These narratives are always wrong though. The narrative of the Trump cult about 2016 was an FBI, DOJ, and Obama administration going after Trump's campaign in order to bring him down. While the reality is that the FBI and DOJ investigated with proper cause without revealing the investigation in the media. At the same time, Hillary was investigated during the campaign, she gave an interview to the FBI(something Trump never did), and when the investigation concluded, the FBI Director went on national television and smeared her for her non-criminal actions. The same FBI Director went on to announce the re-opening of the investigation before the election. These actions almost surely resulted in Trump getting elected.

Now we have Trump, the ex-president, who took several boxes of highly classified information home with him. The National Archives tried to get it all back, Trump refused, they referred to DOJ. Trump returned some stuff, not others. DOJ subpoenas all material. Trump returns more stuff, his lawyer says it's all returned, DOJ acquires evidence that's a lie, they search Trump's house, they find more material. Trump took this material without authorization and stored it in a location without authorization, and then obstructed an investigation aimed at getting it back.

First off, I think Thundercock mentioned this before, but one of Comey's rationales for not indicting Hillary is that there was no obstruction. She had(or shared) classified documents in a location not authorized, but she wasn't trying to obstruct any investigation. Trump's case is clearly different.

Next, this article cites the statutes in the search warrant, which are not the same statute the DOJ was looking at for Hillary. I can simply look at them as a non-lawyer and understand that Trump probably violated them.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/12/trump-search-warrant-cites-statutes-that-call-for-prison-sentences.html

Finally, let me just describe my understanding of both cases here. Hillary used a private server for convenience, and to maybe conceal future record requests from Republicans. She used it for self-preservation. Trump, on the other hand, took far more classified information than was ever present on Hillary's server, and he stored it among his personal items, in a closet without a lock. This information was more voluminous and more sensitive than Hillary's material(which, btw had some protections in the private server). The government asked for it all back, he returned some. They asked again, he returned some more, while lying about whether it was all returned. The government then was forced to raid his home to retrieve the rest. And this fact pattern doesn't even include all the redactions from the affidavit.

Any person off the street can understand Trump on his last day in office taking home several boxes of classified information, there being no evidence that he declassified any of it(which doesn't matter in the case of NDI and items subpoenaed bearing classified markings), refusing to give it back, and then lying about giving it back. There's not a lot of grey area there... he's clearly in the wrong, morally and legally, and obstructing the government's effort to retrieve top secret documents doesn't suddenly become cool if you call it a "process crime".

So no, even from the public disclosures, this isn't a case of double standards. Even considering the obvious similarities, they are much different situations. Comey was right to decline to indict Clinton, and Garland will be right to indict Trump.

Also, it's not the FBI's job to "mercilessly hound" every politician. They should apply the law, in accordance with the standards of the DOJ. Trump is not president. Contrary to what some commentators say, I think DOJ treating him with proper deference was good. They gave him a chance to correct his serious error of taking those extremely sensitive documents home with him. But at the end of the day, he's not holding any special title which allows him to hold classified information, or to obstruct the DOJ in their effort to acquire that information. The United States government is an entity that has interests more important than the whims of a former president.

He needs to take a screenshot of the bold because he is eventually going to forget this. He reads so much right wing media that his perception of reality will be warped to reject the chain of events you mentioned. In a month, you will have to explain it again and he will concede that you are correct. I've had to do this several times regarding the chain of events that led to the Jan 6 committee. Granted, if the shoe were on the other foot, he'd have the ability to recall the facts as if he were an encyclopedia. Funny how partisanship works!

Good summary. This whole escapade really shows who's honest and who's a partisan hack.

Like we all know Goom is, but this really shows how little people like Black care about reality when it comes to defending trump

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Sep 4 2022 01:43pm

If Hillary did this sort of shit in 2016, I can assure you, I wouldn't have voted for her.

pedo this pedo that

I don't think anyone would. She would have been executed.

Despite all the unabashed and outright hatred between the left and right in the United States, most(99.99%) individuals don't commit political violence. They don't because, no matter how evil they may peecieve the other side to be, they don't want the state to take their lives away and put them in prison. When one side says they're going to take people's lives away and put them in prison even if they don't commit political violence, where will that lead us?

I would like to ask each of you reading and contributing to this topic to pause for a very short moment, and reflect, truly take your mind and consider, that once the violence starts, do you think you'll be immune? Do you really think you'll be safe, do you belive that anything will protect you besides the belief of, "oh it can't happen to me."

I hope any of you can consider even for a very short moment, before you call for violence against those you disagree with politically, that doing so is also calling for them to commit violence against yourself.

This post was edited by MyEnemy on Sep 4 2022 06:45pm