Ronald Sievert spent 25 years in the Justice Department, so he not only knows the law, he understands why Hillary Clinton may never see the jury that should be deciding her fate.
In an op-ed for USA Today the former DoJ lawyer turned law prof says one thing is clear: Clinton broke the law by using her private email server to conduct State Department business and her claim that documents were not "marked as classified" or "classified at the time" doesn't hold any water:
The applicable statute, 18 USC 793, however, does not even once mention the word “classified.” The focus is on “information respecting the national defense” that potentially “could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.” 793 (f) specifically makes it a crime for anyone “entrusted with … any document ... or information relating to the national defense … through gross negligence (to permit) the same to be removed from its proper place of custody.” A jury (not a Democrat or Republican political administration) is, of course, the best body to determine gross negligence on the facts of this case.
Sievert says it is established precedent that there is no need for an item to be marked as classified for someone to be prosecuted. Sievert says the media have let Clinton get away with bogus answers and the DoJ may let her walk due to inertia, bureaucracy and the lack of killer instinct many other prosecutors have:
What a DA will indict in a week, and a U.S. Attorney in a month, will take Justice more than a year if they ever pull the trigger at all. They tend to be hamstrung by endless memos, briefs, meetings and approvals from multiple levels and divisions. There sometimes appears to be an institutional fear of losing, however minimal the chance. This is an endemic characteristic of many bureaucracies. Unfortunately, it is likely that, at this very moment, many good lawyers at DOJ may be using all sorts of sophistry and rationalization to try to avoid applying the plain language of the law to Hilary Clinton. A jury, which should make the final decision, may never get the chance.
