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Jail Time for Hillary Clinton? FBI Ramps up Investigation

<p>Hillary can run&comma; but she can&rsquo&semi;t hide&period; As the Democratic frontrunner tries to put the now-infamous email scandal behind her&comma; the FBI has ramped up its investigation&comma; looking into the Espionage Act as well as US Code 18&comma; Section 1001 to find out if Clinton has&nbsp&semi;indeed risked classified information&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;Former FBI and Justice officials familiar with the investigative procedures on such matters said the agency must determine two main things&colon; whether the use of an outside email system posed any risks to national security secrets and if so if anyone was responsible for exposing classified information&comma;&rdquo&semi; reports <em>Politico&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to <em>Fox News<&sol;em>&comma; FBI &ldquo&semi;agents are looking at US Code 18&comma; Section 1001&comma; which pertains to &lsquo&semi;materially false&rsquo&semi; statements given &lbrack;by government employees&rsqb; either in writing&comma; orally&comma; or through a third party&period; Violations also include pressuring a third party to conspire in a cover-up&period; Each felony violation is subject to five years in prison&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking of cover-ups&comma; <em>Fox News<&sol;em> reports&colon; &&num;8220&semi;At least four classified Clinton emails had their markings changed to a category that shields the content from Congress and the public&comma; in what State Department whistleblowers believed to be an effort to hide the true extent of classified information on the former secretary of state&rsquo&semi;s server&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Section 1001 is used when individuals make&nbsp&semi;false or misleading statements that later cause government agents to spend extra time and resources&period; The statute applies to any statement&comma; not only those made under oath&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Timothy Gill&comma; a former FBI agent&comma; says that Section 1001 &ldquo&semi;punishes individuals who are not direct and fulsome in their answers&period; The problem for a defendant is when their statements cause the bureau to expend more time&comma; energy&comma; resources to de-conflict their statements with the evidence&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;You can say that again&period; The State Department has spent countless hours&comma; days&comma; and months examining the emails Clinton was forced to turn over&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As to false statements&comma; Clinton originally said&colon; &ldquo&semi;I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email&period; There is no classified material&period;&rdquo&semi; She later amended her statement&comma; explaining that all material sent and&sol;or received as not &ldquo&semi;marked classified at the time&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The FBI is also looking into the Espionage Act in relation to &ldquo&semi;gross negligence&rdquo&semi; in the way Hillary handled information pertaining to national defense&period;&nbsp&semi;The former Secretary of State was well-aware of her duty to protect this type of information &ndash&semi; and in fact was made to sign two or more non-disclosure agreements when she took office in 2009&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nonetheless&comma; she decided to send classified information using a secret server &ndash&semi; a server that could easily be hacked&period; She later surrendered the server to her attorney&comma; who did not have clearance to view the information&comma; and to an IT firm in Denver&comma; whose employees also lacked clearance&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Section 1001 was used to bust Martha Stewart as well as CIA director Gen&period; David Petraeus&comma; who was indicted and convicted earlier this year for a far smaller breach of security than what Hillary has done&period; So far&comma; the FBI has found over 600 emails containing classified information&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Not everyone is cooperating with the feds in this top-secret investigation&period; The Justice Department remains unsure of how to deal with Bryan Pagliano&comma; the IT expert who oversaw the homebrew server&period; When subpoenaed by Congress a few months ago&comma; Pagliano took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions&period; &nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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