Was there a double standard on the investigations of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton?
Was there a double standard on the investigations of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton?
Soon after the FBI announced that it did not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of private servers as Secretary of State, Donald Trump revived an old line of attack: that Clinton was getting better treatment than David Petraeus.
"The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment," Trump tweeted.
What went out
There are three levels of classification set by the U.S. government: confidential, secret, and top secret, in order of increasing severity. Comey said that the FBI found 110 emails in 52 email chains from the Clinton servers that contained information that was classified at the time they were sent or received. Of those email chains, 36 were found to include information labeled secret; eight were found to contain information labeled top secret. (Roughly 2,000 additional emails contained information that was not classified at the time they were sent or received but was later made confidential).
Petraeus gave Broadwell access to eight "black books" which contained classified information. The black books contained top-secret and "code word" information. A search of Broadwell’s apartment found digital copies of over three hundred documents marked "secret."
Liza Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program and a critic of the U.S. classification system, told us that as a citizen, as opposed to as a prosecutor, she’d evaluate the mishandling of information based on how dangerous the information would actually be if exposed.
Without a better sense of what information was contained in those emails, Gotein suggested, it's hard to say how dangerous Clinton and Petraeus’ actions really were. Critics of the U.S. classification system argue that over-classification makes official designations at best an imperfect barometer of how sensitive information really is. Gotein points, for instance, to the CIA’s targeted killing program in Pakistan, which is officially classified but has been widely reported.
The legal situation
At the July 5 news conference, Comey said that Clinton’s case did not resemble others in which prosecutions had been pursued for mishandling of classified information.
"All the cases prosecuted involve some combination of clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information or vast quantities of information exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct or indications of disloyalty to the United States or efforts to obstruct justice," Comey said.
Petraeus’ mishandling of documents was indisputably intentional, and Petraeus obstructed justice by lying to FBI agents investigating the case.
In their investigation, the FBI found a tape of Petraeus acknowledging that information was classified before giving it to Broadwell anyway. Petraeus agreed in his plea deal that his actions "were in all respects knowing and deliberate."
In his July 5 press conference, Comey said that the FBI "did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of the classified information." He went on to say that Clinton should have known that her handling of the emails was inappropriate, and that her behavior was "extremely reckless."
Petraeus also acknowledged that he had lied to the investigators about giving confidential information to Broadwell. Comey did not indicate that Clinton or her colleagues had lied in interviews related to this case, though the FBI’s findings did contradict some of her campaign’s public statements.
Experts who thought Petraeus’s legal situation was substantially worse than Clinton’s pointed to his lying to investigators as the primary factor.
READ MORE: Was there a double standard on the investigations of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton? http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ar...
Soon after the FBI announced that it did not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of private servers as Secretary of State, Donald Trump revived an old line of attack: that Clinton was getting better treatment than David Petraeus.
"The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment," Trump tweeted.
What went out
There are three levels of classification set by the U.S. government: confidential, secret, and top secret, in order of increasing severity. Comey said that the FBI found 110 emails in 52 email chains from the Clinton servers that contained information that was classified at the time they were sent or received. Of those email chains, 36 were found to include information labeled secret; eight were found to contain information labeled top secret. (Roughly 2,000 additional emails contained information that was not classified at the time they were sent or received but was later made confidential).
Petraeus gave Broadwell access to eight "black books" which contained classified information. The black books contained top-secret and "code word" information. A search of Broadwell’s apartment found digital copies of over three hundred documents marked "secret."
Liza Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program and a critic of the U.S. classification system, told us that as a citizen, as opposed to as a prosecutor, she’d evaluate the mishandling of information based on how dangerous the information would actually be if exposed.
Without a better sense of what information was contained in those emails, Gotein suggested, it's hard to say how dangerous Clinton and Petraeus’ actions really were. Critics of the U.S. classification system argue that over-classification makes official designations at best an imperfect barometer of how sensitive information really is. Gotein points, for instance, to the CIA’s targeted killing program in Pakistan, which is officially classified but has been widely reported.
The legal situation
At the July 5 news conference, Comey said that Clinton’s case did not resemble others in which prosecutions had been pursued for mishandling of classified information.
"All the cases prosecuted involve some combination of clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information or vast quantities of information exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct or indications of disloyalty to the United States or efforts to obstruct justice," Comey said.
Petraeus’ mishandling of documents was indisputably intentional, and Petraeus obstructed justice by lying to FBI agents investigating the case.
In their investigation, the FBI found a tape of Petraeus acknowledging that information was classified before giving it to Broadwell anyway. Petraeus agreed in his plea deal that his actions "were in all respects knowing and deliberate."
In his July 5 press conference, Comey said that the FBI "did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of the classified information." He went on to say that Clinton should have known that her handling of the emails was inappropriate, and that her behavior was "extremely reckless."
Petraeus also acknowledged that he had lied to the investigators about giving confidential information to Broadwell. Comey did not indicate that Clinton or her colleagues had lied in interviews related to this case, though the FBI’s findings did contradict some of her campaign’s public statements.
Experts who thought Petraeus’s legal situation was substantially worse than Clinton’s pointed to his lying to investigators as the primary factor.
READ MORE: Was there a double standard on the investigations of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton? http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ar...
The only fact that needs to be considered, as I've been saying for 16 months, is that Hillary operated an unsecured server. Since she was stupid enough to do that, she's too stupid to be President.