On Tuesday, CNN's David Chalian and Jeffrey Toobin played up FBI Director James Comey's recommendation that no criminal charges be filed against Hillary Clinton related to her e-mail scandal. Chalian underlined that "this is a huge burden lifted off of Hillary Clinton's back...Now, she can begin to look forward to November without this hanging over her head — though it will remain this political problem with her previous words." Toobin touted the "enormous relief...for Hillary Clinton...this was a dagger aimed at the heart of her campaign; and she has avoided being charged, simple as that." [video below]
At This Hour anchors John Berman and Kate Bolduan first turned to Chalian, CNN's political director, for his reaction to the FBI director's announcement. Berman pointed out "the headline: no charges appropriate in this case; but there are several sub-headlines here as well. Hillary Clinton 'extremely careless' in how she used her e-mail — that certainly, security or administrative sanctions would be in order if this were someone else or if she were still in her post." Bolduan added that it was a "pretty unbelievable moment."
Chalian asserted that there's "a little bit of everything here for everyone" from the press conference, and continued that "the biggest thing here that Hillary Clinton wanted to do was move beyond this with no criminal charges, and that is what the FBI director is recommending." He soon added, "Huge sigh of relief that there will be no criminal charges — but guys, Jim Comey, in these comments, also basically cut an ad for Hillary Clinton's opponents, if they want to use it, by talking about 'extremely careless' in her handling of this."
To his credit, the political director outlined how Comey poured cold water on two of Mrs. Clinton's talking points regarding the controversy:
DAVID CHALIAN: And, by the way, the two things that Hillary Clinton has talked the most about throughout this entire process of the last year is that she never sent or received anything classified at the time — and Jim Comey just said that there were some e-mails sent or received that contained markings of classification; then, added the extra layer that, even if it didn't contain markings, that Hillary Clinton and others around her in the position of dealing with this information should have known it was classified. So — so that is one comment that Hillary Clinton has said again and again and again that Jim Comey and his investigation — the FBI investigation — disagrees with.
The other comment that Hillary Clinton has said time and again throughout this process is — is that — that she handed over every work-related e-mail. That is something that Comey said his investigators found not to be the case. Again, no — he didn't find any intentional reason that her legal team kept e-mails away, but that there were a couple thousand — what they deemed work-related e-mails that did not get turned over in 2014. So again, that's at odds with something that Hillary Clinton has said throughout this entire process. Those two fact patterns will have old tape of her going back and forth with then what James Comey said.
However, Chalian followed this with his "huge burden lifted off of Hillary Clinton's back" line.
The CNN anchor then turned to Toobin, who replied immediately with his "enormous relief for Hillary Clinton" language. He soon emphasized that "the issue of intent is critical. She has said publicly — undoubtedly, she said in her interview — that she never intentionally disclosed classified information. The FBI found nothing to refute that, and that's why she wasn't charged."
The senior legal analyst later asserted that "clearly, this was a terrible system that was set up in an incompetent way. The people involved did not behave appropriately; but that's not why we have criminal charges. Criminal charges exist for knowing and intentional violations of the law; and that's not what the FBI found here."
The transcript of the relevant portion of CNN's At This Hour's breaking news coverage of FBI Director James Comey's press conference on July 5, 2016:
JOHN BERMAN: I want to bring in CNN political director David Chalian. Again David, the headline: no charges appropriate in this case; but there are several sub-headlines here as well. Hillary Clinton 'extremely careless' in how she used her e-mail — that certainly, security or administrative sanctions would be in order if this were someone else or if she were still in her post—
KATE BOLDUAN: Pretty unbelievable moment.
[CNN Graphic: "Breaking News: FBI No Recommending Charges Against Clinton"]
DAVID CHALIAN : Yeah. This is a little bit of everything here for everyone that — that wants to take something away here. But there is no doubt — to go back to that headline, the biggest thing here that Hillary Clinton wanted to do was move beyond this with no criminal charges, and — and that is what the FBI director is recommending. And if we take the attorney general, Loretta Lynch, at her word — that she is going to accept the recommendations of the — of the career investigators and prosecutors that look into this — one might assume when it gets the final stamp from DOJ, it will end up with where Comey is saying.
Huge sigh of relief that there will be no criminal charges — but guys, Jim Comey, in these comments, also basically cut an ad for Hillary Clinton's opponents, if they want to use it, by talking about 'extremely careless' in her handling of this. And, by the way, the two things that Hillary Clinton has talked the most about throughout this entire process of the last year is that she never sent or received—
BOLDUAN: Exactly—
CHALIAN: Anything classified at the time — and Jim Comey just said that there were some e-mails sent or received that contained markings of classification; then, added the extra layer that, even if it didn't contain markings, that Hillary Clinton and others around her in the position of dealing with this information should have known it was classified—
BOLDUAN: Yeah—
CHALIAN: So — so that is one comment that Hillary Clinton has said again and again and again that Jim Comey and his investigation — the FBI investigation — disagrees with. The other comment that Hillary Clinton has said time and again throughout this process is — is that — that she handed over every work-related e-mail. That is something that Comey said his investigators found not to be the case. Again, no — he didn't find any intentional reason that her legal team kept e-mails away, but that there were a couple thousand — what they deemed work-related e-mails that did not get turned over in 2014. So again, that's at odds with something that Hillary Clinton has said throughout this entire process. Those two fact patterns will have old tape of her going back and forth with then what James Comey said.
But nothing can take away from the fact that this is a huge burden lifted off of Hillary Clinton's back — that the recommendation from the FBI is no criminal charges. Now, she can begin to look forward to November without this hanging over her head — though it will remain this political problem with her previous words.
BOLDUAN: It's amazing, though. I mean this is — it was known that the FBI was wrapping up its investigation. But there really was no suggestion that today was going to be the day when the FBI director was going to be coming out.
Let's talk a little bit more about what the FBI director said and what this means going forward. Jeffrey Toobin is on the phone with us right now. Jeff, I know you were listening to this — your big takeaway?
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Well, it's an enormous relief for the — for Hillary Clinton and her campaign. I mean, this — this was a dagger aimed at the heart of her campaign; and she has avoided being charged, simple — simple as that.
I also think it is worth focusing on what Director Comey said about the nature of these sorts of charges. It is only — these cases have only been brought when there has been knowing and intentional violation of the rules of classified information. There have only been these cases when documents clearly marked 'classified' have been intentionally disclosed; or documents that the discloser knew were classified.
Here, the issue of intent is critical. She has said publicly — undoubtedly, she said in her interview — that she never intentionally disclosed classified information. The FBI found nothing to refute that, and that's why she wasn't charged. As for her judgment; the way she handled this—
BERMAN: No evidence — no evidence that Hillary Clinton — Jeffrey, you know, to be clear, James Comey said, 'No evidence that Hillary Clinton or others intended to violate the law.' Those are the specific words from the FBI director. I didn't mean to interrupt. Go ahead.
TOOBIN: No. That's — that's exactly right. And that's the difference between reckless and irresponsible behavior and criminal behavior. Here, clearly, this was a terrible system that was set up in an incompetent way. The people involved did not behave appropriately; but that's not why we have criminal charges. Criminal charges exist for knowing and intentional violations of the law; and that's not what the FBI found here.
BERMAN: So — so that's the legal angle on this — the FBI director recommending no charges in this case. But there was also a clear political angle.
