Refer the Wall Street Journal. “The right call“, “a double-standard,” “the right thing,” a “miscarriage of justice.” The reactions to Tuesday’s dramatic development in the Hillary Clinton email investigation came in fast and furious and not surprisingly ranged widely in their assessment of the FBI director’s recommendation not to bring criminal charges against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Legal experts and former Justice Department officials generally agree that many of the findings from the FBI’s probe — underscoring gaps in security standards and punching holes in Mrs. Clinton’s defenses — were at least a damning rebuke of the former secretary of state.
But they disagree on whether Mrs. Clinton should face charges. Below is a selection of reactions from scholars and prominent legal figures from both sides of the debate.
Comey got it right:
• Defense attorney Abbe Lowell told Reuters that Comey’s recommendation to the attorney general was “completely consistent” with other high-profile case charging violation of laws governing the handling of classified information, including the case against retired Gen. and former CIA chief David Petraeus.
“The one common denominator of all such [prosecuted] cases is that the individual involved intentionally sent material to those not authorized to receive it, like the press, like a foreign government,” said Mr. Lowell, who also cited the leak case against a former State Department contractor he represented.
• Elizabeth Goitein, who co-heads the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Project, told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that Mr. Comey just didn’t think all the evidence gathered would support a criminal prosecution. “That’s what prosecutors base their decisions on — what the evidence shows, not what they personally think happened.”
• CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, a former adviser to four presidents, said “embittered partisans” may object to Mr. Comey’s decision. But he thinks the FBI conducted a “diligent” investigation and wrestled in good faith with a close call, particularly with respect to whether Mrs. Clinton committed criminal “gross negligence” under the Espionage Act.
If you have a problem, and you don’t have the resources that Hillary Clinton has, consider calling Alex Truluk. Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.
For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.