That’s a popular view, but it’s one held out of ignorance.
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Have you ever signed any oaths in connection with handling classified information? If so, did you read them carefully? These documents are very CLEAR about the penalties for not adhering to your responsibilities to protect the information against disclosures.
Any one else who had done what Comey did with respect to mishandling/leaking classified documents would have been charged forthwith. Look at the young submariner who took a couple of pics on his boat a couple of years ago. That’s what happens to “the little people”.
With respect to equal justice, it is undeniable that this has never been 100% true. And that’s OK because nothing on this earth is perfect. That said, the point you’re missing here is that INJUSTICE is now being flaunted in an egregious way by the political elites in this country. It’s being taken to another level that is in-your-face. They no longer care about any pretense of following the laws. In that respect, we are in another place now.
-- Any one else who had done what Comey did with respect to mishandling/leaking classified documents would have been charged forthwith. --
Hillary.
Just joking on that one. The devil is in the details. Have you read the leak statutes or the summaries of how and when they are applied?
Leaks and the Law - a good starting point.
-- Look at the young submariner who took a couple of pics on his boat a couple of years ago. --
The charge against Kristian Saucier was creation and retention of national defense information, 18 USC 793(e). This statute has a clinical definition of "defense information." I'm not saying I agree that charging him was wise, just pointing out what the charge was. The contents that he created and retained are not the same as the contents that Comey created and retained. Comey notes of meeting with Trump do not contain "defense information."
I totally agree that what the government did against the public in this case is over the top. My point is that the law does not possess a remedy for this. The law will tell you it does, because the people who run the law (people like Comey, Lynch, Holder, the judges) want to maximize their power over the people. Do you trust them? Well, do you?
The press is working mightily to gin up ignorant outrage. And it is doing superbly.
Comey knows that "the law" runs on legal technicalities. His ass is covered, or at least he has VERY sound reason to think so.
Criminal law is deliberately very narrow, and in practice is very protective of the government side, on the (false) presumption that the government does not go after innocent people, and that the government is honest. Well, to be expected, the system is a government creation, so of course it serves its master first and best.
The law is a tool like a gun is a tool. It can be used for good, and it can be used for bad. Comey and many others use it for bad. They care deeply about "following" the law, at least in a way that keeps them clear of being found to be a criminal. The ethical, honesty and trust side, not so much. Mueller is cut from the same cloth and Comey - abused the office and got away with it. Not just as SC, as FBI Director too. Is Mueller a criminal for saying Trump was "not exonerated?" Nope. Unethical as can be, rotten, awful, but eaten up like candy by half the public and 90% of the press. Massive injustice, but relabeled "following the rule of law."
Don't be satisfied if the law takes Comey's, Strzok's, McCabe's scalps. Don't believe Congress when it says "this law makes it so this sort of shenanigan can never happen again." They are all crooks, and they all want your adoration and respect.
The public is better served by a healthy skepticism of the law and people who enforce it than by trusting them. Trusting them (and the system) is what got us in this mess.