…and the problem of statutory qualifications:
“Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”
She has essentially publicly admitted to doing this when she described deleting emails from the server.
And her aides, including Huma, were finally interviewed by the FBI, who probably had a perjury trap set up for them, thanks to Pagliano’s cooperation.
Rand,
I’m sure that you (and hundreds of millions of others) are as horrified as I am at the thought of watching The Donald and Hillary go at it for six months before we can finally get it over with.
I’ve had the idea that can save us all: A do-over!
Seriously.
I expect that neither party at this point feels truly confident, either of winning, or that they’ll like the results if they do.
So, finally, one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on – the last six months has been a horrible nightmare. Let’s pretend it never happened, start over, and try not to embarrass ourselves this time.
Dems – Joe Biden or Jim Webb looking a lot better in hindsight? Reps – wish you had another chance at Rick Perry or Scott Walker?
Now’s your chance!
There’s still time, without even having to renegotiate the Convention contracts. Two weeks for fresh candidates to declare and for the parties to randomly draw states for the six weeks of do-over primaries that follow, then a week or two for the new winners to get ready, then the Conventions.
Then, blessedly back to a sane, safe, normal, ordinary Presidential election year, with nobody involved even slightly likely to need a pardon or brag about their privates.
No, no, don’t everybody thank me, saving the country from the current version of the next six months is its own reward…
modestly
Porkyine
Seriously for a moment, I think the respective party leaderships, rules committees, etc would have the power to do this if they wanted, but they probably wouldn’t do it just to release the rest of us from the impending awfulness.
It does occur to me though that Trump is due to start getting secret briefings soon, and he’s prone to speak first, think later. Once he’s tweeted out a few high-level classified matters, consider the possibility of The Great Compromise Of 2016: Parallel prosecutions of him AND Hillary for security violations, followed by both parties re-doing their nominating processes.
A man’s got to dream of a better future…
I was very hopeful that 18 U.S.C. § 2071 would disqualify her from office. But then I read Eugene Volokh’s insistence that it couldn’t, citing the paper you just linked that found under Powell and other solid interpretations, that Congress was not granted the power to in any way expand or restrict the qualifications for President. If they could Mitch McConnell would just pass a bill saying the President has to be a Republican and be done with it.
But this also goes right to the heart of the arguments saying Cruz is eligible. When the Constitution was ratified there was no legislation granting citizenship to children born abroad to US parents, and it was a very long time before we would grant citizenship to the children born abroad to a US mother who was married to an alien. Such children were regarded as having the nationality of their fathers only, or of the country of their birth.
So under Powell no naturalization act making citizens of those born abroad can apply to the Constitutional requirements of the office of President. If the Founders had wanted to give Congress any control over those requirements, they’d have added a phrase like “… as Congress may direct.”
They know doubt realized that Congress would abuse such powers, possibly under the sway of foreign governments, which is one of the very reasons that we use electors instead of Congressmen for choosing the President. Electors, being temporary nobodies chosen right before the election, wouldn’t have had time to be targeted by foreign governments in the way Congressmen might.
When it came to the office of President, the Founders were pretty paranoid about foreign influence. They were a tiny new country up against some European heavy weights at military pressure, diplomatic tricks, influence peddling, and clandestine intrigues.
I do think Hillary via a pardon from Obama can get around the disqualification from office, but that points to a different part of the US Constitution that doesn’t cover CDS.
“. . . influence peddling . . .”
The George III Foundation?
“Laws are for little people,” cackles Hillary.
Ironically, she has to run for President because after what she did it’s the one and only government job she can hold. 😀
Ironically, she has to run for President because after what she did it’s the one and only government job she can hold.
…and avoid prosecution….
Even if arrested, she’ll run from a prison cell, and then (presumably) pardon herself.
Read any of the left-wing blogs. The true believers are really drinking up the kool-aid on this one. “you rethuglicans bitter clinger hicks have been out to get Hillary for years, you’re just afraid of a strong woman who’s going to protect the children by taking your nasty old guns away” “Hillary did nothing wrong, it’s all lies” “it’s more smoke and mirrors from the vast right-wing conspiracy, la la la I can’t hear you” and on, and on, and on.
I’ve said it before. Hillary could appear on live TV tomorrow, presiding over a Black Mass and sacrificing infants on an altar and drinking their blood, and there’s about 47% of the electorate, currently–rising rapidly with the introduction of tens of millions of additional illegal aliens–who will happily march into the voting booths in lockstep and press the great big shiny button with the big happy capital “D” on it anyway, to keep “their” welfare checks coming. “It’s all lies, we love Hillary, la la la I can’t hear you.”
She has essentially publicly admitted to doing this when she described deleting emails from the server.
No, she described telling her lawyers to give all her work-related emails to State, and delete the rest. Personal emails aren’t government records.
The latest leak from the investigation: “Prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules….”
That’s just spin, like the BS about “not marked classified.” The law regarding the mishandling of classified information doesn’t require intent.
And you really think the DOJ is going to charge a presidential nominee with a felony for something she did unintentionally?
The Clintons definitely bring out the thirst for prosecutorial overreach in their political opponents.
And you really think the DOJ is going to charge a presidential nominee with a felony for something she did unintentionally?
Of course not. That would require some non-zero level of professional integrity and fealty to the law and their oath of office.
And in any event, I’m sure there was intent, and that report is BS.