Now, my initial reaction, like most of you, probably, was surprise that any new development would be material enough for Comey to re-open the investigation, when there were already pretty clearly classified information in the e-mails, some of it well beyond anything the Democrats could rationalize with \u201cit was trivial and shouldn\u2019t have been classified in the first place,\u201d but Comey justified it all on the basis of intent: \u00a0she didn\u2019t intentionally share this, or didn\u2019t create a server with the intent of making classified information vulnerable. \u00a0It just ended up happening out of carelessness.<\/p>\n
Which is why I\u2019m thinking that whatever came to light since then was not classified information of greater seriousness or quantity, but something that \u201cgoes to intent,\u201d as they say in your generic crime drama \u2014 something that either would objectively prove\u00a0Comey\u2019s assessment of \u201cno deliberate intent\u201d to be false, or something that would just royally p*** him off.<\/p>\n
HRC: \u00a0[redacted. \u00a0redacted. \u00a0redacted.]<\/p>\n
HA: \u00a0Let\u2019s talk about that when we meet up later today.<\/p>\n
HRC: \u00a0No, I really want your opinion on this now. \u00a0It\u2019s important. \u00a0[redacted. \u00a0redacted. \u00a0redacted.]<\/p>\n
HA: \u00a0I\u2019ve told you before, I don\u2019t feel comfortable talking about these sorts of things via e-mail. \u00a0This isn\u2019t a secure server, and there\u2019s always a risk we could be hacked.<\/p>\n
HRC: \u00a0Oh, you\u2019re back to your \u201cwe should be using state.gov e-mails\u201d again? \u00a0I told you before, that\u2019s a load of c***. \u00a0I refuse to\u00a0have my e-mails subject to the FOIA; I deserve my privacy, and those nasty Republicans don\u2019t deserve to see them. \u00a0Besides, those *****s at the FBI are full of it when they worry about what\u2019s classified and what isn\u2019t. \u00a0They gave me that briefing but my eyes just glazed over at all their protocols. \u00a0It\u2019s dumb.<\/p>\n
HA: \u00a0But you could still keep the private server for your Clinton Foundation e-mails.<\/p>\n
HRC: \u00a0And I told you before, that the Clinton Foundation and the State Department are one and the same, as far as I\u2019m concerned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now, that\u2019s an extreme scenario, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the e-mail in question was something of that character.<\/p>\n
UPDATE: \u00a0Yes, I know there are articles, columns, blog posts, tweets, and interviews in which one Clinton supporter after the next says that Comey was completely out of line in re-opening the investigation \u2014 that whatever new evidence he had should have just been ignored, no matter what it is, that to fail to do so is unprecedented (though there are counter-examples like Stevens in Alaska), and the fact that he did not do so means that he is actively trying to get Trump elected. \u00a0But this makes no sense \u2014 why would Comey, who\u2019s been thoroughly criticized by Republicans for seemingly treating Clinton as above the law, at the very last minute change his approach for political reasons? \u00a0Imagine that were the case \u2014 that his motivation was political: \u00a0surely he would have to realize that it\u2019s unlikely to have a significant impact on votes, and Clinton is still likely to win, and his career would be in the toilet no matter whether Republican pundits like him more than before. \u00a0I don\u2019t see the benefit to his career in taking this action. \u00a0And if there was no benefit to him, and, in fact, if he knew that this action opened him up to massive criticism, I still think there was a deeper reason than just \u201cwell, I\u2019m just letting everyone know that we found some new evidence that could conceivably be connected to Clinton.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You\u2019ve read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton\u2019s e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here\u2019s a link that I most recently happened to have open on my browser. Now, my initial reaction, like most of you, probably, was surprise that any new development would be material enough for Comey to re-open the investigation, when there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[487,229],"class_list":["post-5592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-e-mail-scandal","tag-hillary-clinton"],"yoast_head":"\n
My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-29T14:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-30T16:36:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html\",\"name\":\"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-29T14:35:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-30T16:36:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails","description":"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails","og_description":"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2016-10-29T14:35:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-30T16:36:54+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html","name":"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-29T14:35:28+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-30T16:36:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"You've read the news, right? \u00a0The FBI probe into Clinton's e-mails has been re-opened. \u00a0Here's a link that I most recently happened to have open on my","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/my-pet-theory-on-the-fbi-and-the-e-mails.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My pet theory on the FBI and the e-mails"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}