09-28-2015, 10:59 AM
She might be charged with perjury when the investigation concludes, but I'd be very surprised.
Perjury is often really difficult to prove. I think it would be extremely difficult to convict her of perjury in this case because to prove perjury one must produce evidence that there was willful intent to lie.
I understand that she left it to her attorney to do the sorting and turn-over of the records. So, even if she was well aware that a batch of emails was not being turned over, without a statement indicating that Clinton herself directed those emails to be held back (or knew and approved of them being held back), perjury wouldn't be provable.
She only certified that, based on information told to her, she believes all of the emails that qualified as federal records (or potentially qualified as such) were turned over. Her ass is well covered, legally, in my opinion.
Still, to me, the fact that personnel related emails between she and Petraeus were not handed over looks bad. At worst, it makes her and her team look as if they believe they're above the law and have something to hide. At best, it's (yet another) case of shortsightedness and carelessness in Clinton's governmental record-keeping.
Perjury is often really difficult to prove. I think it would be extremely difficult to convict her of perjury in this case because to prove perjury one must produce evidence that there was willful intent to lie.
I understand that she left it to her attorney to do the sorting and turn-over of the records. So, even if she was well aware that a batch of emails was not being turned over, without a statement indicating that Clinton herself directed those emails to be held back (or knew and approved of them being held back), perjury wouldn't be provable.
She only certified that, based on information told to her, she believes all of the emails that qualified as federal records (or potentially qualified as such) were turned over. Her ass is well covered, legally, in my opinion.
Still, to me, the fact that personnel related emails between she and Petraeus were not handed over looks bad. At worst, it makes her and her team look as if they believe they're above the law and have something to hide. At best, it's (yet another) case of shortsightedness and carelessness in Clinton's governmental record-keeping.