GOP Present-Past: Big Dick; Little Dick; Dickless; Dickhead; Dark Dick; Tricky Dick

Three Dicks and a John

Tricky Dick and the Hillary Connection

(Who’d a believed it???)

So, now here we are today: smack dab in the middle an ugly, nasty presidential race and who pops up? Richard M. Nixon. Wow; no, double wow; no, wait, double dog wow.  And, don't forget the last administration who had “Dark Dick” (Cheney).

Background thus far: The Hillary Clinton email scandal and her defense up to this point has been “that the material she received at home via her private server was not technically classified at the time that it was sent or received by her.” Therefore, she claims it was not classified information when he got it at home.

On the surface that sounds reasonable and plausible, but the problem is that it was not reviewed and classified because it was kept out of the State Department system (a system known as “jumping the gap that is between classified and unclassified and vice versa – see more on this below). So, what does this all mean? Simply put it means these things based on current events:

The DOJ has granted immunity to former State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server at her home.

He had refused to cooperate after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination until now. He was an obvious target of potential criminal charges if he knew that the server was meant to circumvent federal laws, including the mishandling of classified information.  

Then sprinkle in this update from FOX news: There is a new report that FBI investigators are zeroing in on the possibility that passwords were exchanged to allow people to access classified sites, by explaining how classified information seems to “jump the gap” between secure and non-secure systems; if so, then that is a strictly prohibited practice, and dangerous waters for Mrs. Clinton.

Also, from that same exclusive report from FOX, this:

The FBI is investigating whether computer passwords were shared among Hillary Clinton's close aides to determine how sensitive intelligence “jumped the gap” between the classified systems and Clinton's unsecured personal server, according to an intelligence source familiar with the probe.

That intelligence source emphasized to FOX News that “… if Clinton was allowing other people to use her passwords, that is a big problem” because the Foreign Service Officers Manual (FSOM) prohibits the sharing of passwords because such passwords are required to access each State Department network and are strictly controlled.

Those passwords include access to the network regarding highly classified intelligence, some known as “SCI” – Sensitive Compartmented Information.

And, also access to State’s unclassified system, known as “SBU” – or Sensitive but Unclassified. This is according to former State Department employees.

FOX News was told there are several potential scenarios for how classified information got onto Clinton’s server:

More at the FOX link below, but the key to that from this source contains a bunch of “if’s…”

Back to Pagliano: The presumption for him is that he will be granted “use” immunity rather than “transactional” immunity and the law references a court order. Here is the section explaining “use” immunity.  

Transactional immunity is the broadest type of immunity: It offers complete protection from future prosecution for any matter mentioned in the immunized testimony. 

Because it’s so broad, transactional immunity is also commonly referred to as “total” or “blanket” immunity.

Although transactional immunity offers the most protection for a witness, it doesn’t prevent prosecution for criminal activities that are unrelated to something discussed in the immunized testimony. And transactional immunity isn’t always available — for example, the federal system doesn’t use it.

What Mrs. Clinton should have known: That most high-level communications are treated as classified and only individually marked as classified when there is a request for disclosure. That person does not generate material as the Secretary of State and assumes it is unclassified. That person is also supposed to assume and treat materials as presumptively classified. 

Indeed that understanding was formally agreed to by Mrs. Clinton when she signed the “Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement,” or SF-312 upon appointment to her office. It states that “classified information is marked or unmarked classified information, including oral communications.” Otherwise, there would be massive exposure of classified material and willful blindness as to the implications of the actions of persons disregarding precautions.

Resources used for this post:

(1)  NOLO here

(2)  Jonathan Turley here

(3)  FOX News here

The bottom line if that’s even possible this early and in this hectic election cycle is simply that she is has not been indicted or found guilty in court beyond a reasonable doubt. The investigation is still ongoing. Sadly as I said, this is an ugly election year and more nastiness is apt to filter through since this GOP is not ready or willing to admit that she is not guilty of this email-gate or about Benghazi, either. We shall see. Stay tuned.

Thanks for coming by.