New proof the FBI slow-walked and undermined its own investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email abuses has given a former Navy sailor pardoned by President Trump new determination to press on with a malicious prosecution lawsuit against senior members of the Obama administration.
“You know, these people aren’t above the law,” said Kristian Saucier, a former submariner. “But apparently, they are. And I’m going to fight that until – and you know, as long as there’s a breath in me, I’m going to fight that.”
He added:
Any of us that have been watching this case as it’s unfolding now we see that in fact, the fix was in. They were making sure that no matter what happened, Hillary Clinton wasn’t going to get prosecuted and nobody around her was because they would have folded on her and it’s shameful.
Saucier’s comments came after newly unsealed documents from federal court show that the FBI put little energy into investigating Hillary Clinton, senior aide Huma Abedin, and others.
As Trace Gallagher explained Monday on Fox News Channel:
… the documents also confirmed three things Republicans have been complaining about for years. First, the FBI did not use grand jury subpoenas to interview witnesses including State Department employees, those who set up Clinton’s private e-mail server and those who had knowledge of the e-mails, so in other words all of the 72 witnesses testified voluntarily and none of them was under oath or had their testimony recorded.
The FBI also did not obtain search warrants for the laptops used by Clinton’s attorneys Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson. Instead, the emails on those laptops were secured through consent agreements. Even lead FBI agent Peter Strzok who the I.G. [i.e. Inspector General of the Department of Justice Michael E. Horowitz] did conclude was biased was pushing to use more aggressive investigative measures against both Mills and Samuelson. And finally the court documents show the FBI did not try to obtain the personal phones and devices of Clinton’s top aides who sometimes also use private email for State Department work and use private devices to communicate with Clinton while she was the Secretary of State even though Republicans have serious issues with things the FBI did not do in regards to the Clinton email investigation.
Which makes Saucier justifiably angry.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Saucier, a machinist’s mate on the submarine USS Alexandria from September 2007 to March 2012, went to prison for an infraction of the sort that the U.S. military normally deals with administratively.
Saucier used his cellphone to snap photographs of the vessel’s nuclear propulsion system while the ship was docked at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn. Saucier said he took pictures to show his future children what he did aboard the submarine.
He was convicted of felony unauthorized retention of national defense information and obstruction of justice. On Aug. 19, 2016, he was sentenced to one year in prison, three years’ supervised release conditioned upon six months’ home confinement and the performance of 100 hours’ community service, and given an “other-than-honorable” discharge from the U.S. Navy.
“They were going after me and never once have I said what I did wasn’t wrong,” Saucier said on Fox. “I’ve accepted responsibility and I think it’s shameful that Hillary Clinton and her aides just won’t accept responsibility. I pled guilty. I didn’t go to trial.”
Where I mishandled low-level classified information and they threatened me and intimidated me for four years and harassed my family and finally put me away in prison for a year. You know, I just want the rest of them to be held to the same standard. Nowhere in that justice code have I found you know, addendum that says well if your name is Hillary Clinton or [former FBI Director] James Comey this law doesn’t apply to you, so why isn’t it? I think all American people should be asking that question.
Months after Saucier was sentenced, President Obama infamously commuted the prison sentence of U.S. Army Private Chelsea Manning whose leaking of sensitive U.S. government documents may have cost Americans and friendly foreign assets their lives. Manning stole and then gave away close to 500,000 Army field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and 250,000 diplomatic cables from the U.S. Department of State.
On Aug. 21, 2013, Manning, whom many patriotic Americans consider to be a traitor, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, reduction in pay grade to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. On Jan. 17, 2017, President Obama commuted Manning’s sentence to a mere seven years’ imprisonment, which led to the disgraced soldier’s release on May 17, 2017.
This past March 9, President Trump granted Saucier, whose unauthorized photography made him guilty at worst of minor misconduct, a full and unconditional pardon. (The presidential pardon document for Kristian Mark Saucier dated March 9, 2018, may be viewed here.)
“He has been recognized by his fellow servicemembers for his dedication, skills and patriotic spirit,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in March, as reported by Stars and Stripes.
“While serving, he regularly mentored younger sailors and served as an instructor for new recruits. The sentencing judge found that Mr. Saucier’s offense stands in contrast to his commendable military service.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump often likened the comparatively harsh treatment Saucier received with the lax handling received by Clinton, who has never faced prosecution for her misdeeds. Trump led campaign rallies in chants of “lock her up!”
The Saucier case was thrust into the national spotlight on Oct. 4, 2016, when vice presidential candidates Mike Pence ® and Tim Kaine (D) sparred over whether the sailor was held to a different legal standard for improper handling of classified information than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who, with the apparent connivance of President Obama, created an illegal network of email servers over which mountains of secret government documents were transmitted.
Then-Gov. Pence told Sen. Kaine, “If your son or my son handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did… they’d be court martialed.”
Kaine indignantly shot back, saying, “That is absolutely false and you know that.”
Of course, Kaine’s son does have some expertise in actual sedition: He’s an Antifa terrorist.
Linwood Michael “Woody” Kaine was part of an Antifa assault on Trump supporters in the rotunda of the Minnesota Capitol. Young Kaine fought with police as they tried to arrest him for lobbing a smoke bomb.
The senator’s son got a slap on the wrist. He was fined $236 and sentenced to 90 days in jail, though 86 of the days were stayed. He received credit for four days’ time served. His one year of probation runs until Dec. 11, 2018.
Meanwhile, Saucier’s lawsuit is off to a rocky start.
On June 21, Saucier’s lawyer, Ronald Leonard Daigle Jr., had his law license suspended by authorities in New York for one year for “professional misconduct arising from [Daigle’s] handling of an estate matter.”
It appears Daigle had been working on settling a specific estate but skipped important required paperwork related to the process. According to the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, Daigle was disciplined for taking $23,000 from the estate of the deceased person, despite lacking proper authority to do so. He later returned $15,000 to the family.
Saucier claims Daigle’s suspension is aimed at hindering the lawsuit against Obama administration officials.
“Out of the blue the court decided to come after Ron for his license for a year, the window I have for my lawsuit, and they announced it after we announced my case,” Saucier said. “It’s a liberal court system … trying to dismember my legal defense. It’s a shame, it’s retribution. They’ve backed us into a corner so that I won’t be able to file the lawsuit.”
“They’re trying to silence us,” Saucier added. “Ron doesn’t deserve this. I won’t be silenced. If I have to go to court and represent myself, act as my own lawyer, I will. I’m not going to be strong-armed.”
Of that there is little doubt.
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