Command Influence in HC "criminal investigation"

 

"Barrack Obama's spokesman described the FBI's probe into Hillary Clinton's classified email scandal as a 'criminal investigation' on Thursday, less than an hour after the president endorsed his embattled former secretary of state to succeed him.

Josh Earnest told reporters during a White House press briefing that Obama was committed to keeping his hands off the investigation, trusting career investigators and prosecutors to follow evidence wherever it leads.

'That's what their responsibility is,' Earnest said. 'And that's why the president, when discussing this issue in each stage, has reiterated his commitment to this principle that any criminal investigation should be conducted independent of any sort of political interference.'"  Daily Mail

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It appears that the civilian commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States thinks that it is proper for him to endorse a candidate to succeed him while she is under scrutiny in a "criminal investigation" conducted by the FBI and DoJ.  Both these agencies are, of course, fully under his command.

His press secretary, Josh Earnest, insisted yesterday that Obama's stated desire that Hillary Clinton become the next "commander" of these two Executive Branch agencies and his intention to campaign on her behalf will have no effect on the willingness of career civil service investigators and prosecutors to impartially do their jobs in this case.  Ridiculous!

pl  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3634074/White-House-calls-FBI-probe-Clinton-s-classified-emails-criminal-investigation-glee-Republicans-day-Obama-endorses-her.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_command_influence

Comments

[divadab]

Obama in 2008: Hillary Clinton "willing to say anything to get elected".

Pot meet kettle!

Obama signaling no charges coming? Where is the FBI recommendation? Something fishy here.

[Farmer Don]

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/everybodyknows.html

[BabelFish]

The appearance of an impropriety is usually far more damaging than the actual wrongful behavior. And, throw that out of the window with this one. This is so Clinton in in every aslect, going all the way back to the Rose Law situation. A shame that BHO couldn't find the courage to do the right thing.

[pj]

Only slightly OT - Hillary put unqualified flash trader on sensitive nuclear panel - http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/clinton-donor-sensitive-intelligence-board/story?id=39710624

[Bill Herschel]

Amazing. But all that is going on is that Obama won't even come close to permitting his "legacy" (of endless war costing the lives of hundreds of thousands, millions if you count deaths from Afghanistan's U.S. protected heroin crop) to be tarnished.

Clinton is a terrible, terrible candidate and person. The Democrats could have won this walking away with just about any other candidate.

"We came, we saw, he died [giggle]."

[Jack]

Sir

The fix was always in. Apparently, Obama also met with the Attorney General after his meeting with Sanders.

The Obamas can now follow in the footsteps of the Clintons and Blair and rake the big bucks that Wall St and the power brokers as well as shady third world dictators and oil potentates will shower.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3534294/How-Michelle-Obama-refused-invite-Hillary-Bill-Clinton-dinner-wanted-Joe-Biden-run-t-wait-leave-White-House-make-money-book-deals-speaking-fees.html

If the above story has any credence then it seems that making money overcame any personal love lost. Ultimately only the election will decide. In any case its good to be King in the now imperial state.

[DC]

It would NOT have been politically difficult to wait to endorse until the FBI finishes its job. The main benefit, as I and others likely see it, to endorsing now is to put career prosecutors (including the AG) under pressure to absolve Clinton of any wrongdoing. This tarnishes the President's legacy, IMO.

[Old Microbiologist]

I think the real point is the possibility, or lack thereof, of Presidential pardons. Obama is also guilty of sending classified emails the Hillary as one minor example. The ordered assassination of 4 American citizens without due process is arguably first degree murder. There is a long list of potential crimes and Trump has already very clearly said he will see Hillary is prosecuted so we may see them all go down in a crescendo of crimes. Once the aides start getting thrown under the bus, the justice system will move rapidly offering immunity. So, for both Obama, and Clinton this election represents an existential threat to their personal freedom.any others are also culpable so this is moving towards a literal life and death struggle given Trump, as a complete outsider, has no insider political limitations.

[MasterSlacker]

I did enjoy this Kevin Drum analysis of the situation using game theory. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/06/conservatives-know-emailgate-bullshit-and-game-theory-proves-it

Everyone seems to be forgiving of Colin Powell's use of personal eMail, as well as forgetting that Kerry is the first SoS to use the .gov eMail system.

And, of course, the legal precept of Intent seems to be completely forsworn.

