Hillary Clinton
Musa al-Gharbi offers the most comprehensive exposition of Hillary Clinton’s record on race[1] I’ve seen. I hope it finds its way to the people who need to see it.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Turley—the very person I want to hear from on these sorts of issues—weighs in on the Clinton aides accepting joint counsel. It seems to me a lot depends on how it all actually plays out, but where Rachael Bade’s article on April 1st seemed to suggest that this decision was a sign that the Justice Department was less likely to prosecute,[2] Turley seems to understand this move as a defense against that very possibility.[3]
Bade’s suggestion comes in the form of two quotes:
[Dan Metcalfe, founding director of the DOJ’s office of information and privacy], now a law professor at American University, called it an “optimistic approach”: “They must believe prosecutors don’t have that much.” . . .
[Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney-turned-right-leaning legal commentator] questioned why the DOJ would greenlight the arrangement in the first place, arguing that it “presents an amazing conflict of interest” and allows for coordination of stories.
“If it’s a serious case, you don’t run the risk of having all sorts of collusion between people — it’s just not done,” said diGenova. “If the department has accepted that, that tells me they’re walking down the line of not bringing a case, because they’re not serious if they have accepted that arrangement … They’ve thrown in the towel.”[4]
If it is true that Justice had the option, as diGenova suggests, to object to this arrangement,[5] then their acquiescence indeed seems to suggest that prosecution is unlikely. Turley, on the other hand, writes that
[Beth] Wilkinson is a top lawyer with close contacts at the Justice Department. She is a logical choice [for the top four staff members to Clinton], particularly if you believe that the FBI may push for charges and the only fail-safe would be a refusal by the Justice Department to prosecute.[6]
I don’t quite know what to make of Turley’s choice of the word ‘fail-safe.’ While it is indeed likely that Hillary Clinton’s connections to the Obama administration may weigh against a prosecution and it may indeed be true that nuances of culpability which I don’t quite understand may also weigh against such a prosecution, that doesn’t seem to me to be much of a ‘fail-safe.’ I think that if there is a fail-safe, it lies in somebody’s ability (if such exists and from whatever source) to influence a decision not to prosecute. Such influence would, of course, be corrupt, which seems to be Clinton’s modus operandi, but if it occurred in the face of the FBI’s call for a prosecution, it would be especially glaring.
Musa al-Gharbi, “Hillary’s atrocious race record: Her stances over decades have been painful and wrong,” Salon, April 3, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/04/03/hillarys_atrocious_race_record_her_stances_over_decades_have_been_painful_and_wrong/
Jonathan Turley, “Clinton Aides Agree To Be Represented By The Same Lawyer In Answering Questions On Email Scandal,” April 3, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/04/03/clinton-aides-agree-to-be-represented-by-the-same-lawyer-in-answering-questions-on-email-scandal/
Footnotes
- [1]Musa al-Gharbi, “Hillary’s atrocious race record: Her stances over decades have been painful and wrong,” Salon, April 3, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/04/03/hillarys_atrocious_race_record_her_stances_over_decades_have_been_painful_and_wrong/↩
- [2]Rachael Bade, “Clinton aides unite on FBI legal strategy,” Politico, April 1, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-fbi-strategy-emails-221435↩
- [3]Jonathan Turley, “Clinton Aides Agree To Be Represented By The Same Lawyer In Answering Questions On Email Scandal,” April 3, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/04/03/clinton-aides-agree-to-be-represented-by-the-same-lawyer-in-answering-questions-on-email-scandal/↩
- [4]Rachael Bade, “Clinton aides unite on FBI legal strategy,” Politico, April 1, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-fbi-strategy-emails-221435↩
- [5]Joseph diGenova, quoted in Rachael Bade, “Clinton aides unite on FBI legal strategy,” Politico, April 1, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/hillary-clinton-fbi-strategy-emails-221435↩
- [6]Jonathan Turley, “Clinton Aides Agree To Be Represented By The Same Lawyer In Answering Questions On Email Scandal,” April 3, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/04/03/clinton-aides-agree-to-be-represented-by-the-same-lawyer-in-answering-questions-on-email-scandal/↩