Hillary Clinton: The Secretary Disavows Any Knowledge of Her Actions
Considering the most recent allegations against Hillary Clinton, the most damning, and, if proven, felonious actions committed would be:
- Taking money from foreign governments
- Deleting over 30,000 emails AFTER they had been subpoenaed by Congress,
- Improper disclosure on tax returns of the receipt of donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments.
On the first count, Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution states
“… no Person holding any office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any Present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The acceptance of money while serving as Secretary of State, regardless of whether these were payments for special favors, violates the Constitution and U. S. law. If Clinton was still in office, this would be an impeachable offense.
On the second point, deleting over 30K emails after they had been subpoenaed is an obstruction of justice. It is a crime as per 18 U.S.C. §1519 to destroy a document to prevent it from being subpoenaed. According to an article in Thompson Reuters by Law Professor Ronald Rotunda, “Section 1519 imposes up to 20 years imprisonment for what commentators call, “anticipatory obstruction of justice.” A casual observer would find it hard to believe her explanation that they were all private emails and none of a public nature. Are we to believe we have NO trail of any of Clinton’s emails while she served as Secretary of State?
Thirdly, we have the announcement that the Clinton family’s charities will be reviewing and refiling five years of tax returns (and possibly more) after news agency Reuters found errors in how they reported donations from foreign governments. Could it be the IRS that takes down the Clinton Empire? Perhaps, if the rule of law was applied equally regardless of political connections or affiliations, but it doesn’t appear President Obama’s IRS and Department of Justice pay much attention to the rule of law unless it benefits his progressive agenda.
The Clinton’s continued arrogance and belief they are somehow above the law is not a sudden revelation. This attitude has existed since they began their political career. Clinton deflects these latest allegations as right wing conspiracy theories. She and her campaign team do not deny any of the charges. They confidently assert there is no smoking gun or evidence of wrongdoing. With these latest revelations, it appears there is enough “there there” for the Justice Department to launch an investigation. Sadly, I don’t hold out much hope for this happening under the current administration.
