Clinton May Be a Political Loser Even if Not Indicted
No matter how the FBI investigation into the handling of sensitive information on Hillary Clinton’s personal computer server ends, it likely will hurt her presidential bid.
If she is indicted, she will face further questions about her honesty and perhaps even calls for her to step aside. If she isn’t indicted, as many legal experts predict, critics will accuse the Obama administration of letting her escape charges merely because they want her to win the White House.
Clinton was interviewed by the FBI Saturday for three-and-half hours at its headquarters in Washington, according to her campaign, suggesting the inquiry is nearing its end.
“Secretary Clinton gave a voluntary interview this morning about her email arrangements while she was secretary,” Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. “She is pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Department of Justice in bringing this review to a conclusion.”
However it is concluded, events this week underscored anew that Clinton is likely to emerge scarred. A new controversy over the Obama administration’s handling of the case and Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s refusal to hand it over to a special prosecutor far removed from the White House served as a reminder that critics would always say that political favoritism toward Clinton tainted any decision to clear her.
Under pressure after she met privately with Clinton’s husband this week at his invitation, Lynch did announce Friday that she expects to accept the recommendation of investigators and prosecutors at the FBI and the Justice Department as well as FBI Director James Comey, a Republican, in the case. “I fully expect to accept their recommendations,” she said.
She said that she still plans on reviewing the case, which was launched by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division after classified information was found in some of Clinton’s emails last year, and will not recuse herself.
Lynch has repeatedly rejected demands that she give the case to a special prosecutor, after Barack Obama said Clinton did not endanger national security, after the president and vice president endorsed her, and after Lynch met privately with Bill Clinton, a visit she said was social and did not mention the case but still raised bipartisan alarms.
Don Smaltz, a lawyer appointed as an independent counsel to investigate former President Bill Clinton’s secretary of agriculture, Mike Espy, in the 1990s, said Lynch should have appointed a special prosecutor last year.
“I think she would have a more thorough investigation,” he said. “The public could have more confidence in whatever the outcome is.”
The year-long investigation is expected to conclude in the coming weeks, though it could take longer, leaving open the probability it will cast a shadow over Clinton as she accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in Philadelphia this month and launches her general election campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
