On Tuesday FBI director James Comey announced that the bureau was not recommending criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of unsecured private servers for emails related to her work as secretary of state.
But Comey used the opportunity to criticize Clinton’s “extremely careless” behavior and to point out that she was less than truthful when she said that no classified material appeared in the emails. He also suggested that sensitive emails could well have been hacked, although there was no evidence they had been.
So while the FBI found a pattern of disturbing (and I would say irresponsible) behavior on Clinton’s part, they didn’t believe it rose to the level of criminal behavior that could be proved in a court of law.
It’s hardly a clean bill of health for Clinton and it’s a justifiable issue for Republicans in the coming election. It would probably be pretty damaging to her chances if her Republican opponent were not named Donald J. Trump.
Trump, as is his wont, overplayed his hand by claiming Clinton escaped prosecution because “the system is rigged” and by saying, with no evidence, that Clinton “bribed” Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
A registered Republican, Comey served as deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush. His appointment as FBI director in 2013 was confirmed by the Senate in a vote of 93 to 1. If Trump or other Republicans have evidence that Comey took a dive for Clinton (which hardly seems likely given his scathing comments about her actions), they should present it. Otherwise it will appear they have become so invested in the idea that Hillary belongs in prison that they are psychologically incapable of accepting any other result.
My sense is that Clinton is capable of learning from her mistakes and failures while Trump routinely doubles down on his.
So it’s up to American voters to weigh everything Clinton has said, done and proposed against everything Trump has said, done and proposed, and decide which one should hold the world’s most powerful position.
For me it’s not a difficult choice.
