FBI Focusing on "Gross Negligence" Section of Espionage Act

Gabe brought this up on the podcast.

Catherine Herridge and Pamela Brown:

Three months after Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address and server while secretary of state was referred to the FBI, an intelligence source familiar with the investigation tells Fox News that the team is now focused on whether there were violations of an Espionage Act subsection pertaining to "gross negligence" in the safekeeping of national defense information.

Under 18 USC 793 subsection F, the information does not have to be classified to count as a violation. The intelligence source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe, said the subsection requires the "lawful possession" of national defense information by a security clearance holder who "through gross negligence," such as the use of an unsecure computer network, permits the material to be removed or abstracted from its proper, secure location.

Subsection F also requires the clearance holder "to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer. "A failure to do so "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

The source said investigators are also focused on possible obstruction of justice. "If someone knows there is an ongoing investigation and takes action to impede an investigation, for example destruction of documents or threatening of witnesses, that could be a separate charge but still remain under a single case," the source said. Currently, the ongoing investigation is led by the Washington Field Office of the FBI.

That sounds serious to me. While some might think they're letting Hillary off the hook by pushing aside the parts of the law that deal with intentional behavior, "gross negligence" is easier to prove (in fact, it all but proves itself, based on what we know) and still carries a ten year prison sentence.

I don't expect the Queen to spend a moment in jail, but I'm giddy at the thought of her being charged with a crime that carries a ten year sentence.

We'll start calling her Did My Dime Clinton.

Meanwhile, the President is being accused of "working the refs" by commenting that nothing Hillary has done seems, to him, to have endangered national security (and you know how strong Obama is on national security).

The idea is that by offering this stupid opinion, he's trying to signal the FBI as to what The Boss would like their findings to be.

In Tuesday's presser (IIRC), the press was actually asking Josh Earnest why the president had decided to make this statement when he almost always chooses to dodge questions by claiming "I can't comment on an ongoing investigation." They specifically asked if this was an intent to influence the FBI.

posted by Ace at 01:53 PM

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