A free pass for Hillary Clinton

FBI Director James Comey has given Hillary Clinton something better than a get out of jail free card. He’s protected her from indictment by recommending to the Department of Justice that she not be prosecuted for her and her staff’s “extremely careless” handling of emails on private servers that included documents classified as “top secret,” “secret,” and “confidential.”

Once again the Clintons have escaped the long arm of the law, which in their case is much shorter than the arm extended to other government officials who have been caught committing far fewer infractions.

In his statement, Comey went through a list of points about Clinton’s several private servers and the erasures of emails. He didn’t touch on the recent revelation that she burned her daily schedules while secretary of state. But then in a whiplash moment after making what sounded like a good case for her guilt, Comey said the FBI would not be recommending to the attorney general that she be prosecuted. And Attorney General Loretta Lynch followed his advice, announcing yesterday that Clinton’s case was closed.

Comey also said while there was no “direct evidence” that “hostile actors” invaded her personal email domain, “given the nature of the system and of the actors potentially involved,” the bureau concluded hackers likely did gain access to the private email accounts of people with whom Clinton was in regular contact.

While Comey, who is testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, has let Clinton off the hook, his decision cannot wash her clean of the indelible impression among a majority of voters that she is untrustworthy.

Donald Trump has an open invitation to continue battering Clinton as dishonest, incompetent, and careless, even grossly negligent.

People with long memories will recall Hillary Clinton’s stint on the House Judiciary Committee during its investigation of Richard Nixon in the Watergate affair. Nixon would later say, “I’m not a crook.” Now, based on the FBI’s decision, Clinton can say the same, and perhaps she will enjoy the same level of credibility with voters that Nixon had.

One issue on which Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are in agreement—and Trump tweeted this in his initial reaction to Comey’s statement. The voters believe the system is rigged. Comey’s decision not to recommend to the Justice Department that Clinton be indicted and the DOJ agreeing to that decision gives more credence to that belief.

© 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Listen to Cal Thomas’ commentary on the July 7 edition of The World and Everything in It.