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Hillary Email Scandal Tag

Mika Brzezinski makes no bones about being a liberal Democrat. She was big on Bernie, even more enthusiastic about Elizabeth Warren, whom she repeatedly urged to run for president. But while she might well vote for Hillary in the end, Brzezinski is anything but a Clinton acolyte. Her aversion was on display on today's Morning Joe. A clip rolled of Speaker Paul Ryan saying that as a candidate Hillary should be denied classified briefings, given FBI Director Comey's finding that she had been "extremely careless" with classified information. Panelists Harold Ford, Jr., Jim VandeHei and Michael Steele scoffed at the notion that Hillary could be denied such classified briefings. That's when Mika went off: "you've been hostages for 30 years! You've all been hostages for 30 years and you don't know how to think anymore." Mika recommended that people look at Hillary "as a human being, not someone who for years and years and years and years and years we've just decided is in a different category of humanity."

Hillary gets a pass from the FBI despite overwhelming evidence that she and her minions mishandled classified information and most of America is all ¯_(ツ)_/¯. Throughout the investigation, we've noted the abundance of inconsistencies in Hillary's ever-changing story, and there have been many. Yesterday, the RNC released a video highlighting Hillary's five biggest email lies and it's pretty perfect.

Bernie Sanders supporters have been clinging to a hope that if the FBI recommended indictment for Hillary Clinton, there was a chance the Democratic Party would dump her and nominate Bernie instead. That hope ended this week. Now that the FBI has let her off the hook, nothing will stop her nomination. Many Bernie supporters are disgusted and who could blame them? CNN reports:
Sanders supporters melt down over FBI's Clinton decision It's not only Donald Trump and Republicans expressing their indignation at the FBI's decision not to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton over her handling of classified materials on a private email server.

Last night, I emailed our Legal Insurrection leader Bill Jacobson to say I was counting on Joe Scarborough to have his finest moment this morning in light of the fiasco of the failure of the FBI to recommend the indictment of Hillary Clinton. This morning, Scarborough rose to the occasion. With significant support from Mika Brzezinski, Morning Joe's opening segment was one long blast at Hillary -- for doing what she did with her email and lying about it -- at James Comey -- for failing to indict -- and at President Obama -- for putting his thumb on the scale on Hillary's behalf. There were many noteworthy moments that you will find in the video montage we've assembled. One highlight: Scarborough says that while he doesn't question Comey's integrity, "I question his courage."

Trump surrogates have been accused of debasing themselves by supporting The Donald. But have any sunk so low as poor Harold Ford, Jr., the Hillary surrogate who humiliated himself today on national TV? Appearing on With All Due Respect, former Dem congressman Ford, disagreed with Rudy Giuliani's statement made earlier in the day that Hillary Clinton could not get a security clearance given FBI Director Comey's conclusion that she acted "extremely carelessly" in the handling of classified material. When Ford claimed that if he were Attorney General, he would hire Hillary for a sensitive position involving national security, it seemed that host Mark Halperin could be heard, off camera, literally laughing in his face. Remind us never to hire Ford as Attorney General.

FBI Director James Comey delivered the verdict on Hillary Clinton today - not guilty by reason of ... of ... of .... There are a lot of details on why this was a miscarriage of justice. The best starting place is Andy McCarthy's column at National Review, FBI Rewrites Federal Law to Let Hillary Off the Hook. But those are mere details. Important details, critical details, details worth writing about -- but not the big picture. Noah Rothman at Commentary wrote:
No amount of cynicism could have prepared Americans for what they witnessed on Tuesday morning, and 2016 has not been short on cynicism.
Getting closer. The best truly big picture view I saw was from Karol Markowicz, a columnist for the NY Post and an ex-Soviet who moved the the United States as a child. In response to the Comey verdict, Markowicz tweeted out a statement as to how others who came from the USSR expected no other result:

