Add To The List Of Things I Don’t Get
August 2, 2019 at 11:32 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
Mishandling Classified Information
Apparently I don’t have a good grasp on how the legal system works in this country, especially in Washington D.C. – and even more so when it comes to government officials.
Reporting on TheHill.com by John Solomon reveals that U.S. Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s team referred fired FBI Director James Comey for possible prosecution under classified information protection laws. But prosecutors working for U.S. Attorney General William Barr have decided not to prosecute him.
Solomon, quoting multiple sources, writes, “Prosecutors found the IG’s findings compelling but decided not to bring charges because they did not believe they had enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law.”
See, I want to know how I get that deal if I mishandle classified information. I’m no legal expert, but I’m pretty sure if I mishandled classified information, the U.S. government wouldn’t give two poops what my intent was. They’d say, “Hey, buddy, you mishandled classified information. You’re busted.”
Like this poor sap, as reported by TheGuardian.com:
“A US Navy sailor was sentenced ... to a year in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear attack submarine while it was in port in Connecticut.
Kristian Saucier, of Arlington, Vermont, appeared in federal court in Bridgeport, where a judge also ordered him to serve six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring during a three-year period of supervised release after the prison time. He pleaded guilty in May to unauthorized detention of defense information and had faced five to six years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Saucier admitted to taking six photos of classified areas inside the USS Alexandria in 2009 when it was in Groton and he was a 22-year-old machinist mate on the submarine.
Saucier took the photos knowing they were classified, but did so only to be able to show his family and future children what he did while he was in the Navy, his lawyers said.”
So did the government prosecutors care what this guy’s intent was? No. “Oh, sure, buddy, you’re only show these photos to the kids and grandkids. Ha! We know what you’re really up to. You’re gonna show the Russians! You’re busted!”
Now let’s compare and contrast what this kid did to what the FBI director allegedly did.
The IG report says Comey leaked a memo to a friend with media connections. The memo contained information classified at the lowest level of “confidential.” If you recall, Comey admitted leaking the memo during his testimony before Congress, so we know he did it.
According to Solomon’s reporting, “The memos, which mostly recount Comey’s interactions with Trump in the Russia case and include information about foreign leaders, were sensitive enough to require government officials to send a professional ‘scrub team’ to a Comey lawyer’s office to ensure all classified information was deleted.”
Apparently, prosecutors shied away from going after Comey because the “confidential” classification was made by the FBI after Comey had already transmitted the information.
OK, but shouldn’t Comey know what is or isn’t classified? He needs the FBI scrub team to tell him that? He’s the FBI director, for crying out loud.
Solomon: “Although a technical violation, the DOJ did not want to ‘make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,’ a source said, explaining the DOJ’s rationale.”
Oh, well, of course not. The last thing you want to do is look petty when an FBI director is mishandling classified information. And even if you weren’t sure, wouldn’t you err on the side of caution and not leak the memo to the media?
Democrats Picking On Obama
I listened to recaps of the Democratic candidate debate – the second one, where everybody was picking on Joe Biden.
I get that. He’s the front runner, so the other candidates feel like they need to swat him down a bit.
But the weird thing is how they starting throwing President Barack Obama under the bus. That really makes no sense to me.
Obama is the most popular president ever. His approval rating, especially among black voters is like 99 percent. Overall his post-election approval rating is 57 percent. A strong majority of voters – of all persuasions – love him.
But now the Dem hopefuls argue that he is not above criticism. That, of course, is true, but it’s also politically stupid.
Nonetheless, in order to make Biden look bad, they busted on Obama for things like too many deportations, too many incarcerations and not enough health care. Seems to me that might push more voters toward Biden.
I think former attorney general Eric Holder got it right when he tweeted, “Be wary of attacking the Obama record. Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained — for you or the party — by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.”
I think that’s inarguably true and I don’t understand why the other Demo candidates don’t understand it.
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Mishandling Classified Information
Apparently I don’t have a good grasp on how the legal system works in this country, especially in Washington D.C. – and even more so when it comes to government officials.
Reporting on TheHill.com by John Solomon reveals that U.S. Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s team referred fired FBI Director James Comey for possible prosecution under classified information protection laws. But prosecutors working for U.S. Attorney General William Barr have decided not to prosecute him.
Solomon, quoting multiple sources, writes, “Prosecutors found the IG’s findings compelling but decided not to bring charges because they did not believe they had enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law.”
See, I want to know how I get that deal if I mishandle classified information. I’m no legal expert, but I’m pretty sure if I mishandled classified information, the U.S. government wouldn’t give two poops what my intent was. They’d say, “Hey, buddy, you mishandled classified information. You’re busted.”
Like this poor sap, as reported by TheGuardian.com:
“A US Navy sailor was sentenced ... to a year in prison for taking photos of classified areas inside a nuclear attack submarine while it was in port in Connecticut.
Kristian Saucier, of Arlington, Vermont, appeared in federal court in Bridgeport, where a judge also ordered him to serve six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring during a three-year period of supervised release after the prison time. He pleaded guilty in May to unauthorized detention of defense information and had faced five to six years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Saucier admitted to taking six photos of classified areas inside the USS Alexandria in 2009 when it was in Groton and he was a 22-year-old machinist mate on the submarine.
Saucier took the photos knowing they were classified, but did so only to be able to show his family and future children what he did while he was in the Navy, his lawyers said.”
So did the government prosecutors care what this guy’s intent was? No. “Oh, sure, buddy, you’re only show these photos to the kids and grandkids. Ha! We know what you’re really up to. You’re gonna show the Russians! You’re busted!”
Now let’s compare and contrast what this kid did to what the FBI director allegedly did.
The IG report says Comey leaked a memo to a friend with media connections. The memo contained information classified at the lowest level of “confidential.” If you recall, Comey admitted leaking the memo during his testimony before Congress, so we know he did it.
According to Solomon’s reporting, “The memos, which mostly recount Comey’s interactions with Trump in the Russia case and include information about foreign leaders, were sensitive enough to require government officials to send a professional ‘scrub team’ to a Comey lawyer’s office to ensure all classified information was deleted.”
Apparently, prosecutors shied away from going after Comey because the “confidential” classification was made by the FBI after Comey had already transmitted the information.
OK, but shouldn’t Comey know what is or isn’t classified? He needs the FBI scrub team to tell him that? He’s the FBI director, for crying out loud.
Solomon: “Although a technical violation, the DOJ did not want to ‘make its first case against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive,’ a source said, explaining the DOJ’s rationale.”
Oh, well, of course not. The last thing you want to do is look petty when an FBI director is mishandling classified information. And even if you weren’t sure, wouldn’t you err on the side of caution and not leak the memo to the media?
Democrats Picking On Obama
I listened to recaps of the Democratic candidate debate – the second one, where everybody was picking on Joe Biden.
I get that. He’s the front runner, so the other candidates feel like they need to swat him down a bit.
But the weird thing is how they starting throwing President Barack Obama under the bus. That really makes no sense to me.
Obama is the most popular president ever. His approval rating, especially among black voters is like 99 percent. Overall his post-election approval rating is 57 percent. A strong majority of voters – of all persuasions – love him.
But now the Dem hopefuls argue that he is not above criticism. That, of course, is true, but it’s also politically stupid.
Nonetheless, in order to make Biden look bad, they busted on Obama for things like too many deportations, too many incarcerations and not enough health care. Seems to me that might push more voters toward Biden.
I think former attorney general Eric Holder got it right when he tweeted, “Be wary of attacking the Obama record. Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained — for you or the party — by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.”
I think that’s inarguably true and I don’t understand why the other Demo candidates don’t understand it.
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