Well, well, well … isn’t this interesting?
According to newly released transcript’s from former FBI official Lisa Page’s congressional testimony last year, the DOJ instructed the FBI not to charge Hillary Clinton for gross negligence:
NEW: Lisa Page's congressional testimony reveals that the FBI was considering charging Hillary Clinton under the Espionage Act for "gross negligence" — until the DOJ flat-out told them "No."https://t.co/c6t7UyttzB
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) March 12, 2019
More from the Washington Examiner:
Page told the committee that the FBI “did not blow over gross negligence.” Responding to a question from Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Page testified the FBI, including Comey, believed Clinton may have committed gross negligence. “We, in fact — and, in fact, the Director — because, on its face, it did seem like, well, maybe there’s a potential here for this to be the charge. And we had multiple conversations, multiple conversations with the Justice Department about charging gross negligence,” she said.
Page further testified the DOJ put a stop to that: “The Justice Department’s assessment was that it was both constitutionally vague, so that they did not actually feel that they could permissibly bring that charge.” The specific statute being referenced, 18 U.S. Code § 793, deals in part with “gross negligence” in the handling of national defense information, which Clinton came under scrutiny for possibly violating.
Page said Comey and the FBI spoke with DOJ about a gross negligence charge for Clinton multiple times, but that the DOJ consistently pushed back on it. “We had multiple conversations with the Justice Department about bringing a gross negligence charge. And that’s, as I said, the advice that we got from the Department was that they did not think — that it was constitutionally vague and not sustainable,” she said.
Ratcliffe asked if the decision not to charge Clinton with gross negligence was a direct order from the DOJ. “When you say advice you got from the Department, you’re making it sound like it was the Department that told you: ‘You’re not going to charge gross negligence because we’re the prosecutors an we’re telling you we’re not going to,’” he said.
Page responded: “That’s correct.”
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The thing is, that’s not how Obama AG Loretta Lynch said it happened.
Flashback to when AG Lynch testified that she would defer to FBI on whether to charge Clinton. https://t.co/ZBv3dYEXSX
— Friendly Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) March 12, 2019
Maybe she misspoke?
Seems newsy in retrospect https://t.co/LWaNVezRvL
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) March 12, 2019
More from RealClear Politics last April:
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she does not recall “concerns being raised” by then-FBI Director James Comey when the investigation into the Hillary Clinton private e-mail scandal was categorized as a ‘matter.’ Comey later publicly testified before Congress that he felt “queasy” being told to use that terminology to describe how the Justice Department was handling the probe.
…
“Comey says you wanted to call it the ‘Clinton matter,’ he wants to call it the Clinton investigation. To the extent though that he noted it, that it bothered him, did he go to you and question your credibility with regard to the Clinton case?” Holt asked the former AG.
“I can tell you though that it was a meeting like any other that we had, where we talked about the issues,” Lynch answered. We had a full and open discussion about it.”
Sounds like somebody’s not being full and open about things.
Lynch lied… Let's see if any journalists notice. https://t.co/hUowuLm0EI
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) March 12, 2019
At this point, what difference does it make?
— GacWell (@gac_well) March 12, 2019
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