Posted: 16 August 2022 at 9:36pm | IP Logged | 7
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"You seem to be implying that Clinton and Trump have been treated differently by the FBI for political reasons."
Certainly not my intent. If there was preferential treatment for Clinton, I would fault the DOJ, rather than the FBI.
"As to the claim that what Clinton and Trump did was "exactly" the same, that's certainly not something anyone can determine without knowing exactly what was in Clinton's emails and exactly what is in the boxes in Trump's home."
Trump has been accused of removing documents that belong to the government, including some documents that are classified; possibly at a very high level. That is exactly what Clinton did. Whether the documents were electronic or hard copies really doesn't make a difference when assessing the potential criminality of what they did.
I agree the precise contents of the documents being sought are unknown, but in terms of criminality, it is the level of classification, and the way the documents were handled that matters; not the specific content.
"One notable way in which the Clinton and Trump situations are different is that the latter involves physical documents in cardboard boxes, and the former does not."
You're right. The relevant question now is whether the documents were being withheld from the FBI. Trump and his lawyers claim they were cooperating with the investigation, and the DOJ/FBI had an open invitation to retrieve any documents they wanted.
The DOJ was in the same position with regard to Clinton and members of her team, who were suspected of having classified documents on their personal computers. Rather than direct the FBI to obtain search warrants for the computers, the DOJ negotiated with those individuals (after granting them criminal immunity).
Having said that, my point was not that Clinton received favorable treatment. Like you, I believe Trump will not be charged, so in the way that matters most, both will have been treated the same.
My point was that even if Clinton, or any of the others Trump has pointed to, were treated differently, those differences are not a valid defense against any crimes he could be accused of.
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