83
votes
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
Because she:
Violated laws and rules by using personal email server
Performed actions that risked classified ...
- 91.2k
55
votes
Accepted
Can the FBI or the CIA keep things secret from the President?
Different questions here.
The President is never told everything. The various agencies produce thousands of pages of reports each day. Briefers make the decision what the President needs to be told, ...
- 104k
53
votes
What exactly is "collusion"? What is Robert Mueller expected to prove?
You are correct that "collusion" is being used very loosely. There is no specific federal criminal statute that outlaws "collusion", for example (except for an antitrust law not relevant here).
This ...
- 6,422
51
votes
What does the average American citizen think about the raid on Mar-a-Lago?
In situations in which a variable exhibits drastically different behavior in different groups, asking about the average may not be meaningful. After all, if we were to take averages, we would find ...
- 13.3k
42
votes
Accepted
Why was there such a significant increase in firearms background checks in March 2020?
There's a lot of panicked buying going on in general
It's become a joke how much people are hoarding toilet paper (in the US, in particular, it wasn't hard to find before this). But hoarding things is ...
- 44.1k
31
votes
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
Setting aside the question of whether Clinton is legally culpable, the FBI has confirmed that the servers constituted a data spill of classified information, the extent of which is presumably ...
- 6,570
27
votes
What does the average American citizen think about the raid on Mar-a-Lago?
FiveThirtyEight did a good aggregation of polling on the topic.
A Feb. 16-20 poll from Suffolk University/USA Today, for instance, found that 56 percent of registered voters thought the National ...
- 10.5k
26
votes
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
There are two distinct problems that exist here: the use of a private email server to execute the business of the Department of State and the introduction of classified material into an unclassified ...
- 10.2k
25
votes
Accepted
Why did the FBI director recommend that Hillary Clinton not be charged?
The only possible way to answer this is to quote more from the official text of Comey's press release. I've added my own emphasis, however.
Although there is evidence of potential violations of the ...
- 23.7k
21
votes
Can the FBI or the CIA keep things secret from the President?
The US President can ask questions of US Government employees in the executive branch, which includes the CIA and FBI. If the employee refuses to answer then the US President can't compel an answer, ...
- 311
21
votes
Did the FBI seize former US president's current passport in the Mar-a-Lago raid? If so, did they return it? If so, when?
Yes, the passports were located in a drawer where classified documents were stored and taken under the terms of the search warrant.
About a week after the search, investigators contacted Trump's ...
- 3,918
18
votes
Accepted
Difference between director and acting director of FBI
The Director of the FBI can only be appointed subject to the confirmation of the United States Senate. Acting Directors are meant to serve in that position temporarily while the permanent Director is ...
- 27.8k
16
votes
What is the evidence for the Trump/Russia investigation?
I'm not even sure if the FBI was officially investigating the issue or not.
Yes, the FBI was officially (and likely is) investigating the issue. James Comey confirmed that during a hearing before the ...
- 46.5k
16
votes
Accepted
What happened in the Hunter Biden's laptop controversy?
It has been difficult to continue to drum up outrage on a subject that does not have much by way of new reporting.
What we currently know is that the laptop in question was brought to John Paul Mac ...
- 17k
15
votes
Are American FBI agents not allowed to have personal opinions?
FBI agents are particularly restricted in what they may do or not do. This is partially specified by law, and partially a professional norm. Both law and custom allow FBI agents (as well as all ...
- 23.8k
14
votes
Attorney client privilege in the Trump and Clinton investigations
The Ryan Lucas NPR article cited already answered this:
But that doesn't mean that attorney-client privilege is a magical
blanket that covers any and all scrutiny. It doesn't. There are, in
...
- 12.8k
14
votes
Why was there such a significant increase in firearms background checks in March 2020?
The panic buying of toilet paper and other items have also caused many people to worry about home/personal safety as well. Either for protecting their own supplies or worry about a general breakdown ...
- 1,023
11
votes
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
You said:
To me, it seems like she was just a bit careless and she has no bad intentions, and the FBI knows that.
She was rather a lot careless. Here's what Comey said when he recommended not ...
- 89.2k
11
votes
What specific FBI policy/procedure required 29 FBI agents and 17 vehicles sent to arrest Roger Stone?
Googling this question produced good answers, but I'll sum them up here anways.
First and foremost, the use of many agents is not abnormal. From former agent James Gagliono
"In the FBI, we tend to ...
- 10.5k
11
votes
Difference between director and acting director of FBI
This is not really specific to the FBI or even to government agencies in general.
Whenever a role X in an organization is currently not filled, but someone temporarily assumes those duties in order to ...
- 3,950
11
votes
Accepted
Did the FBI inform the US Capitol Police on the level of possible threat on Jan 6?
Update (Jan 13)
The Washington Post's updated reporting noted that the intelligence FBI had gathered was shared with their "law enforcement partners", which includes the Capitol Police. This ...
- 46.5k
10
votes
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's private email server?
Why is the FBI making such a big deal out Hillary Clinton's personal email server?
They aren't presently.
Or at least, they don't appear to be anymore, even with recent events.
They were doing ...
- 3,007
10
votes
Can the FBI or the CIA keep things secret from the President?
Of course, they can. Even the US military have secrets.
One of the brightest examples, for me, was Edgar Hoover. A man who've stayed in power from 1935 till his death in 1972 definitely had secrets ...
- 11.8k
9
votes
What exactly is "collusion"? What is Robert Mueller expected to prove?
First off, consider the charges against Manafort. The actual charges, without interpretation.
Manafort and Gates have not been indicted for 'collusion'. They have been indicted for tax evasion, and ...
- 10.4k
9
votes
Accepted
The Donald Trump Sex Tape Significance
FiveThirtyEight had a podcast on the topic and they made one very important non-partisan point:
If the affair was a secret (which is just a theory, we don't know without reading the mind of his wife -...
- 91.2k
9
votes
Roughly how many people associated with Antifa ideology have been charged following investigations into terrorist incidents in the US?
Have there been any cases made public of officially designated terrorism incidents in which the people charged by USA (state or federal) justice officials either self-identified as Antifa or were ...
- 409
9
votes
Did the FBI seize former US president's current passport in the Mar-a-Lago raid? If so, did they return it? If so, when?
I'm making my comment into an answer that augments the answer by Bryan Krause. In a comment to the question, a member stated that
Trump actually has 3 passports, so it's a bit of a trick question.
...
- 12.6k
8
votes
What exactly is "collusion"? What is Robert Mueller expected to prove?
Collusion: "secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose"
The media has been using Collusion as a catch all for other potential crimes that the Trump team is being ...
- 2,764
8
votes
What is the expectation that the US intelligence community must answer questions posed in congressional hearings?
Basically, one has to answer all questions unless –
the witness exercise his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment
the information is classified
the President asserts his "...
- 46.5k
8
votes
Accepted
Why couldn't the FBI issue a warrant to get Hillary Clinton's emails?
Basically, at that time, there was no reason for the FBI to issue a warrant. As the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure states:
(d) Obtaining a Warrant.
(1) In General. After receiving an affidavit ...
- 46.5k
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