Posted on 03/03/2016 8:31:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Gee … does the Department of Justice offer immunity to potential witnesses for routine “security reviews”? Bryan Pagliano, who declared his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent when the FBI sought to question him about Hillary Clinton’s secret e-mail server, will have to start talking soon, thanks to the DoJ’s decision to protect him from potential prosecution in exchange for his testimony:
The Justice Department has granted immunity to the former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.
The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009.
As the FBI looks to wrap up its investigation in the coming months, agents will likely want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, how it was set up, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails, current and former officials said.
Ahem. The DoJ does not offer immunity to “wrap up” an investigation. If the investigation needs to be “wrapped up,” at least as in closing it down, grants of immunity simply aren’t necessary. After all, there’s no need to protect a recalcitrant witness from prosecution when no prosecution is being planned or considered. Without a case to make on someone else, why bother offering immunity at all? They could just ignore Pagliano much more easily.
A grant of immunity tells us a couple of interesting things about this probe. First, the DoJ appears to have more than a passing interest in whatever the FBI has found so far. Second, this is no “security review,” but a case in which criminal charges appear to be under consideration. Third, Pagliano has some kind of interesting information to give to the DoJ, or otherwise they wouldn’t bother with immunity at all. Fourth, that information involves bigger targets than Pagliano himself.
As Jonathan Turley says …
DOJ does not give immunity without something valuable from a potential target like Bryan Pagliano. The situation just got more precarious.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 3, 2016
It’s the fourth point that should intrigue observers. What can Pagliano know that interests not just the FBI, but also the DoJ? He didn’t have anything to do with how underlings like Jake Sullivan, Huma Abedin, and Cheryl Mills used classified information or even how they would have converted it to the nonsecure system. Pagliano’s job was just maintaining the server itself — at Hillary Clinton’s behest. That would seem to indicate that the probe isn’t just looking at the peripheral issues of how information jumped from secure systems to Hillary’s server, but how and why Hillary’s server came into existence in the first place — and how and why it was kept secret from the State Department for four years. That has always been the core of the scandal, and Pagliano’s immunity grant suggests that it might be the central point of the investigation by now.
Democrats might want to start warming up Biden in the bullpen … or rethinking Bernie. And this might help kickstart that process:
"very likely" that Hillary Clinton will face questioning from FBI in coming weeks, @jonkarl reports @GMA
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) March 3, 2016
As the old KGB joke went,
He died of natural causes while in custody, After all what’s more natural than gravity?
I hope Clinto’s staffer., who is being given protection and immunity by the FBI, can close the door on Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton has told America and the government that no classified material was handled by her private email server.
First of all, irrespective of the classified information (which I will cover in a moment), having a private email server for official government business is a violation of federal policy and law.
Despite Clinton’s claims to the contrary, the FBI investigators have already identified 2,093 of Clinton’s emails that contained classified material.
Of those, the FBI now claims that at least 22 of them were “Top Secret,” which is the highest level of classification, and is reserved for material which the FBI says would cause “exceptionally grave damage to national security,” if they were not protected appropriately.
This information needs to come out and be understood by all Americans.
The FBI needs to be allowed to delve into this full bore, and Hillary Clinton, who has already been proven either completely untruthful or woefully ignorant, should drop out of any contention for the Presidency.
If she lied...she needs to go to jail.
If she was that ignorant and loosey goosey with classified material, then she was not fit to be Secretary of State, and should never be considered for President.
I might add, that in such instances, ignorance is no excuse, and no protection against prosecution. Mishandling classified material, particularly Top Secret materially, is still a crime. it was her job to know this and to behave accordingly. She did not.
...Frankly it looked like a feint to ‘show they’re trying (cough-cough)’....
There is that possibility, but this guy was out front very early covering his butt with legal representation and pleading the 5th. You don’t plead the 5th on a public stage if you are not trying to cut a deal with the FBI.
Remember this started out as a security violation investigation, and he was taking the 5th. You don’t need the 5th for a security violation, only if its a criminal investigation. Pagliano knew from the beginning that illegalities had been committed.
I forgot about the $6,000,000,000.00 MISSING from the STATE DEPT while Hillary was the head of it!!! Some in Sid’s, some in Cheryl’s, some in Huma’s and the MOST in the Clinton Crime Family Slush Fund???
150 FBI agents working the case,for months ,and this is as far as they’ve gotten. They still haven’t interviewed the big fish in this scandal. What have they been doing all this time?
I believe most people who plan to vote for HRC still would vote for her if she should be indicted. However, if HRC is indicted for a felony, the Democrat Party is going to try to replace HRC because they know they'd be facing at least a year of Watergatesque hearings and trials if the nominee/incumbent/President were under federal indictment for a felony.
HRC is counting on the continued support of Dem voters, no matter what, and she'll probably have that. However, if you think the GOP establishment is opposed to its own front-runner, wait ‘til you see what happens on the Dem side if HRC is indicted. Biden and Elizabeth Waren will be trotted out pronto.
...What have they been doing all this time?....
You build the case from the bottom up. Apparently this server arrangement had access from a larger number of people than originally thought, so the security violations were most likely widespread and all that takes time to sort out and backtrack through each individual.
Pagliano knew a lot about how it was set up and who had access. He is now cooperating with the FBI and giving detailed info on who authorized this operation and who knew it was illegal. Going public with this is sending a message to Hillary and her staff, that the FBI has their hands on incriminating info, so when your turn comes, you had better be truthful.
Good one. That’s one I’ve never heard.
Bill and Hillary are old and sick.
It could be that the FBI is interested in who gave Hillary that computer and network.
Everyone knows that Hillary is a tightwad with her money. She didn’t buy her own computer and network.
Who did buy her those things and why?
Who knows what kind of spyware was on that computer and network when it was given to Hillary?
Our girl Hillary has done some very, very bad things.
He can get immunity and still lie.
It’s a dog and pony show. Everyone is saying there’s been no grand jury appointed yet. Judge Napolitano, on FOX, says nobody can be granted immunity until there are grand jury indictments. Is he wrong? Or is that the “usual” way of doing things? Sounds like he was given immunity to simply shut him up and send him on his way until he’s found dead.
Yes sir!
Being a traitor must not be as important as Trump "not denying the KKK ‘FAST ENOUGH’."(yes, he has denied them about 50 times... but it wasn't within the 10 second time frames liberal elites demand)
Besides, who gives a damn if Intelligence people were killed if it hurt Hillary's ability to haul in more money from foreigners' for 'speeches'? We have values right? And money* for elites in DC are at the TOP OF THOSE VALUES.
*("speeches" are bribes made 'legal' by our corrupt lowlife 'elites' in Congress... yeah Paul Ryan I'm talking about YOU and your fellow 'on the take' lowlifes...)
More precarious for whom? And in what sense?
Dam right.....you nailed it.
Beautiful....love the allusion to that creep Ryan
I believe diminished oxygen due to climate change is also natural.
Bingo.....it could be a DOJ red herring ploy...force immunity and then find nothing there
I still think that the odds of her being indicted are nearly zero.
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