[Tony]

Queen Hillary is picked by the Borg to be the next US president. The power of money shows its face.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/middleeast/un-saudi-arabia-ban-ki-moon/

[turcopolier]

Masterslacker

You are? Yes, Powell and Rice, neither of whom I admire, did something stupid, but then Powell is the same idiot who held up a flask of nothing at the UN to help lie the US into war in Iraq. But ... he did not maintain a personal home brew server to keep both private and government correspondence beyond the reach of the US public. Only foreign intelligence and just about anyone else who cared had access to the stored content of her servers in Chappaqua and Denver. pl

[no one]

Maybe it's as simple as Obama wanting to make it appear as clear as possible to his fan club that should Hillary be charged, he had nothing to do with it. He's distancing himself.

What does Comey have to lose at this point? If he doesn't fight to charge her and she wins, she just might do him in (politically/career) because he knows too much. If he doesn't fight to charge her and Trump wins, Trump will do him in. If he fights to charge her, Trump will probably win and his career is secure.

Lynch is another matter - she's probably done as AG regardless of who wins the election. What counts to her is her post Obama career in the private sector. But if Comey makes it public that he wants to bring charges, then it doesn't really matter what Lynch or Obama does. A vocal Comey will add to Trump's assault on Hillary and Hillary will lose.

Comey holds the power and logic says he should defy Obama and fight for charging and refuse to be silenced. And Obama is a lame duck.

So there an alternative "game theory".

[The Twisted Genius]

The only people Obama has gone after with the full weight of the law are whistleblowers or people who many consider as whistleblowers. Some of the cases have been based on flimsy evidence and specious arguments. Hell, he even grounded Evo Morales' official plane in order to try to catch Snowden. He, and others, have kept Assange holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy for years. He's been a vengeful and relentless Inspector Javert for some. Others, however, have nothing to worry about. Those in the "in crowd" will never be prosecuted or be subject to little more than a hand slap, no matter what the crime. HRC is firmly ensconced in this in crowd. She's a governmental Leona HeImsley. Laws are for little people. find it not at all surprising that many are turning to Trump, a con man who certainly passes himself off as someone not in this in crowd. Unfortunately, I find Trump to also be more of a Leona Helmsley in his own right.

[robt willmann]

DC,

Yes, Obama wants to put some heat especially on the lawyers in the Justice Department that he does not want a prosecution of Hillary. Plus, he wants to get "ahead of the curve" and endorse / support her now, because if the FBI reports that there is probable cause to believe she has committed crimes, then if he announces support for her after that is officially made public or leaks, he will look even worse as will the Democratic Party.

[JiuJitsuMMA]

Even if people are naive enought assume Hilary didn't know & wasn't actually trying to hide emails by using private email servers instead of gov servers subject to Freedom of Information Act laws & similar:

As judges, prosecutors & law enforcement always say "Ignorance of the law is no excuse"

[different clue]

MasterSlacker,

Did you mean to say you endorse Mother Jones's view? Or that you enjoy it as a specimen of how far Clinton fans will go to "absolvify" their preciousss The One?

[ISL]

Masterslacker; Then I recommend you try the same excuse when you are next stopped by policeman: Sure I was speeding, but so were other cars. Or see if you defense lawyer approves as your defense: Sure I was buying cocaine, but so was joe when you are in the dock.

zerohedge.com has been keeping up with developments. The Grassley predicted leaks are beginning

See:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-10/fbi-leaks-begin-emails-center-hillary-criminal-probe-revealed

where Clinton aides sent highly classified emails through her server because they couldnt get to a secure computer.

and example of cronyism of donate to the foundation and become a nuclear weapon advisor with no experience:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-10/stunning-emails-reveal-how-clinton-foundation-donor-bought-seat-hillarys-nuclear-wea

[different clue]

The Twisted Genius,

Yes, this endorsement is partly to rub our noses in the fact that as far as the Upper Crusties are concerned, " only the little people obey laws" . . to paraphrase the deathless words of Leona Helmsley. Well . . . the little people do still have a vote in the presidential election and some of us may vote our vengeance and our spitred. (Spitred is to spite as hatred is to hate).

I think perhaps another shorter-run reason for Obama to endorse now is because the entire Democratic Inner Party wants Sanders disposed of. Off the field and back in the stands. Once Clinton has been nominated, Obama may not personally care if the cork comes out of the bottle, the toothpaste comes out of the tube, the hangouts refuse to stay qualified and limited . . . and the stonewall starts to fall.

