# FBI is re-opening investigation into Clinton's email **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 28, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950 "2016-10-28T17:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/481 "2016-10-31T15:02:26Z")
It would make for fun trivia someday: “Which president was known for paranoid secrecy, being buddies with Kissinger and receiving a presidential pardon?” Trick question! That describes two presidents! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/482 "2016-10-31T15:05:37Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Sure, that was my intent. It would be a bit less insane to wait till after the election. Sure, she’d have a cloud over her head and get zero Republican cooperation. But let’s face it, Republicans will not make any more attempt to work with her than they did with Obama. As much as I want her to win, all she’ll be able to accomplish will be to name Supreme Court justices and then only if Dems control the Senate and then only if they nuke the filibuster. If Republicans control the Senate, then we have 8 more years of gridlock and will have a Supreme Court with 5 members. The optics of a pardon would be much worse than that. It would confirm the worst Republican fear-mongering about conspiratorial plotting between Obama and Hillary, and it would be interpreted as a tacit admission of Hillary’s guilt – why issue a pardon unless she’s guilty as sin and knows it? It’s entirely unnecessary and would cast a shadow over the entire Democratic establishment that would linger for many years. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/483 "2016-10-31T15:09:06Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > You are simply wrong about this. Intent _always_ matters in criminal proceedings. Well, almost always. Statutory rape is the first exception that comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/484 "2016-10-31T15:09:46Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Here’s a way to defuse the whole mess- before leaving office, Obama gives Hillary a full, clear, and absolute pardon for everything involving the email affair. Sure, it will give the right wing apoplexy, but Obama pisses them off anyway just by putting on a pair of socks. So I say screw 'em, let’s kill it in the crib and it will be forgotten by 2020. If Hillary stumbles in the next 2 and 1/2 months and is quilty of any crime against the State … then it would not be up to the present sitting president, Obama, to allow her to skate with a presidential pardon, but would be up to the next president, which wouldn’t be Hillary Clinton and only the Lord knows who that would be. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/485 "2016-10-31T15:10:10Z")
In my office, we get regular emails saying something along the lines of “hey guys, could you watch it with the security violations? If we keep doing it we’ll get slightly less bonus money at the end of the year.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/486 "2016-10-31T15:10:27Z")
Can an innocent person demand that charges be brought, in order to get a “day in court” and force accusers of putting up their evidence in open court? TG! IANAL, I’m guessing not, but is there maybe and _ipso fucko_ or a\* stark staring decisis\*? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/487 "2016-10-31T15:11:48Z")
Libertarian VP candidate William Weld, who was head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Justice Division under part of Reagan’s tenure, calls Comey’s actions “disgraceful” and “off the reservation”: … there’s no way for Mrs. Clinton to know the evidentiary basis for which they made this update to their investigation, and they’ve said themselves they don’t know. It makes it all the more unreasonable to have waded into these waters in the first place. > **[Weld: Comey, FBI 'off the reservation' | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/31/politics/bill-weld-comey-reservation-clinton/index.html)** > > Libertarian vice presidential nominee William Weld lit into James Comey, saying Monday that his decision to announce a review of new emails was "disgraceful" and that the FBI director and the agency were "off the reservation." Strange world we live in when the Libertarian VP candidate is rational and insightful, and the mainstream Republican presidential candidate is a raving lunatic. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/488 "2016-10-31T15:23:44Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Here’s a way to defuse the whole mess- before leaving office, Obama gives Hillary a full, clear, and absolute pardon for everything involving the email affair. Sure, it will give the right wing apoplexy, but Obama pisses them off anyway just by putting on a pair of socks. So I say screw 'em, let’s kill it in the crib and it will be forgotten by 2020. Papa Bush did that with the Iran-Contra stooges. Hardly a blip in the radar. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/489 "2016-10-31T15:23:56Z")
Well, OK, then, the slot I thought Comey was filling is now Bill Weld. And Jeanine Pirro… > [@](#): > > Outspoken Trump supporter and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro came to Hillary Clinton’s defense Saturday in a lengthy monologue criticizing FBI Director James Comey for what she suggested was his meddling in a presidential election… > **[Trump-Supporting Fox News Host Comes To Clinton’s Defense On FBI Letter (VIDEO)](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeanine-pirro-criticizes-comey-defends-clinton)** > > Outspoken Trump supporter and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro came to Hillary Clinton’s defense Saturday in a lengthy monologue criticizing FBI Director James Comey for what she suggested was his meddling… (That’s _Talking Points Memo_, without which no citizen can hope to be well-informed…) 'Course, Ms. Pirro is adamant that Ms Clinton is totally guilty, as in guilty, guilty, GUILTY! Just what Comey did simply wasn’t the done thing, don’t you know. (For a while there, looked like it was gonna be **adaher** as paragon and paladin. But the boy done been born again, got a new spring in his step and a sparkle in his eye, nothin’ but blue skies and sunshine ahead!) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/490 "2016-10-31T15:28:08Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Papa Bush did that with the Iran-Contra stooges. Hardly a blip in the radar. 