Hillary: Incompetent or Criminal?

My View by Jim Yacavone

(October 28, 2016)

On July 5, 2016, the FBI interviewed Hillary Clinton about her use of a private email server while Secretary of State. Hillary either played dumb or was dumb during that interview. Among other things, Hillary claimed she could not recall: 

·         When she received security clearance

·         Being briefed on how to handle classified material

·         How many times she used her authority to designate items classified

·         Any briefing on how to handle very top-secret "Special Access Program" material

·         How to select a target for a drone strike

·         How the data from her mobile devices was destroyed when she switched devices

·         The number of times her staff was given a secure phone

·         Why she didn’t get a secure Blackberry

·         Receiving any emails she thought should not be on the private system

·         Did not remember giving staff direction to create private email account

·         Getting guidance from state on email policy

·         Who had access to her Blackberry account

·         The process for deleting her emails

·         Anyone besides Huma Abedin being offered an account on the private server

·         Receiving cable on State Department personnel securing personal email accounts

·         Using an iPad mini

·         Every briefing she received after suffering concussions

·         Knowing what (c) meant in a government document

It is beyond belief that a person who supporters claim is experienced, competent and qualified for the presidency could not remember the answer to any of these questions. You would think that at some time during her many years of government experience she would have picked up some of this information. Even flunking high school students manage to learn something if only by osmosis. But not experienced, competent Hillary.

Let’s put this in a more familiar context. Imagine you gave a new employee a detailed briefing on how to close up the store at night or stock certain items. You later discover that the employee failed to follow your instruction, and when you question the employee, he or she claimed not to remember ever being briefed on procedures. Not only would you think that employee was lying, but you would question that employee’s competence to handle the job. But not Hillary supporters. They think she’s great.

The one that really gets me is Hillary’s claim that she did not know that (c) next to a paragraph in a government document means that the paragraph contains classified material. We know she received such documents. What did she think (c) meant — that the paragraph was copyrighted? That was a messed up outline? For her not to know that as the head of the State Department, a federal department that deals with as much classified information as the Department of Defense or Homeland Security, is like the president of Ford Motor Company claiming not to know what a balance sheet is. It’s either a sign of serious incompetence or an outright lie.

We may never know the truth but my hunch is that Hillary lied through her teeth to the FBI to save herself from being indicted for violating federal classified information laws. You can bet she was well-coached before she went into that interview. She knew that it would be difficult to prove intent to violate the law if she acted ignorant. And that’s basically what FBI Director Comey said when he declined to refer her for prosecution—that she was too ignorant (read dumb) to have knowingly violated the law.

Hillary’s FBI interview should convince any rational person (which probably excludes many of her supporters) that she is either too incompetent or too criminally corrupt to be President.

That’s my view. What’s yours?