Meanwhile, here's another little nothingburger which may start to stink up the joint.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3074927/wall-street-whistleblower-calls-clinton-foundation-charity-fraud/

http://imgur.com/gallery/jXMjCNj

" People want to know if their Clintons are a crook. Well . . . we're NOT a crook! We've . . . WORKED for everything we've got!"

[different clue]

JiuJitsuMMA,

Yes, but do they say it to the Big People? Or only to the Little People?

[Bill Herschel]

If Trump wins the Presidency, he will not have pandered to the Imperialists. For me, there is no more to say. And, as for the in crowd, he knows them very well. He knows they will come out of the cracks like cockroaches when the kitchen lights go off when he obtains power. They will do his bidding, not he theirs. Just like they have always done.

If you are saying, correctly, it is a profoundly disgusting spectacle, then we can thank Trump again for that. He certainly has thrown the curtain back on the political process. Give me Trump over Rubio, Cruz, Bush, Kasich, etc. etc. any day. And Clinton.

If he appoints a Scalia on steroids to the Supreme Court, so be it. If he keeps us at war, he is a monster, but still no worse than Clinton.

[kooshy]

I am willing to bet she will get nothing not even slap on hand, she is the queen of this country holding any worthy job and position in this country including first lady of Arkansas,US, US Senator, Secretary of state ,candidate and nominee of major party for presidency, I really doubt anybody can go after her. Besides I put my money on her to be the next US president. Unfortunately, IMO, for long, the Media in this country, has stolen the right to elect the president by we the people. This time, I chose to vote for some one who never served in any civilian position in US government regardless, call it what you will.

[Jack]

TTG,Sir

I completely concur with your assessment. In the Imperium the Imperator and the Consuls are above the law. They are getting more blatant and now can't care less what the "little people" think. From what I have read the Borg Queen's sense of entitlement and superiority puts Leona Helmsley to shame. I have read of her contemptuous treatment of secret service officers who put their lives on the line to protect her.

As I contemplate The Donald, I am reminded of Mr. Hope & Change and a flight I was on from Denver back to California close to election day. The flight was full of young people returning from volunteering to make "history" happen that November. Their excitement and sense of promise was palpable. I knew as soon as the transition team was announced that we would be bereft of hope and left with only change when the Messiah was done. If The Donald is elected will he do the same to Joe Bageant's people?

While I would be considered by many as an arugula eating coastal elite, I feel a deep kinship with them. And I empathize with their long suffering. So, I hope they and the working class of the left recognize soon enough that the Borg intentionally wants to divide them into partisan camps to exploit them. The Borg is neither left or right. As David Habakkuk has so eloquently noted the Clintons and Obamas and Blairs only have the vices of the aristocracy. Their narcissism leads to a sense of superiority and condescension towards the lesser people. And their constant refrain is that those left behind should get on with the future and be like their elite friends. This brings me to a quote from Christopher Lasch that David Habakkuk linked to:

"Democracy works best when men and women do things for themselves, with the help of their friends and neighbors, instead of depending on the state."

This is exactly my sentiment. The elites have conditioned both the left and right that bigger government and more government spending and even more government interference in all aspects of our lives is how the rapaciousness of the oligarchy can be prevented. When in reality that is precisely how they maintain their monopoly. No better contemporary examples than the bailout and subsequent increased concentration of Wall Street and the health care cartel that causes US per capita medical expenditures to be twice any other western country.

[MH]

"There are two kinds of deliberate and premeditated deceit, commonly known as suggestio falsi and suppressio veri. (Neither of them is covered by the additionally lying claim of having "misspoken.") The first involves what seems to be most obvious in the present case: the putting forward of a bogus or misleading account of events. But the second, and often the more serious, means that the liar in question has also attempted to bury or to obscure something that actually is true. Let us examine how Sen. Clinton has managed to commit both of these offenses to veracity and decency and how in doing so she has rivaled, if not indeed surpassed, the disbarred and perjured hack who is her husband and tutor."

--Christopher Hitchens
http://www.weeklystandard.com/hitchens-on-hillarys-lies/article/23739

[rjj]

" because they couldnt get to a secure computer."

who set up the secure computer systems? anybody know?

open source statecraft is an interesting concept. how would that work - only the disinformation would be heavily encripted?

how would an insecure server anybody could access protect their communications from the FOIA? that motive does not make sense.

[Haralambos]

I just came across this and found it especially interesting since I live in Greece and have many friends in Cyprus: http://johnhelmer.net/?p=15820#more-15820

The plots in the pot thicken.