Via the Associated Press:
The State Department is reopening an internal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information by Hillary Clinton and top aides.
Spokesman John Kirby says the emails probe is restarting now that the Justice Department isn’t pursuing a criminal prosecution. The State Department suspended its review in April to avoid interfering with the FBI’s inquiry.
Kirby set no deadline for the investigation’s completion.
It took maybe 2.7 seconds after reading this news to come up with a plausible explanation for the timing. We have been witnessing some elaborate political theater here in recent weeks. The final act began when Loretta Lynch calmly said she would accept whatever the FBI recommended, which made me think the fix was already in.
Even the Democrats know that somebody is going to need to get blamed for this mess eventually. The FBI and DOJ have now punted back to State in order for a Hillary surrogate or two to fall on their swords:
But Kirby said this week former officials can still face “administrative sanctions.” The most serious is loss of security clearances, which could complicate Clinton’s naming of a national security team if she becomes president.
Beyond the Democratic front-runner, the probe is most likely examining confidants Cheryl Mills, Jake Sullivan and Huma Abedin.
Sure, they’re going to pretend to look at Hillary, but it isn’t going to be a long look even if it does really happen. The Clintons have a history of confidantes and colleagues taking the heat for them, and this is just business as usual.
James Comey’s testimony portrayed Hillary as confused, stupid, or both. It may have felt like that was better than saying she was criminal, but they can’t let any of those ideas float around until the election. If they can get Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills or Jake Sullivan to take a dive, the media will squarely focus on that, proclaiming that justice has been done.
And giving Mrs. Clinton yet another free pass.
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