Despite describing Hillary's email debacle as "completely careless," the FBI announced earlier today it would not recommend prosecution. Professor Jacobson covered the decision in more detail here. Surprising? Not really. Maddening? Hell yes it is. Responses across the political spectrum are trickling in and Speaker Ryan minced no words, rejecting Clinton's "pattern of dishonesty and poor judgement":

FBI Director James Comey gave an on-camera press statement today from FBI headquarters, and is taking questions from reporters off camera. Despite finding serious problems and carelessness in handling classified information, rejecting claims that such information must be "marked" classified, and likelihood of foreign hacking, Comey says no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case because no bad intent. Somewhere, David Petreaus and dozens of others prosecuted in the past are crying. Legal Insurrection readers called it: https://legalinsurrection.com/2016/07/will-fbi-recommend-prosecuting-hillary-reader-poll/ (Full Text of Comey Statement at bottom of post)

So much speculation lately. From Loretta Lynch's impromptu, it-just-happened, guess-who-I-bumped-into private sit down with Bill Clinton, her saying she's staying out of it but maybe not, to Hillary's interview with the FBI, to supposed leaks by "sources" in both directions. The QUESTION IS NOT whether you want the FBI to recommend Hillary be prosecuted. The QUESTION IS whether you think the FBI will recommend Hillary be prosecuted.

Get it? The Reader Poll question is not what you want to happen, but what you think will happen.

It's Yes or No. A time for choosing. No "undecided" allowed. Make a choice, the FBI has to.

The day after Hillary Clinton's "voluntary interview" with the FBI, she appeared this morning on Meet the Press. From the NBC transcript of the interview:
CHUCK TODD: . . . .  Yesterday, the F.B.I. interviewed Hillary Clinton for about three and a half hours at its headquarters right here in Washington D.C. about the use of her private email server while she was secretary of State. I spoke with the former secretary late yesterday on MSNBC, her only interview since meeting with the F.B.I., and asked her whether the description of the interview as "civil and businesslike" was accurate. SEC. HILLARY CLINTON: Well, it was both. It was something I had offered to do since last August. I've been eager to do it and I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department in bringing its review to a conclusion.

Hillary's long-awaited date night with the FBI apparently took place this morning in Washington D.C. and lasted for 3 1/2 hours. ABC News reports:
Hillary Clinton gave a "voluntary interview" to the FBI today regarding her email arrangements while she was secretary of state, her campaign says. "Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was Secretary," spokesman Nick Merrill said. "She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. Out of respect for the investigative process, she will not comment further on her interview." The interview occurred at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and lasted approximately three and a half hours, according to a Clinton aide.

The State Department has asked for a 27 month delay to release emails from Hillary Clinton when she served as secretary of state. That means the department would not release the emails until October 2018, over a year into Clinton's presidency if she should win in November.

Reports this morning indicate that Loretta Lynch is likely to accept the recommendation of the FBI as to prosecuting Hillary. The NY Times and initial reports on MSNBC indicated this was tantamount to a recusal, but the DOJ is now walking it back just a little, saying the likelihood of her overruling the FBI is very low, but not zero. I pointed out on June 29 that the real story here is not just the meeting, but also that Lynch and Clinton kept it secret until a local reporter found out about it from a source and questioned Lynch during a press conference:
If there was no appearance of impropriety, why did Lynch wait until a local news crew, apparently tipped off, asked her about it?

Who's even more powerful than the king? The person who gets to pick the king. And as of this morning that person is, quite possibly, FBI Director James Comey. Today's Morning Joe reported breaking news from the New York Times: Attorney General Loretta Lynch has decided that she will accept the recommendation of the FBI regarding its investigation of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. If Comey recommends against an indictment of Hillary, that would lift a huge cloud that has been dragging her candidacy down. It would put Hillary in a very strong position to become the next president. But should Comey recommend the indictment of Hillary, her candidacy would effectively be destroyed. Dems might scramble to replace her as their candidate, but in any case Donald Trump would be well-positioned to win the election.