Hillary Clinton Email Scandal Crumbles As Justice Department Says No Laws Were Broken

[Gman]

Hillary Clinton Email Scandal Crumbles As Justice Department Says No Laws Were Broken

Justice Department lawyers argued before a federal court that Hillary Clinton’s handling of her emails broke no laws.

The Washington Times reported:

In the most complete legal defense of Mrs. Clinton, Justice Department lawyers insisted they not only have no obligation, but no power, to go back and demand the former top diplomat turn over any documents she hasn’t already given — and neither, they said, can the court order that.

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/11/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-crumbles-justice-department-laws-broken.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/10/justice-department-rules-hillary-clinton-followed-/

[GitRDun]

1. Now queue the "trust" and "bad judgement" police

[Gman]

2. Like they give a damn

About trust and judgment. What a joke.

[frylock]

25. Because if you don't give a damn about trust and judgment, then nobody does.

[99th_Monkey]

3. Good! Now can we talk about REAL issues voters actually care about?

I've never thought the email thing was anything serious, except for an unfortunate
distraction for months on end, from real issues in the campaign.

[Gman]

5. Exactly

[Warren DeMontague]

15. One wonders why server guy would take the fifth, tho.

[99th_Monkey]

18. I don't care

last I checked, Hillary's "email problem" wasn't on Bernie's list of real
issues he's basing his campaign on, and that voters actually care about.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Well -something- has caused her numbers to crater over the past few weeks.

Which means at least those voters care about something that is reflecting negatively on her.

If shes gonna be the nominee, she needs to fix her campaign IMHO.

[99th_Monkey]

23. Well, that "something" is a someONE, and his name is Bernie Sanders

People are more FOR Bernie, not so much AGAINST Hillary.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. I agree, to a certain extent.

But i also think a lot of people started to question her political acumen and judgment after she did the snapchat and "what, with a cloth?" Shtick.

[Juicy_Bellows]

26. Yep. I do too - I wonder if that remark was off the cuff? I don't think it was, which bothers

me more. I think it was bandied around in back room chatter and just came flopping out. Yeesh, that was painful. I don't take delight in other people's gaffes but I do feel oddly embarrassed for them.

[99th_Monkey]

27. Granted, the email thing definitely didn't help her

but given the utter lack of any substance to the accusations, much less any
criminal activity on Hill's part, I can -- as a Bernie guy -- still sympathize
with her frustration with being expected to treat the whole thing seriously.

My theory is that the email thing was the 1%/M$M/tptb's way of MAKING
DAMNED SURE that American viewers were left in the dark about Bernie's
message: "Bernie who" Oh, look over there! a Hillary email scandal!!"
which passed for 'coverage of the Democratic primary candidates' for
months on end. <-- and this kind of chicanery is what we're up against.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. If he keeps gaining ground and drawing huge crowds

They won't be able to ignore him, as much as they may want to.

[99th_Monkey]

30. Absolutely. and it's already started,

Wolf Blitzer CNN yesterday. Very respectful by Wolf, even
when Bernie called-out the M$M's money-driven political
coverage. Interview focused on Bernie 41%/Hills 40% in
Iowa.

and the same day, Sanders was on Chris Hayes show as
well, and it was an awesome conversation. I happened to
have the CH link, which I'll share:
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sanders-is-even-with-clinton-in-iowa-523379267684

[brush]

31. Ahhh . . . it might be the fake scandals, ever thought about that?

Amazing to me that people ask why her numbers are cratering as if the constant 24/7 drumbeat of made-up "Email, Email, Email" and "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi" scandals from repugs, righty talking heads and DU Sanders supporters had no effect at all on her poll numbers.

Unfucking believable!

The scandals are total repug BS and we have DUers going all in on it too.

WTF?

We need to be smarter than to fall for doing the repugs job for them in attacking a Dem candidate with fake crap that we all know is and has been fake from the jump.

[Gman]

34. Joe Biden at 20%

But no similar movement by Sanders. Biden is siphoning her support.

[99th_Monkey]

3. Dupe - Self-deleted nt

[NorthCarolina]

6. If her losses were a result of the email non-scandal and not her positions on the

issues important to voters, she'd be golden.

[madville]

7. That is a completely separate issue

Than the investigation concerning the classified material and the way it was handled and stored.

The DOJ is obligated to argue on her and her staff's behalf regarding lawsuits related to FOIA requests. This is their argument in that arena.

On the other hand the DOJ and Inspector General are obligated to investigate for any potential violations concerning the creation, transfer and storage of the classified material.

The matters are independent of each other. This has been the DOJ's position all along concerning FOIA request and the judge will consider that argument making his decisions regarding pending and delayed FOIA requests.

