So let’s begin by naming it: the email investigation.
There has been significant news in this front of late. In any other political climate you would expect an investigation into a frontrunner of our party to be a serious news coverage story here. Yet by and large — except to bring up when a number was reported incorrectly — there has been a complete blackout here, out of fear of being banned for discussing the topic.
That said, Kos has made it clear that this issue may be covered so long as there is no negative motive against Clinton — for example, if the topic could be used to help with strategy on how to help Hillary deflect criticism concerning the email investigation.
My “motivation” is much simpler: there has been significant news concerning the topic of late, and if we at all want to be informed, active participants in the political process, we should at least know about it. If we’ve given up on our desire to be informed about what’s going on on the political process then we’ve entirely given up on the purpose of this site. I leave it up to individual Hillary and Bernie supporters to decide for themselves how to behave in the comments section; I will pass no judgments here.
That said, off to the news.
At the FBI’s request, the State Department halted their internal review of Clinton’s email server. State Deparment spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters, "The FBI communicated to us that we should follow our standard practice, which is to put our internal review on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation.” State Department policy considers it standard practice to not hold internal reviews while law enforcement investigations are ongoing and had sent a request for clarification from the FBI on how it should proceed.
I’ve been searching for sources on whether this suspension is likely to benefit or harm Hillary; unfortunately, all I’ve found so far is Forbes, who considers move this a negative for her. According to them, the State Department is used to minor violations of classified information in the process of handling information internally, and would have been much more likely to return a favorable verdict, which would then have put the FBI in a more difficult situation. I’m not a big fan of Forbes, however, so if anyone has any better informed commentary the topic, I would greatly appreciate it.
Clinton and her top aides are now expected to be questioned as soon as several days from now, and the decision on whether to recommend criminal charges made shortly thereafter. Justice Department prosecutors have joined the FBI’s team and the investigation is now described as being in a “critical stage”; the investigation is expected to be concluded “in weeks not months”.
In short, if the FBI makes a no-prosecution decision, this issue would be behind her in the general election.
NBC reports that four top Clinton aides being sought for interview have chosen a common attorney, Beth Wilkinson. However, their only source appears to be a congressional letter sourced by Politico. Choosing a common attorney would reflect a degree of confidence in the strength of their case as well as a “sink or swim” strategy, as an attorney may not represent multiple clients in an issue who are likely to present testimony damaging to each other.
A second judge has ruled in favor of a right-wing lawsuit by conservative group Judicial Watch against the State Department over the email server. Citing “evidence of government wrong-doing and bad faith”, this will allow Judicial Watch to begin discovery. For those not familiar with them, Judicial Watch is part of the Benghazi witchhunt and is hoping that investigations concerning the email server will reveal an attempt to hide information from the Benghazi hearings.
FBI director Jim Comey is reported by TIME to be highly involved in the FBI’s email investigation and is trying to avoid leaks:
Comey is keeping a close watch on the investigation, getting briefings from team leaders and personally overseeing the case. Agents have been told they may be polygraphed to prevent leaks, the sources familiar with the probe say. “I want to ensure [the Clinton email investigation] is done in the ways the FBI does all its work: professionally, with integrity, promptly,” Comey told Congress in February. “And without any interference whatsoever.”
I’ll conclude by writing my only opinion in this post. I truly do believe that the FBI is being, and will be fair and professional in their handling of the case. They’re in an extremely tough situation, as they’re in extreme risk of being accused of either pursuing a political prosecution or avoiding prosecution for political reasons, and will have to make their reasons for prosecuting or not prosecuting rock solid.
Regardless, I think we can all be glad — no matter which candidate we support — that this issue should be behind us “within weeks” and we can be focused on more pressing issues, like whether America should nuke Europe or whether women should be punished for pursuing an abortion.