While FBI Director James Comey is a man respected on both sides of the aisle, his decision not to recommend charges for presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — in spite of the fact that he admitted she mishandled classified information knowingly — has inspired a great deal of criticism.
In particular, many of Comey’s colleagues and friends have disagreed with Comey’sstatement that such a prosecution would typically involve “clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.”
One of those is a man who used to employ Comey. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was Comey’s boss during Giuliani’s time as a federal prosecutor.
In an appearance on CNBC, Giuliani described himself as being stunned at Comey’s decision and stating that, if those are the strictures the FBI wishes to confine itself to, it would have difficulty securing convictions in the future.
“I am shocked at his conclusion for two reasons,” Giuliani said. “First of all, he actually clearly concluded that she violated 18 United States Code 793 when he said she was extremely negligent. That statute doesn’t require intent. It just requires gross negligence. And gross negligence is described by judges in their charge as extremely negligent.
“I don’t know how he can possibly avoid Section 793, Subsection F, which says — in pertinent part — ‘Whoever being entrusted with or having lawful possession of any document relating to the national defense, through gross negligence, permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both,’” he continued.
“She clearly did that,” Giuliani said. “There is no doubt.”
Former prosecutor & NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani: “Shocked” at FBI director Comey’s conclusion in Clinton e-mail probe pic.twitter.com/3HLxmkVjRD
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) July 5, 2016
As for proving intent, “Jim (Comey) knows that we usually prove intent through circumstantial evidence. The circumstances of extreme negligence, over and over and over again, is the best proof of intent. Also, her destruction of 34,000 emails also proves intent.
“People have been charged under these statutes for far less than this, and it’s going to be almost impossible in the future for the FBI to justify a charge under any of these statutes,” Giuliani concluded. “So I don’t know what Jim is doing.”
Harsh words for Comey, but Rudy Giuliani has definitely not been the only person saying them.
Via CT
