There’s no doubt the US presidential election of 2016 is thus far the most fascinating and equally baffling election anyone alive has seen, judging from what the dinosaurs in political punditry are saying certainly nothing those of us headed there have seen.
The hijacking of the Republican Party by a reality television star and sometimes successful real estate developer known as Donald Trump is in by itself the very definition of strange politics where nothing makes sense, especially when the clown seems to essentially defy the laws of gravity.
On the Democratic side, the strange phenomena is a Socialist Bernie Sanders giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money, at least in the only 3 states where his socialism finds home among Democrats who support him.
The odds on favorite to win the Democratic Party nomination, however, is still Hillary who is also likely to win come November against anyone who emerges as the wounded Republican nominee, especially if the wounded nominee is either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz neither of whom have a chance against Hillary unless Trump flips and gives the middle finger to those who nominated him and abandons all the crazy and impossible promises he has and continues to make thus far in which case he might avoid losing in a landslide and minimizes losses down the ticket when Hillary emerges as the victor.
But Republicans’ first major obstacle to regaining the White House is Hillary that’s why their strategy has been and continues to be finding a way of derailing or stopping her from being nominated because they know they just can’t stop her once she’s nominated.
The irony is, they must also find a way to stop either Trump or Ted Cruz to stand a chance of winning the presidency, let alone other offices down the line.
When 4 Americans were killed in Libya back in 2012 including the US Ambassador there and it later emerged that the Obama administration had mischaracterized the nature of the attack and in particular, who was behind it, Republican operatives got on their knees, put their hands together and looking to heaven thanked God for the tragedy.
This was an opportunity, in their view, to get rid of Hillary or at least damage her enough to derail her match to the White House as president.
This is because Hillary having been Secretary of State at the time the attacks occurred and having essentially been the architect of the US policy that led to the toppling of Libya’s leader Muamar Gaddafi which in turn led to creating the environment under which the attacks took place, Republicans were determined to wrap the failed policy around Hillary and use the four tragic deaths as the noose to strangle and kill her politically.
That strategy was in full throttle and making significant progress as Hillary’s honesty and trustworthy numbers steadily got worse until God smiled on her as Representative Kevin MacCarthy shocked everyone by publicly admitting what Democrats knew but could not prove and that’s, the Benghazi Committee—one of several Republicans had convened since the attack—was put together simply to hurt Hillary politically.
While this admission cost MaCarthy ascendancy to the Speakership and possibly earned him a spot in the annals of US history albeit for the wrong reasons, the admission uncurled the noose around Hillary’s neck breathing a new life to her political life from which she continues to benefit as she resumes her position as the presumptive nominee for Democrats and ultimately capturing the big trophy and that’s keys to the White House.
Hillary, however, is not in the clear as she must first get to the nomination and actually get nominated and every Republican and foe of hers who prays, prays and hopes that doesn’t happen which can only be the case if she’s indicted over the use of her private server to conduct official business when she was Secretary of State.
Those who have never prayed, are praying for the first time that she’s indicted but in the minds of her enemies, she’s already indicted, convicted and sent to jail even though none of that will happen in reality.
Most objective lawyers who have analyzed Hillary’s use of a private server, however, have come to the conclusion that Hillary cannot be indicted, based on what’s known about the facts and it’s unlikely any facts will emerge to change the outcome.
Providing a detailed analysis of the legal issues leading to this conclusion is beyond this article’s scope but if interested, No, Hillary Clinton Did Not Commit A Crime is a good analysis as to why.
Which brings me to this conclusion for reasons separate and apart from the analysis Dan Abrams provides in the article linked above that yours truly and most objective legal analysts agree with and that is, Hillary can also not be indicted for political reasons.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the FBI director recommends that Hillary should be indicted. Under US law, the Attorney General (AG) has the final say whether or not to bring charges of this kind against anyone.
On the other hand, even though technically under the AG, the FBI Director is an independent office so its director can conceivably make decisions that are antithetical to his boss (the AG) or even opposed by the President, who is their boss—and nothing will happen to him.
In short, the AG can’t be fired for simply taking some action that’s inconsistent with the president’s wishes or interests because the protection against arbitrary firing is in his appointment and confirmation his termination can only be for cause and recommending the prosecution of Hillary is not cause.
The question then becomes, what would happen were the FBI Director to recommend that Hillary be indicted?
There are three options: One, the AG shelves the recommendation where it collects dust for several months going into the first months of Hillary’s administration in which case what to do with it would be obvious (hint: nothing). Two, the AG can empanel a jury and have Hillary indicted. Three, she can receive the recommendation and declare to the world “after carefully reviewing the recommendation, I have concluded there’s no sufficient legal basis to seek an indictment.”
In the informed opinion of this writer, even though the first option is extremely attractive and less problematic for the AG or president for that matter, the third option would be the case even if there’s evidence gathered to indict a hapless and average Joe or Jane Doe.
This is because in American jurisprudence, one has traditionally been deemed to be innocent until proven guilty but this notion is increasingly being turned on its head to the point it’s now the case one is guilty until proven innocent, especially in politically charged cases.
Thus, in the event Hillary is indicted, that would be the equivalent of having her declared she’s guilty as charged long before even a trial takes place to put the government to task in proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt, which no one serious who knows anything about criminal law other than hapless partisans thinks they can.
Indicting Hillary will therefore be grossly unfair and irreparably so, especially given the fact as noted above, it’s more likely than not that she will ultimately be acquitted of all charges were she to be charged and therefore in hindsight be a victim of an overambitious prosecution that serves nobody any good other than those baying for her political blood and throwing the Democratic Party into a spin that could only be worse and fatalistic than the mess Republicans find themselves.
That’s a prospect no president would want for his or her party as a legacy and the AG knows that so she would do the right thing without the President even as suggesting that she does so and follow either of the two options above and certainly not having Hillary indicted.
It’s exactly what a Republican president would want done under identical circumstances.
In other words, it’s as old-fashioned politics as it can be that’s not to say it would be the case were the circumstances different, say, an open and shut case of criminal conduct.
That’s not the case here therefore expect Hillary to continue marching to White House this time and the next and first female person to hold that powerful office.
Current Affairs in Kenya 