Several people have been punished for a similar or lesser offense than what Hillary Clinton is getting away with — being “extremely careless” in handling “very sensitive, highly classified information,” as FBI Director James Comey has said.
In announcing that the FBI will not recommend charges in the Clinton email scandal, Comey appeared to suggest that if someone other than the Democratic presidential nominee mishandles classified information, that person would be punished.
“To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences,” he conceded. “To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions.”
Comey noted:
Although there is evidence of potential violation of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.
He argued that there was no recent precedent for bringing a criminal case against Clinton without evidence of willful intent or gross negligence.
The Political Insider provides 10 examples of people who have been punished for a similar or lesser offense than what Clinton did:
Bill Clinton’s National Security Adviser guilty of Destroying Documents in National Archives: ‘Sandy Berger … pleaded guilty in 2005 to illegally sneaking classified documents from the National Archives by stuffing papers in his suit. He later destroyed some of them in his office and lied about it.’
State Department Official Fired and Security Clearance Revoked After Linking to Classified Wikileaks Document: Peter Van Buren, a foreign service officer for Hillary’s State Department, was fired and his security clearance revoked for quoting a Wikileaks document AFTER publishing a book critical of Clinton…
Bill Clinton’s CIA Director Was Pardoned During Plea Negotiations for Storing Classified Data on Home Computer: John Deutch, CIA director under President Clinton, was found to have classified information on a government-owned computer in his home several days after he left the CIA. He had to be pardoned in the middle of plea negotiations by Hillary’s husband.
Navy engineer sentenced for mishandling classified material: Bryan Nishimura of Folsom, California, pled guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials during stints in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008…Nishimura was sentenced to two years probation, fined $7,500, and had to surrender his security clearance.
Sailor Smuggles Classified Docs off Ship: ‘A Navy intelligence specialist admitted Thursday that he smuggled classified documents out of Fort Bragg in folders and his pants pockets, then sold them for $11,500 to a man he believed was a Chinese agent.’
Low Level Submarine Shipmate Prosecuted for Less Serious Crime than Clinton: Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier allegedly used a cellphone camera to take photos in the classified engine room of the nuclear submarine where he worked as a mechanic, the USS Alexandria, then destroyed a laptop, camera and memory card after learning he was under investigation. He was indicted on one felony count of unlawful retention of national defense information and another felony count of obstruction of justice.
Marine Corps. Major Caught Sending Classified Documents to Superiors Using Personal Email: Maj. Jason Brezler was dismissed from the Marine Corps when he ‘accidentally took home 14 documents on his personal computer, some of which were classified.’ According to the report, Brezler was ‘in a graduate school class when he received an urgent email from military officials in Afghanistan and sent a specific document in response, using his personal email account.’
Lab Tech Steals Data from Nuclear Facility: Jessica Lynn Quintana, a former worker at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, pleaded guilty in federal court to ‘knowingly removing classified information from the national security research laboratory, after she took home sensitive documents and data from the lab last year.’
NSA Manager gives Classified Info to Newspaper: A National Security Agency manager was indicted on allegations of willful retention of ‘national defense’ or classified information, obstruction of justice and making a false statement, after he allegedly ‘passed classified information to a Baltimore Sun reporter who wrote stories exposing NSA mismanagement.’ Charges were dropped and the NSA manager pleaded to a misdemeanor, in what was called a victory against the Obama administration whom had attempted to use dated laws to prosecute leakers of classified information…
State Dept. Official Steals Classified Docs: Donald Willis Keyser earned over a year in prison when he ‘pled guilty to a three-count Criminal Information in which he admitted that he willfully and unlawfully removed classified documents and digital memory devices from the Department of State to his residence.’ United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg stated that… ‘His (Keyser’s) sentence of imprisonment is a warning to others in positions of public trust.’
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