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When the entire inevitable first female president train flew off the tracks in spectacular fashion last November there seemed to be a sense that the related stories of potential criminal investigations into Hillary Clintons handling of classified documents was going away as well. After all, hadnt the FBI concluded that it was pretty much a done deal? (At least a couple of times as I recall.) It had become more of a campaign talking point than anything else, and with defeat having been snatched from the jaws of victory, couldnt you all just let the poor woman be?

In the months since then it feels as if nobody has even been talking about it, with the exception of the occasional Tweet from the President when he wanted to criticize Jeff Sessions. But under the covers there was still a slow, grinding investigation taking place. Tens of thousands of documents had been turned over by the State Department and more of them kept popping up in unexpected places. As the Washington Times reported this weekend, the final chapter has yet to be written in this saga and additional classified material may still be coming to light.

The Hillary Clinton email fiasco isnt ending anytime soon, with State Department officials saying they have no idea when they will finish sorting though and releasing the previously hidden messages.

More classified documents that the former secretary of state improperly handled keep coming to light.

The Trump administration doesnt even know if it has hunted down every trace of the emails that Mrs. Clinton a former first lady, U.S. senator, top diplomat and Democratic presidential nominee sent from a secret email server stashed in her home

This June, the FBI provided approximately 7,000 additional documents recovered from the laptop computer shared by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, whose habitual sexting cost him a seat in Congress, the mayoral election in New York and ultimately his marriage to Ms. Abedin.

We have not yet determined how many of these documents are State Department records as opposed to personal emails, nor have we determined how many documents are duplicative of material already in our possession, said the official.

So its been almost two months since all of the Carlos Danger material was turned over. A fair question is being raised here as to why its taking so long to go through everything. While the campaign was still going on there was a much greater sense of urgency (or so it seemed) and they processed considerably larger volumes last summer in a shorter period of time. Did they simply assign fewer people and resources to it once the election was over and the spotlight had moved elsewhere?

I suppose thats one possibility. But heres another thought to ponder. That entire Loretta Lynch story has been blowing up all over again this summer and its raised additional questions about how James Comey was handling the email investigation from the beginning. Now there are fresh sets of eyes at State, the DoJ and the FBI. Is it conceivable that they arent in quite as much of a hurry to put the entire story to rest as the Obama administration was?

That remains unknown for the time being. One thing we can count on, though, is that defenders of Clinton will label this an unnecessary distraction, a vindictive political witch hunt and everything else you would expect. But is it? If the questions about the former First Ladys handling of classified material were valid in terms of criminal culpability last summer, are they any less so now that shes exited the public stage? (For the most part, anyway.) The only thing we can probably count on for sure is that Clinton will be unlikely to get a presidential pardon any time soon if charges are still possible.

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I bet you thought the Hillary Clinton email scandal was over - Hot Air

Dear John: You recently criticized the FBI for its investigation of Hillary Clintons e-mails.

I am a retired FBI agent and extremely proud of my career and service. I feel compelled to write. Former FBI Director James Comeys statements, testimony and behavior are truly abhorrent.

Comey admitted under oath before Congress that the bureau did not utilize a federal grand jury in the Hillary e-mail investigation.

Furthermore, he testified that in his experience, when dealing with attorneys, you can obtain information easier and faster than via a federal grand jury.

Never, I repeat never, in my 25-year career have I or any FBI agent known to me investigated a criminal case without the use of a federal grand jury, federal grand jury subpoenas, search warrants, etc.

Search warrants and/or subpoenas should have been executed at Clintons residences in Chappaqua and Washington and at Platte River Networks.

In fact, Comey frequently cites his vast experience. Well, I am certain that in every case with which he was involved (except this one, conveniently) he employed the use of a federal grand jury and all of the authority that encompasses.

Comeys parsing of words to justify his cowardly decision was awkward and juvenile. These circumstances are indicia of Hillarys intent (which, as we both are aware, is not a necessary element to satisfy the federal espionage statute) on which Comey placed so much emphasis.

Comeys cowardice and lack of integrity is further exemplified in his surreptitious disclosure of confidential information through an intermediary to the New York Times.

Comey has created a disgraceful legacy. P.B.

Dear P.B.: I changed your initials and some other details because Id like to speak with you and dont want anyone to guess your identity.

My sources say Comey and three others made the decision on Hillary. The rest of the investigating agents werent consulted, and many were shocked by the decision not to pursue charges.

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Comey botched the Hillary Clinton email investigation - New York Post

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch set aside ethical norms and good judgment to take her secret, election-year meeting with former Present Bill Clinton at an Arizona airport. Her agency was investigating Clinton's wife, Hillary, and pondering the permutations of prosecuting her as she ran for president.

In doing so, she paved the way for then-FBI Director James Comey to take unprecedented decision-making power in the investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails.

