Webb: Hillary cannot be POTUS



By David Webb - 07/05/16 06:41 PM EDT

Hillary Clinton is careless and reckless with America’s secrets — that is the essence of FBI Director James Comey’s Tuesday remarks.

Sure, Hillary Clinton was grossly negligent and broke the law when she was secretary of State, but she didn’t intend to, so we won’t prosecute her. Sure, the drunk driver was grossly negligent and drove over all those people, but didn’t intend to, so we should not prosecute.

If what Clinton, her aides and others in the State Department did does not qualify as gross negligence that rises to the level of prosecutorial action, then read these facts from the FBI investigation and decide for yourself.

In the emails provided by Clinton when she was at State, there were eight email chains that contained top-secret information, 36 email chains that contained secret information, eight email chains that contained classified information, and 2,000 emails that were later up-classified to confidential.

Of the emails not provided by Clinton and in the thousands of emails not produced by the State Department, three emails were classified — one as secret and two as confidential — no additional top-secret emails were found, and none from this batch were later up-classified.

The punishment for violation of United States law ranges from fines to imprisonment and includes the ability to remove anyone in violation from any security clearance.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch will likely follow the recommendation of the FBI director to not prosecute, as she stated after her controversial meeting with former President Bill Clinton in private on her airplane. Many will say the fix is in — if so, it is unprovable at this time, if ever. A strong message can be sent by, at minimum, removing the security clearance of those involved in the Hillary Clinton and State Department email chains and, if necessary, prosecuting, as has been done with retired Gen. David Petraeus and so many members of our military in the past.

Because we the people elect the president of the United States — in this case, likely Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee — her security clearance will be given by nature of her position. Elected officials are exempt from the security clearance process. Their election is their security check. The president has de jure access to any information the government has.

The sad part about Comey’s announcement is that it casts serious doubts on Clinton’s ability to receive, much less maintain, a security clearance in a government forum. As the secretary of State, the highest classification authority — i.e., the one who had the authority to classify documentation for her organization — Clinton still transmitted classified information over unclassified mediums without proper markings, warnings or portion marks. She should have maintained ultimate jurisdiction; hence, responsibility for the security breach.

I guess the message for would-be espionage agents within the U.S. government is that a new security precedent has now been established and can now be used as a defense in future cases.

Donald Trump has to now evolve his political game. He tweets in response, when a clear, concise and effective public statement to the press and the American people is needed. A 140-character presidential campaign will fail. Trump and his team need to do better at damaging Clinton politically.

The GOP base, frustrated Democrats and independents have to unite and focus to win. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Ted Cruz, former governors Jeb Bush (Fla.) and Mitt Romney (Mass.) and the Never Trump crowd have very little argument to make at this point. Today’s announcement makes it remarkably clear that there is no other option, and a fundamental choice exists: Unite for the greater purpose and good of the country in defeating Hillary Clinton or she will be the next president of the United States.

America should not be for sale, as it has been sold by the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation for their benefit and the benefit of their corrupt allies, in any form.

Webb is host of “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot 125, a Fox News contributor and has appeared frequently on television as a commentator. Webb co-founded TeaParty365 in New York City. His column appears twice a month in The Hill.

http://thehill.com/opinion/david-web...annot-be-potus