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→Clinton email server
==Clinton email server==
==Clinton email server==
:''Main article:'' [[Hillary Clinton email scandal]]
:''Main article:'' [[Hillary Clinton email scandal]]
===Federal Bureau of Matters===
The fix was in for Hillary Clinton from the gitgo. The very codename selected for the "matter" - Midyear Exam - suggests the collegial nature of the exercise pointing to final graduation and promotion - Hillary Clinton's election as president. From its origins Deputy Attorney General [[Sally Yates]] and FBI Director Jimmy Comey treated the "matter" as "time sensitive,"<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 52, 167.</ref> i.e. working under a deadline to clear Hillary Clinton before the 2016 Democratic Nominating Convention.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 170-171, 174.</ref><ref>A predetermined endgame differs from a typical "open-end" [[criminal]], [[counterintelligence]], or Special Counsel investigation that sometimes becomes a fishing expedition beyond the original scope or mandate, such as the [[Whitewater]] real estate investigation leading to charges of [[sexual harassment]], [[perjury]], and [[impeachment]], the [[Trump-Russia scam]], or the break-in to Trump attorney [[Michael Cohen]]'s office.</ref>
On September 28, 2015, [[Loretta Lynch]], [[Matthew Axelrod]], and [[George Toscas]] met with Jimmmy Comey, [[James Rybicki]], and then FBI Deputy Director Giuliano to coordinate what to say in media and congressional appearances.<ref>Horowitz Report, p. 60.</ref> Lynch instructed Comey not to refer to it as an "investigation," but rather as a "matter," reflecting [[Hillary for America|Clinton campaign]] talking points. Toscas said to Comey, "I guess you're the Federal Bureau of Matters now,"<ref>Matt Apuzzo et al., ''In Trying to Avoid Politics, Comey Shaped an Election'', N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 23, 2017.</ref> provoking laughter around the room.
Two weeks later [[Obama]] intervened on behalf of Clinton on ''60 Minutes''. The OIG found that some people in the DOJ and FBI became suspicious of political bias because of Obama's comments.<ref>Horowitz Report, p. 66.</ref> Calls for a Special Counsel to take over mounted.<ref>Horowitz Report, p. 175 fn 131.</ref> Comey told the OIG that he never considered a Special Counsel after Lynch’s instruction to use the term "matter," or President Obama’s public comments and intervention in the investigation.
PADAG [[Matthew Axelrod]] didn't consider the email scandal a criminal investigation, although everyone else in the DOJ and FBI did.<ref>Horowitz Report, p. 46.</ref> Axelrod claimed it was a security breach in the [[intelligence community]] where agencies outside the State Department wanted their classified material back.
So while the FBI rushed to clear Hillary in the email scandal before her July nomination, Yates and Axelrod then sought to tamp down the ongoing [[Clinton Foundation]] investigation before the November election.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 348-349.</ref>
The OIG report is replete with denials by Yates and Axelrod of interference by political appointees, and self serving statements limiting their involvement to offering the FBI adaquate "resources" and "everything they need" -- "resources" and "everything they need" meaning more people involved in the case.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 50-51, 53.</ref> They had already taken the investigation away from the New York DOJ and FBI offices, where the crime was committed, and given it to the DOJ National Security Division and Washington FBI field office so as to purposely limit the number people with knowledge and direct involvement in the case.
The DOJ's decision to share blame with the FBI for bad decisions in the Hillary Clinton "matter" appears to have been pushed by Axelrod and a few others.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 64, 169-170, 176-177, 184-185, 215-217.</ref> Comey's self-righteous ego lent him to manipulation. Eventually his penchant for upstaging his bosses led him, twice, to make himself the perfect fall guy for DOJ leadership.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 223-230, 369, 376-377.</ref> Comey justified playing hero and martyr with pathetic pronouncements about preserving the integrity of institutions which had delivered a predetermined outcome of the "matter" in July,<ref>Horowitz Report, p. 172.</ref> and in October failed to investigate the Weiner laptop at all,<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 304-305 fn 171.</ref> after supposedly re-opening the "matter" to review and clear 600,000 Clinton emails of classified information in six days.<ref>Horowitz Report, pp. 355-364, 392-393.</ref>
===Ohama's intervention===
In early April 2016 President Obama intervened in an ongoing FBI criminal investigation when he publicly stated on national television that Hillary Clinton has shown “carelessness” in using a private e-mail server to handle classified information. Obama insisted that Clinton had not intended to endanger [[national security]]. Intent is not an element of the criminal statutes relevant to the handling of classified information. Obama acknowledged that classified information had been transmitted via Sec. Clinton’s server, but he suggested its importance was overstated.
In early April 2016 President Obama intervened in an ongoing FBI criminal investigation when he publicly stated on national television that Hillary Clinton has shown “carelessness” in using a private e-mail server to handle classified information. Obama insisted that Clinton had not intended to endanger [[national security]]. Intent is not an element of the criminal statutes relevant to the handling of classified information. Obama acknowledged that classified information had been transmitted via Sec. Clinton’s server, but he suggested its importance was overstated.