Comey Disappoints

Comey Still Disappoints

The View from the Middle

At the beginning of the hearing today, Elijah Cummings hit the nail on the head.  He told Director Comey that there was a “gap” between the Director’s outline of Hillary Clinton’s misuse of her personal server and his conclusion not to indict her.  Unfortunately, Director Comey did not fill that gap.

I listened to his statement two days ago and was mystified, as many people in America were, at his conclusion.  Today, I listened to the entire hearing, and I am no closer to agreement.  Mr. Comey’s main defense of his decision is that he couldn’t prove Hillary’s “intent”.  He reiterated that Ms. Clinton was extremely careless with sensitive and even top secret information, and that if she were an employee of the FBI she would at least be subject to termination, loss of her security clearance or formal reprimand.

But I am still convince, even after listening to Director Comey for at least three hours today, that Mrs. Clinton DID have intent.  She didn’t accidently move her email account to a private server in her basement.  She didn’t accidentally destroy over 30,000 emails; of which the FBI was able to find over 2,000 government related messages even though most are lost forever.  In my mind her intent was clear – to control all of her messages and to avoid FOIA requests. 

Trey Gowdy asked a series of questions that confirmed in my mind Hillary’s intent and another questioner pointed out that ignorance of the law is no excuse, although I sincerely doubt that Hillary Clinton was ignorant of the law. 

Finally, I disagree that gross negligence is not a reason for an indictment here.  Mr. Comey admits that negligence is punishable under this statute, but he suggests that since it has only been used once since its passing, that he shouldn’t consider it.  I disagree.  To do that rewrites the statute.  He should have followed it and given Hillary her day in court.  If that portion of the statute is unconstitutional, then any conviction will be challenged and the law will have to be changed.  But his job is not to rewrite laws, it is to enforce them.

Mr. Comey did admit that reasonable people can disagree with his findings and not question his integrity.  He is correct, because while I think he did a good job of standing up for himself and the FBI today, I still totally disagree with his conclusion.  I would also suggest that he did not do what Elijah Cummings asked him to do. 

And the biggest problem for me and millions of Americans is that there will be no consequences for her actions.  Everyone agrees that she was grossly negligent in her duties, and everyone knows that if they were grossly negligent in their jobs, there would be consequences, Hillary, however, gets off scot-free.  THAT is what the people of America are sick of – no accountability in Washington.