She also plunged her department and the White House into a panic when a local reporter got wind of the meeting. We finally know a bit more about it, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit pursued by the American Center for Law and Justice.

After an unjustifiable 12 months of resisting compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, the Justice Department has finally handed over correspondence between the FBI, the Justice Department, and White House officials about how they should handle the fallout from Lynch's meeting. Among the findings was the fact that Lynch used a pseudonymous email address.

This is not the first recent case of federal officials doing so, nor of FOIA requests being unnecessarily delayed and litigated to cover up political wrongdoing, nor, most importantly, of documents being redacted for no reason other than to avoid embarrassment.

The bottom line is that government transparency is becoming a joke, and the joke is on all of us.

Recall that Hillary Clinton used a private email account and failed contemporaneously to hand over government records she thus created. This allowed her to thwart valid FOIA requests for years, and to stonewall a congressional inquiry. In a case similar to Lynch's, former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson went by the alias "Richard Windsor." Although both Jackson and Lynch claim that FOIA compliance officers in their agencies were aware of their aliases, was every one of them really aware of it? There is room for doubt. Was there any way to guarantee that future FOIA officers would have this information so they could respond within the law when their records were searched in the future?

Problems with FOIA go beyond efforts by senior officials to hide their identity or their correspondence from public scrutiny. It is equally if not more concerning that the Justice Department, as often occurs with politically sensitive FOIA requests, improperly dragged its feet to thwart the ACLJ's valid request for the emails about Lynch's meeting with Clinton.

Not only did the department force the matter into unnecessary litigation that has lasted nearly a year but also imposed ridiculous and unjustified redactions that exceed permitted exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act.

Talking points that DOJ wrote and sent to the White House Office of Political Affairs were completely blacked out on the basis of a b(5) exemption, which is designed to protect "inter-agency or intraagency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency."

According to DOJ's guidance on FOIA's b(5) exemption, courts have interpreted this to "exempt those documents, and only those documents that are normally privileged in the civil discovery context." It is absurd to suggest that draft media talking points, written in a panic and sent to the White House to facilitate political damage control, would qualify as exempt from discovery in a civil court case. But the b(5) exemption has been so badly abused in other contexts that it is casually referred to as "the withhold-it-because-you-want-to exemption." This indicates a much bigger problem.

President Obama famously failed to keep his promise that his administration would presume in favor of disclosure wherever there was doubt. Instead he ran an administration that set new records for non-compliance with FOIA. As a result, Congress stepped in last year with a reform bill, which Obama did at least sign, to create a statutory presumption of disclosure. But even this has failed to change officials' habits, which always seek to conceal embarrassing details as long as possible.

Congress needs to fix FOIA, because it has become a sick and ironic joke. If bureaucrats refuse to preserve and deliver requested documents in a timely fashion as the law requires, perhaps all of their communications should by default be made available online after 30 days, with exemptions applied for on a case-by-case basis and subject to court challenge. The federal bureaucracy's obstinate non-compliance with valid requests justifies extreme measures. This is the entrenched civil service acting against the public interest and the law to shield itself and its political masters from detection in wrongdoing.

We hope that Lynch's case, with all the others over the years, helps convince Congress to go back to the drawing board on FOIA. Add tougher penalties, place stricter limits on exemptions, tighten regulations for government use of email. Do whatever is necessary. But make clear that no one is above the law, and make the federal government truly transparent to the public it exists to serve.

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Bureaucrats can't run but they can hide, and it's time to stop them - Washington Examiner

The Hillary Clinton email fiasco isnt ending anytime soon, with State Department officials saying they have no idea when they will finish sorting though and releasing the previously hidden messages.

More classified documents that the former secretary of state improperly handled keep coming to light.

The Trump administration doesnt even know if it has hunted down every trace of the emails that Mrs. Clinton a former first lady, U.S. senator, top diplomat and Democratic presidential nominee sent from a secret email server stashed in her home.

At this time, we do not have an estimate for completion of processing all of these documents, a State Department official told The Washington Times.

In February 2016, the State Department completed a review of the roughly 30,000 emails that Mrs. Clinton turned over in December 2014, nearly two years after she left office.

The FBI last summer gave the State Department tens of thousands of additional emails from its investigation, which the department continues to process pursuant to court orders.

This June, the FBI provided approximately 7,000 additional documents recovered from the laptop computer shared by top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband, Anthony Weiner, whose habitual sexting cost him a seat in Congress, the mayoral election in New York and ultimately his marriage to Ms. Abedin.

We have not yet determined how many of these documents are State Department records as opposed to personal emails, nor have we determined how many documents are duplicative of material already in our possession, said the official.

The painstaking review continues to uncover classified information that was stored on the insecure server that shielded Mrs. Clintons official correspondence from public and congressional oversight.

