Greetings from somewhere over the Eastern United States, on my way to Columbus, Ohio for the Defending the Dream Summit . . .
A ‘Formal Criminal Investigation’ of Hillary’s E-mails Is ‘Under Consideration’
Either the FBI is going to take Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server and the classified information in e-mails extremely seriously . . . or a whole bunch of former FBI agents are going to be disappointed with their former employer.
For now, federal authorities characterize the Justice Department inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s private email server as a security situation: a simple matter of finding out whether classified information leaked out during her tenure as secretary of state, and where it went.
Except, former government officials said, that’s not going to be so simple.
“I think that the FBI will be moving with all deliberate speed to determine whether there were serious breaches of national security here,” said Ron Hosko, who used to lead the FBI’s criminal investigative division.
He said agents will direct their questions not just at Clinton, but also her close associates at the State Department and beyond.
“I would want to know how did this occur to begin with, who knew, who approved,” Hosko said.
Authorities are asking whether Clinton or her aides mishandled secrets about the Benghazi attacks and other subjects by corresponding about them in emails.
For her part, Clinton said she did not use that email account to send or receive anything marked classified.
“Whether it was a personal account or a government account, I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material that was marked or designated classified which is the way you know whether something is,” she said Tuesday in a question-and-answer session with reporters.
Why is Clinton emphasizing the idea that none of those messages were marked? Because what she knew — her intent — matters a lot under the law. If the Justice Department and FBI inquiry turns into a formal criminal investigation.
Are we really to believe that when she’s reading about — you name it, drone strikes, satellite images, evacuation plans for staffers in Benghazi — that Hillary Clinton never thought that any of that information was classified?
The inspector general’s report said that the classification labels had been removed . . .
“We note that none of the emails we reviewed had classification or dissemination markings, but some included [intelligence community]-derived classified information and should have been handled as classified, appropriately marked, and transmitted via a secure network,” wrote McCullough, the inspector general for the intelligence community, who described his review as incomplete.
A spokeswoman for McCullough, Andrea Williams, said Friday that there are at least four emails of concern, which have yet to be released by the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act. “They were not marked at all but contained classified information,” she wrote in an email to TIME Friday.
. . . which suggests some staffers were taking off the classified label and then sending it to Hillary.
Here’s the bombshell:
Two lawyers familiar with the inquiry told NPR that a formal criminal investigation is under consideration and could happen soon — although they caution that Clinton herself may not be the target.
In other words, look out, staffers.
Here’s Michael Hayden — former director of the NSA, and former director of the CIA — declaring that the e-mail system would be “a very juicy target” and “not very difficult if you have the resources and talented people to go after it. The NSA does this all the time against, I would suggest, better defended targets.”
You Know, Protests Are Not the Worst Thing in the World
Look, my criticism of Trump — characterized by one reader as near-religious — is well-established. But note this comment of his in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:
Those comments [about illegal immigrants from Mexico] have drawn a firestorm of criticism.
As Rush Limbaugh said, “Trump received more incoming [criticism] than any human being I’ve ever seen, and what did he do? He doubled down.” [Limbaugh] said any human being would have dropped to their knees and apologized to the world, but I didn’t say anything wrong. For one week, it was brutal. Macy’s choked [announcing it would phase out his line of suits, shirts and ties]. It wasn’t a big deal, selling ties, but still, [CEO] Terry Lundgren choked and said, “Oh, we’re going to have pickets in front of the store!” I said, “So what? So you have an hour of pickets, and then they’re going to go and have lunch and everyone’s going to be happy.” I said do whatever you have to do. But that was very disloyal.
In a world where big corporations are so determined to avoid anything perceived as controversial or alienating a segment of their target markets, doesn’t it feel almost stunning to hear someone just kind of accept the existence of protests and continue going about their business?
Of course, as soon as I give The Donald the benefit of the doubt . . .
Whose side are you on in Deflategate — Tom Brady or Roger Goodell?
Tom Brady. Tom is an unbelievable guy. He’s a very good friend of mine. I have his number right here someplace. Whatever. Here, look, he just called me. (He holds up a Post-it that says “Tom Brady’s New Cell #.”)
ADDENDA: You may have encountered the critique of Raiders of the Lost Ark from a character on The Big Bang Theory:
“Indiana Jones plays no role in the outcome of the story. If he weren’t in the film, it would turn out exactly the same . . . If he weren’t in the movie, the Nazis would still have found the Ark, taken it to the island, opened it up, and all died, just like they did.”
Even worse, had Indy not shown up, maybe the Nazis would have taken it back to Berlin, where they would have opened it in front of Hitler himself, and every Nazi in Berlin would have his face melt/explode from the wrath of God, etc.
Now take a look at the interesting, unnerving theory that Han Solo doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing:
For the captain of a spaceship, Han actually [stinks] at all things technological. When he tries to fix the Falcon in Empire, he tells Chewie to start her up, and everything short circuits. On Endor, at the end of Jedi, there’s a battle going on in which Jim Henson puppets are dying everywhere, and he manages to make the bunker they’re trying to infiltrate more secure. His solution for nearly every problem is either to hit something really hard or shoot it.
Han is headstrong, reckless, and totally inept at loads of stuff. When trying to lure one of the stormtroopers away from their speeder bikes, he stupidly steps on a branch, alerting them all to the rebels’ presence. When told that his tauntaun will freeze to death if he takes it outside to find Luke, he doesn’t even hear what the guy is telling him.
Sure, Han got himself in terrible debt to Jabba the Hutt, and managed to get cornered by Greedo in the cantina — requiring him to shoot first, Mr. Lucas! – and he pursues the TIE fighter until he’s caught in the tractor beam . . . fails to notice Boba Fett is following him . . . hey, wait a minute. Maybe eight-year-old me had terrible taste in leadership.