women whose reputations and lives were destroyed by Hillary Clinton, as she defended her husband’s public profile after each “bimbo eruption.” Hillary referred to victims as “looney tunes” and worse, her team including the likes of James Carville and Sidney Blumenthal characterized them as “trailer trash,” and Hillary most infamously ruined the life of 12-year-old Kathy Shelton, raped by a 41-year-old whom Hillary was required to defend. There was nothing wrong in Hillary defending—every accused criminal deserves a good defense. But Hillary destroyed the girl in the process and proceeded years later laughing about that case and regaling an interviewer with anecdotes of that tragedy.

"All of it disgusts me. So I have decided that on November 8 I am not going to vote for Clinton or Trump. Instead, I am going to vote for the federal judiciary. Along the way, I also am going to vote for an authentic economic recovery that will include repatriating trillions of dollars back home, for a stronger American footprint in the world, for a border that will protect Mexico from free-flowing American weapons that feed their drug cartels and that will protect America from the influx of potential terrorists and murderous drugs that now easily can pour through our porous borders." . . .

Joe DiGenova: FBI agents refused orders to destroy laptops and they still exist

Thomas Lifson  . . . "If this is true, it indicates that a serious rebellion was underway in the FBI, with agents refusing a direct order.  Although I am no lawyer, I suppose they might have regarded the order as illegitimate, part of a conspiracy to destroy evidence. It is possible that Comey knew of this rebellion, and that this knowledge shaped his decision to write to Congressional leaders on the resumption of the investigation.

"Now that DiGenova has gone public, how long until the laptops are subpoenaed?

Update. Clarice Feldman has a theory as to how this information came to Joe DiGenova. She labels it speculation:

How would Joe know? The agents have a nondisclosure  agreement BUT Joe's a lawyer bound to preserve the confidences of his client so they could hire him, tell him, and no one could compel him to disclose his source.

FBI Finds Tens-of-Thousands of Emails on Huma-Weiner Laptop

Newsmax  "The FBI found tens of thousands of e-mails sent from Hillary Clinton's private email server on a laptop shared by top aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner, a senior law enforcement official told Fox News Saturday.

"But federal investigators are not sure whether Abedin or Weiner, the disgraced former New York congressman, owned the laptop, the official said.

"The agency said Friday that it was reopening its probe into Clinton's private email use during her four years as secretary of state.

"The move was a result of the FBI's investigation into another of Weiner's "sexting" scandals, revealed in late August when the NY Post posted photos of his online exchange with a woman.

"The new e-mails were considered "pertinent to the investigation," officials told Fox. The Clinton campaign has suggested that the documents were duplicates." . . .

Flashback: Clinton cheered 11th hour indictment that doomed Bush re-election  . . . "That's because 24 years ago, as former President George H.W. Bush was surging back against challenger Bill Clinton, a special prosecutor raised new charges against Bush in the Iran-Contra probe, prompting Clinton to claim he was running against a "culture of corruption."
. . . 
"Keep this history in mind during the coming days when you hear Democratic hacks talking about how awful it is for law enforcement officials and/or prosecutors to "interfere" in the presidential election process." . . .

But never forget:
When life gives Hillary lemons, her people make lemonade for her