[CanadaexPat]

19. And it's the FOIA aspect that's going to hurt her - multiple agencies are doing reviews prior to

possible release under FOIA. That's where the leaks are coming from, and the different opinions about something being classified or not. The DOJ has a long release schedule so it will go on for some time. Hillary is sort of collateral damage of inter-agency fighting about what should be considered classified, top secret, etc.

[jeff47]

8. Uh...no. This is one aspect of the "scandal"

This is specifically about violations of FOIA via deleting "personal" emails. It has nothing to do with mishandling classified information.

[Gman]

9. Uh... Yes

The whole thing is s waste of time witch hunt.

[jeff47]

11. No, it really isn't. Read your own links.

This story is about Judicial Watch's FOIA lawsuit. Not about classified information.

ETA: Judicial Watch has claimed that Clinton was not allowed to delete any emails, even if they were personal. All this filing says is the DOJ thinks she was allowed to delete personal emails.

The classified emails were not personal, and were turned over to State as part of the FOIA response. So they were not deleted and not covered by this statement by the DOJ.

[catnhatnh]

10. You listed two sources but only quoted from one...

Here's a snip from the second:

"Judicial Watch, which had at least 16 active open-records lawsuits against the State Department seeking emails from Mrs. Clinton or her top aides, said the administration is ignoring its own guidelines in trying to clear Mrs. Clinton.

“Indeed, the State Department’s own rules specify that personal records of a departing presidential appointee may not be removed from the government until the State Department ‘records officer in cooperation with the S/ES or appropriate administrative office’ approves of the removal, a process which ‘generally requires a hands-on examination of the materials,’ ” Judicial Watch said in a reply brief.


And the beat goes on.....

[riversedge]

13. oh yeah, The Wash Times-a RW rag and Judicial Watch the waterboys and girls for the GOP

and conservatives.

[Beacool]

21. Are you serious???

You are quoting Judicial Watch????

How low has this place fallen.

[riversedge]

29. Lower and lower as each day passes.

[SouthernProgressive]

38. They are promoting a Gowdy witch hunt.

There shouldn't be any surprise that those supporting a right wing witch hunt would be aligned with the right wing media. It's their first stop during the day.

[Agnosticsherbet]

12. Finally, I'm tired of this made up scandal.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. This is definitely a positive development for the Clinton campaign.

I don't know if she's out of the woods yet, but it can't hurt.

[FloridaBlues]

16. This will help her move past this issue.

Hoping the media stops the 24/7 coverage
Perhaps the Bernie supporters will stop trashing her on this site as well:
Well one can hope!

[Warren DeMontague]

22. It was facile for her campaign to think they could shrug this off with snapchat jokes.

Getting Cranky and trying to shut down a reporter with "what, like with a cloth" was only gonna be seen as tossing red meat to the media. For better or worse they decided something was there. A seasoned, skilled politician like we are assured HRC is, should have known that.

And we still dont know why server guy decided to take the 5th, do we?

[Evergreen Emerald]

39. It does not matter how she handled it. The flies are swarming.

The fact that right wingers and corporate media can take down a candidate with bigfatlies should be an unacceptable idea for anyone. Including those who disagree with her ideas.

She should have attacked them and stood tall. But, she knows that if she does anything anything it will be attacked. I believe she should have gone full Trump on them.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. did we learn nothing from John Kerry in 2004?

[jimlup]

17. I'm not a Hillary supporter BUT...

This scandal is total Republican BS

[wyldwolf]

32. I held off on posting this last night because the first to break the story was the Washington Times

but it's on other more reputable sites now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/us/justice-dept-says-hillary-clinton-had-authority-to-delete-certain-emails.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/justice-dept-affirms-clinton-delete-personal-emails-33698906

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/12/hillary-clinton-had-right-to-delete-personal-emails-says-us-justice-department

Like most Clinton 'scandals' this one is slowly unraveling, much to the chagrin of conservatives and 'progressives.'

[madokie]

33. Its been a republiCON witch hunt from day one

anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows that. Its a non issue to me.

[HereSince1628]

35. It'd be great if it crumbled and could be swept away...

Unfortunately, while some legal issues may go away for H, the process behind the steady public release of the emails will throb on for months.

Every time there is a release, it will remind people there was an 'un-scandal' that has yet to completely burn itself out.

[MohRokTah]

36. So it's a bunch of bogus bullshit.

I give it another two weeks of life here in GD : P.

[YoungDemCA]

37. A manufactured "scandal" involving Hillary Clinton?

Same shit, different decade.

"I love the 90s", Fox News edition.