Lock Them Both Up!

From my Garrison Center column for July 6, 2016:

In his July 5 press briefing, FBI director James Comey spoke 2,341 words explaining his decision not to recommend criminal charges over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to transmit, receive and store classified information during her tenure as US Secretary of State. He could have named that tune in four words:

“Because she’s Hillary Clinton.”

Comey left no doubt whatsoever that Clinton and her staff broke the law: “[T]there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. For example, seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level when they were sent and received. … any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.”

“But that doesn’t matter, because she’s Hillary Clinton.”

That was really the entire case for not charging Clinton with violations of 18 U.S. Code § 1924 and 18 US Code § 793.

Now that Donald Trump has his own ass in a similar crack (with a Presidential Records Act chaser), Republicans who loudly protested against "some animals are more equal than other" treatment for Clinton seem to be keeping their silence, while Democrats who fled to their fainting couches and broke out the smelling salts over the shabby treatment poor, pitiful, persecuted Clinton received back then seem to want to throw the book at Trump.

Personally, I'd gladly fork over to buy orange coveralls and leg irons for both of them to wear at their respective arraignments.