FBI 'no charge' recommendation for Hillary Clinton could be devastating

Analysis

• FBI recommends no charges for Hillary Clinton

Washington: This election just got so much harder for Hillary Clinton – to be cleared of criminal misconduct was good news. But that lasted for just a minute, because FBI chief James Comey's damning critique of the legally innocent Democratic presidential nominee has armed her opponents with an arsenal of seriously destructive attack lines about the private email server in her basement.

Feeding straight into the thinking of an electorate that already rates Clinton as one of the most unfavourable candidates in the history of presidential polling, second only to her GOP opponent Donald Trump, are about half-a-dozen zingers, each with all the firepower of a political cruise missile.

Hillary Clinton, presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, and US President Barack Obama at their first campaign appearance together on Tuesday. Photo: Bloomberg

In a press appearance that lasted only 15 minutes, Comey forensically demolished virtually all aspects of Clinton's evolving and carefully constructed public defence – a narrative that included an admission that use of the server was wrong and an undertaking not to do it again; but which, at all times, insisted on her innocence of any wrongdoing.

But Republicans will ask again and again, if Americans want a president who, in the considered judgment of the FBI ...

- Along with her staff, was "extremely careless" in handling classified information during her tenure as secretary of state, given that "any reasonable person…should have known that an unclassified system was no place" for the kind of material sent and received;

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and FBI director James Comey. Photo: AP

- Despite her insistence that she had never sent classified material, was revealed by a year-long, painstaking investigation to have sent 110 emails containing information that at the time of sending had been deemed to be classified;

- Despite her defence of using a single email device for reasons of "convenience", now was found to have used multiple private email servers and multiple devices;

- Talked about having her emails being sorted as "professional" and "personal", of which only the "professional" were to be released; but that lawyers who did the sorting on her behalf didn't read all the emails and had deleted thousands of "personal" emails, which the FBI found to have contained professional material;

No charges: FBI director James Comey makes his statement at FBI Headquarters in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: AP

- Would use her personal device and server while travelling in countries that were "sophisticated adversaries", and where despite any evidence to confirm, it was "possible hostile actors gained access" to her email, because the investigation revealed that the private email accounts of some who had been contacted by Clinton had been hacked;

Clinton's reliance on a private server came to light in the course of a shameless political, Republican-driven investigation into her role in the Libya crisis in which four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens, died when the US consulate in Benghazi was attacked in 2012.

However, what the Democrat-appointed Comey had to say in debunking Clinton's orchestration of her own self-defence cannot be attributed to the political bogymen so often cited by Clinton – a vast right-wing conspiracy, a Republican witch-hunt or a bored and partisan news media.

Donald Trump, presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Photo: Bloomberg

But given Comey's damnation, why no indictment for Clinton?

"Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes … our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case," he explained.

And alluding to other cases without mentioning them by name, but presumably including that of former CIA director David Petraeus who was fined $US100,000 ($134,000) for giving classified material to his lover-biographer, Comey said they had involved "willful or intentional" breaches; "vast quantities" of material; and/or "disloyalty or efforts to obstruct justice".

I'm with her: President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Photo: Bloomberg

"We do not see [any of] that here," he said. "[But] although we did not find clear evidence that [Clinton] or colleagues intended to violate the laws, there is evidence that they were extremely careless …

"None of these [classified] emails should have been on any kind of unclassified server."

Welcoming the FBI announcement, a Clinton campaign statement said: "We are pleased that the career officials handling this case have determined that no further action by the [Justice] Department is appropriate."

A woman watches as James Comey announces the results of his department's investigation into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified emails. Photo: AP

And in sharing a stage jointly for the first time in the campaign, neither Clinton nor President Barack Obama made mention of the FBI finding when they addressed a rally in North Carolina just hours after Comey's press conference.

Casting the FBI findings as further proof that the US political system is rigged, Donald Trump tweeted: "FBI director said Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. No charges. Wow!"

In another tweet, Trump drew the Petraeus comparison: "The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very, very unfair! As usual, bad judgment."

And claiming to be mystified, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said that the Comey announcement "defies explanation".

"No one should be above the law," Ryan argued.

"But based on the director's own statement, it appears damage is being done to the rule of law – declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent."

Pre-empting such reactions, Comey had said during a press conference in which he took no questions: "I know there were many opinions expressed by people who were not part of the investigation – including people in government – but none of that mattered to us.

"Opinions are irrelevant, and they all were uninformed by insight into our investigation. Because we did our investigation the right way. Only facts matter, and the FBI found them here in an entirely apolitical and professional way."

Comey spoke less than 72 hours after a weekend encounter between his investigators and Clinton, who attended FBI headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington accompanied by five lawyers; and about a week after an impromptu meeting between former President Bill Clinton and US Attorney-General Loretta Lynch, which drew much Republican criticism – and prompted an undertaking by Lynch that she would accept the recommendations of her professional staff.

But by doing a live press conference, Comey has delivered so many deliciously destructive video grabs for inclusion in Trump's and the Republican campaign advertising that all their moaning about Clinton not facing criminal charges will be forgotten quick time.

The court of law can take forever and get bogged down in voluminous and tedious detail, cross-examination and rebuttal. With a presidential campaign on foot, far better to resort to the court of public opinion – in which her opponents will keep firing those Comey cruise missiles.

It could be devastating.

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