Thursday, November 12, 2015

FBI Emailgate Investigation Expanding Into Hillary Clinton's Materially False Statements?

by JASmius



It's so unlikely that we'll ever be able to feast at Hillary Clinton's criminal buffet, but the FBI keeps expanding the prosecutorial menu:

The FBI has expanded its probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails, with agents exploring whether multiple statements violate a federal false statements statute, according to intelligence sources familiar with the ongoing case.

Fox News is told agents are looking at U.S. Code 18, Section 1001, which pertains to “materially false” statements given either in writing, orally or through a third party. Violations also include pressuring a third party to conspire in a cover-up. Each felony violation is subject to five years in prison.

This phase represents an expansion of the FBI probe, which is also exploring potential violations of an Espionage Act provision relating to “gross negligence” in the handling of national defense information. …

The section of the criminal code being explored is known as “statements or entries generally,” and can be applied when an individual makes misleading or false statements causing federal agents to expend additional resources and time. In this case, legal experts as well as a former FBI agent said, Section 1001 could apply if [Mrs.] Clinton, her aides or attorney were not forthcoming with FBI agents about her emails, classification and whether only non-government records were destroyed.

"If"?  Hillary Clinton makes half a dozen materially false statements before breakfast every morning.  She made enough false statements just in her "homebrew" email caper - denying she had one, wiping it before it was ever discovered, insisting she didn't have it wiped, declaring that she'd turned everything over to investigators and Congress, insisting there were no emails with classified information, insisting classified information wasn't "classified," etc., etc., etc. - to keep her in the slammer until the UFPS Enterprise, NCC-1701, launches.

Here's the federal criminal statue in question:

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully — 
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than five years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than eight years, or both. If the matter relates to an offense under chapter 109A, 109B, 110, or 117, or section 1591, then the term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be not more than eight years. [emphases added]

 That would pertain to her serial deceptions of the FBI investigation.

(c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to—

(1) administrative matters, including a claim for payment, a matter related to the procurement of property or services, personnel or employment practices, or support services, or a document required by law, rule, or regulation to be submitted to the Congress or any office or officer within the legislative branch; or

(2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate. [emphases added]

Aaaaaaaaand that would pertain to her serial stonewalling of and lies to Trey Gowdy's House Select Committee on Benghazi and the separate probes that preceded it, which have been even more brazenly flagrant.

I can conceive of only two possible reasons for the FBI Emailgate dragnet growing this wide: (1) They're following the trail wherever it leads, and given that this is La Clinton Nostra we're talking about, it sprawls breathtakingly like the nebula that surrounds a supernova remnant and will likely take years and years and years to fully investigate, unearth, and untangle, outlasting any Rodham presidency that could ever conceivably come to exist; or (2) they're tossing every angle into the pot so that when they completely exonerate her, as Lois Lerner was in IRSgate, in the home stretch of the 2016 general election campaign, the whitewash will be comprehensively complete.

Whichever it turns out to be, Hillary Clinton will never spend a picosecond behind bars, and it will have zero effect on her presidential bid.

That, she'll screw up on her own.

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