Less than criminally reckless
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton got some semi-welcome news Tuesday: The FBI won’t be recommending criminal charges against her for her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. Yet, the FBI did find her “extremely careless.”
“Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case,” said FBI Director James Comey.
The decision is a victory for Clinton, whose presidential campaign has been weighed down by the investigations into her personal email server. Clinton chose to rely on the personal server despite the fact that it violated federal standards.
Comey explained the FBI’s methodology and decision making in a clear, thorough manner. Cases like these, Comey said, are prosecuted based on a combination of “intentional and willful mishandling of classified information,” or “vast quantities” of information exposure, or indications of disloyalty to the U.S. or efforts to obstruct justice.
The FBI’s thorough investigation didn’t find any of those things — and so Clinton will rightly avoid criminal charges.
The FBI’s decision was painstaking and fair. It doesn’t let Clinton off the hook, either; Comey made it clear that her judgment in this matter was reckless and unwise.
Comey’s team discovered some email chains that shouldn’t have been “on any kind of unclassified system.”
With regards to security, Comey knocked Clinton’s leadership at the State Department as well: “While not the focus of our investigation, we also developed evidence that the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified email systems in particular, was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.”
Making matters worse was Bill Clinton’s behavior last week.
In a terrible decision last week, the former president approached Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the Phoenix airport for a private, unplanned meeting. Lynch is the head of the Justice Department, which has the final decision on prosecution in the email matter.
Lynch, who was apparently caught off guard by Bill Clinton, had to pledge to accept whatever the FBI’s recommendation would be in the case, to dispel the “shadow” cast by the meeting.
This debacle was a fine reminder that this entire mess was avoidable. Hillary Clinton chose to use that personal email server despite warnings that it was improper. Bill Clinton chose to walk across the tarmac.
But not all bad choices are crimes.
The FBI’s decision to step out of a politically combustible case without bulletproof evidence was wise for many reasons.
The most important of those reasons is that it allows the voters to decide how this matter reflects on Hillary Clinton’s capacity to lead the free world. The questions around the server have to do with her trustworthiness — a matter that’s also been a focus in this campaign.