A batch of Mrs. Clintons email released this month included at least two with confidential information. That brings the total number of confidential documents that passed through Mrs. Clintons unsecured server to 2,083.

One from Ms. Abedin was nearly completely redacted because it would reveal foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, including confidential sources, according to clarification markings.

An email from Dennis Ross, who was a U.S. envoy to the Middle East, was redacted of confidential information regarding an Israeli military offensive in November 2012 against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. It included discussions regarding cease-fire negotiations.

Mrs. Clinton, whose secret email account was discovered by a congressional probe of the 2012 Benghazi attack, handed over about 30,000 messages to the State Department in December 2014.

She erased another 32,000 messages that she deemed personal. At some point, she wiped clean the email server, preventing any of the messages from being recovered.

The fight for transparency in Mrs. Clintons emails has broken major ground in open-records laws, and more legal battles are still to come.

The conservative legal group Judicial Watch, which has been at the forefront of the fight to make the emails public, has at least nine Freedom of Information Act lawsuits pending.

The group scored a legal victory last week when District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered the State Department to expand its search for Mrs. Clintons emails related to the terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Mrs. Clinton was head of the State Department when heavily armed militants killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Suspicions of a cover-up emerged when the Obama administration initially downplayed the attack in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. Susan E. Rice, ambassador to the United Nations, claimed repeatedly that the attack was the culmination of a spontaneous riot over a YouTube video that mocked the Prophet Muhammad.

The State Department now must search its servers for email accounts of Mrs. Clintons top aides Cheryl Mills, Jacob Sullivan and Ms. Abedin.

Its not about politics. Its just about finding the truth as to what happened, said Ramona Cotca, a senior attorney for Judicial Watch.

The legal battles over the email have persisted despite the change of administration.

It may actually be slower, Ms. Cotca said.

Donald Trump made Mrs. Clintons email scandal a top campaign issue when she was the Democratic presidential nominee.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump vowed to appoint a special counsel to investigate Mrs. Clinton. He backed off that promise once elected, saying he didnt want to hurt the Clintons and that she had already suffered greatly.

He changed his tune again as special counsel Robert Mueller intensified the investigation into Russian interference in the election and accusations of Trump campaign collusion.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers! the president said last month in a Twitter post.

The White House did not respond to questions about the slow pace of the Clinton email search.

A Justice Department spokesman also declined to respond to the criticism but said the agency would soon submit a status report to updating the court on the Freedom of Information Act search.

The slower the State Department processes and produces these records, the longer it will take us. But well just keep at it, said Ms. Cotca. We would like to see an end in sight. I would.

Link:
Clinton email case far from closure as FBI hands over more classified documents to State - Washington Times

After Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump last November, she went hikingand she also turned to religion. That included gettinga pep talk from her pastor.

The ReverendBill Shillady revealed this week that he sent an email to Clinton the morning after the election, and ittalked about Good Friday, the day on which Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified. According to a copy of the letter posted by CNN, Shillady acknowledged that "this is not the devotional you wish to receive this day," but he took her through the story nonetheless.

Related: Trump supporters rib Hillary Clinton for calling election memoir What Happened

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"For the disciples and Christ's followers in the first century, Good Friday represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost. The momentum and hope of a man claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah who was supposed to change everything, had been executed," Shillady wrote. "Even though Jesus told his followers three days later the temple would be restored, they had no idea of what that Sunday would be. They betrayed, denied, mourned, fled and hid. They did just about everything BUT feel good about Friday and their circumstances."

Shillady told Clinton that sheand the nation, which ultimately gave her the popular votewas in the middle of such a Friday but needed to hold on.

"Our hope is that Sunday is coming. But it might well be hell for a while," he wrote.

Clinton identifies as a Methodist, and she's previously said that her religious upbringing helped her personaldevelopment. Shillady, the executive director of the United Methodist City Society in New York, and Clinton met in2002, according to the Associated Press, and they became fast friends. The pastor attendedboth her daughter's wedding and her mother's memorial. During last year's campaign, he wrote her daily devotionals.

He's recently collected those messages intoStrong for a Moment Like This, due out next week. Clinton wrote the foreword for the book, which,according to the publisher's website, includes 365 devotions "along with personal notes, portions of her speechesand headlines that provide context."

As for Clinton, Shillady said she's finally reaching her proverbial Sundaywhich, as he told McClatchy DC, may even include a stint preaching.

"She's the most relaxed I've ever seen her, having fun with her grandchildren. I think she'll continue to speak out on issues that are important to her, on women and gender and children's health," Shillady told CNN. "'Sunday' is not another election for her. She's moving on with her life."

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Hillary Clinton Losing to Trump Was Like Jesus's Crucifixion, According to Her Pastor - Newsweek