🆒 Hey, c’mon! That stuff was just directly contravening the will of Congress, selling arms to a hostile power and lying under oath. What is trivial shit like that compared with e-mails? And Reagan came right out and accepted sorta kinda responsibility! Said that the facts of the case are clear and irrefutable, but he just didn’t remember it that way! And America said, well, shit, we can’t throw Grampa in prison! Let’s just forgive and forget! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/491 "2016-10-31T15:55:04Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey, c’mon! That stuff was just directly contravening the will of Congress, selling arms to a hostile power and lying under oath. What is trivial shit like that compared with e-mails? > > Let’s just forgive and forget! This breaking news is not trivial in fact it may wind up being that Obama is the one that needs a presidential pardon: [http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/](http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/) Congress: Attorney General Lynch ‘Pleads Fifth’ on Secret Iran ‘Ransom’ Payments > [@](#): > > Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration’s secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/492 "2016-10-31T16:00:43Z")
The _Washington Free Beacon_, huh? Do they enjoy the same spotless reputation for non-partisan candor as, say, _Breitbart_ or _Drudge Report_? Or something less than those daunting standards? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/493 "2016-10-31T16:10:13Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The _Washington Free Beacon_, huh? Do they enjoy the same spotless reputation for non-partisan candor as, say, _Breitbart_ or _Drudge Report_? Or something less than those daunting standards? Why do you hate freedom? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/494 "2016-10-31T16:12:40Z")
I have a question and didn’t want to wade through 10 pages of posts. What is alleged to be on the laptop? The emails themselves or just the forensic data that they were on there at one time? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/495 "2016-10-31T16:15:47Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I have a question and didn’t want to wade through 10 pages of posts. What is alleged to be on the laptop? The emails themselves or just the forensic data that they were on there at one time? We don’t know except based on what we can infer from leaks. Comey didn’t say. But since they got a search warrant to view the emails from the device, that suggests that the content was indeed on the device. Speculation is that it is some kind of Outlook archive. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/496 "2016-10-31T16:22:25Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > We don’t know except based on what we can infer from leaks. Comey didn’t say. > > But since they got a search warrant to view the emails from the device, that suggests that the content was indeed on the device. Speculation is that it is some kind of Outlook archive. Then isn’t that a problem independent of the whole server issue? The classified (or at least sensitive) emails are floating around on someone’s laptop? ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/497 "2016-10-31T16:23:15Z")
How about…when a person is elected POTUS, any and all possible criminal charges and investigations against them are held in abeyance until the end of their term? As I understand it, a sitting President can only be charged with crimes by the House of Representatives as part of the Impeachment process. Doesn’t that make all this discussion of Obama pardoning Clinton moot? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/498 "2016-10-31T16:23:26Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > This breaking news is not trivial in fact it may wind up being that Obama is the one that needs a presidential pardon: [http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/](http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/) > > Congress: Attorney General > Lynch ‘Pleads Fifth’ on Secret Iran ‘Ransom’ Payments They weren’t secret. [Unless being on CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/17/politics/us-pays-iran-1-7-billion/)is secret. Jan 17 2016. Do try to keep up. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/499 "2016-10-31T16:27:28Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > This breaking news is not trivial in fact it may wind up being that Obama is the one that needs a presidential pardon: [http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/](http://freebeacon.com/national-security/attorney-general-lynch-pleads-fifth-secret-iran-ransom-payments/) > > Congress: Attorney General > Lynch ‘Pleads Fifth’ on Secret Iran ‘Ransom’ Payments I’m quite happy with the appropriate explanation – the money was the accumulation of principal and interest for monies owned by Iran that were secured by the USA during the hostage crisis. Iran failed to ask for that money as part of their secret deal with Reagan, so they didn’t get it without making a court case out of it. Can we just stop looking for ‘crimes’ our President has committed? Can the Republicans just lay down and die? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950/500 "2016-10-31T16:27:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Then isn’t that a problem independent of the whole server issue? The classified (or at least sensitive) emails are floating around on someone’s laptop? Just to clarify – when **Richard Parker** says that content is on the laptop, that doesn’t mean to that anyone knows whether that content includes classified information or not. It just means the laptop apparently contains emails, and nobody seems to know what those emails are about. And just to jump ahead, even if any of those emails contain classified information, that does not mean that a crime has been committed. After all, the emails with bits of confidential information were on the server, and Comey concluded that there was no criminal intent that would justify prosecution. If the same emails are on the laptop – which is an unknown – it would be hard to imagine how criminal intent would suddenly appear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-is-re-opening-investigation-into-clintons-email/769950.md?page=26)