A Clinton staffer has been granted immunity in the Clinton email scandal investigation:
The Justice Department has granted immunity to a State Department employee that helped build former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, according to the Washington Post.
A law enforcement official told the Post that Bryan Pagliano has agreed to work with the FBI in exchange for not facing any possible criminal charges.
The new development is not a good sign for the Democratic presidential front-runner, though there is still no indication that any criminal charges will be brought against Clinton.
Sources also told the Post that Clinton will likely be interviewed by agents involved in the FBI’s investigation.
Last September Pagliano invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.
This morning on Fox and Friends Judge Andrew Napolitano said that the granting of immunity means that a Grand Jury has been convened. He asserted that the FBI made the recommendation and the Justice Department went to a Federal Judge to seek immunity for Pagliano. Pagliano, who set up Hillary Clinton’s private email account, is expected to testify against someone higher up and an indictment is very likely. The only question is who will be indicted.
It’s long been opined that Clinton set up the private non-secure server as a conspiracy to evade FOIA laws:
While Mrs. Clinton ultimately returned approximately 55,000 pages of federal records
from this “off-grid” system to the State Department, the process for identifying the federal records on the system was undertaken by Mrs. Clinton’s private attorneys, ndividuals only accountable to the former secretary, not employees accountable to the Department.In addition, there is no evidence that the process complied with appropriate federal records laws, rules, and regulations. The net result is that the integrity of the State Department’s FOIA process has been completely and thoroughly undermined to the substantial detriment of FOIA requesters like Plaintiff who submitted requests to the Department implicating Mrs. Clinton’s official email. In addition to ensuring that the State Department has satisfied its FOIA obligations with respect to the request at issue in this case, a compelling need exists to restore the integrity of the FOIA process at the State Department and ensure accountability for the FOIA violations that occurred.
There is some confusion about the potential Grand Jury(more likely wishful thinking):
So far, there is no indication that prosecutors have convened a grand jury in the email investigation to subpoena testimony or documents, which would require the participation of a U.S. attorney’s office.
But the granting of immunity means testimony:
Immunity from prosecution is an important tool for prosecutors. They can offer immunity to witnesses for all types of crimes, even serious ones like kidnapping and murder. But prosecutors will often give immunity to a person who has committed minor crimes in order to compel that person to testify against someone who has committed more significant offenses. A common example is a prosecutor offering a small-time drug dealer immunity in exchange for against a big-time drug lord.
The next shoe to drop is who seeks immunity next: Jake Sullivan, Cheryl Mills or Huma Abedin. Clinton once asked Sullivan to remove the markings off correspondence and send it non-secure. In a very curious development, Mills maintained her security clearance despite being under investigation. Nothing about this scandal is normal.
The noose tightens.
As I have said previously, there is no doubt that Clinton utilized a private server to evade FOIA, but also to evade scrutiny of her mixing personal avarice with government affairs.
An indictment of Clinton would be catastrophic for her and for the DNC, but it isn’t really necessary. If the FBI sends a referral to Justice and the DOJ declines to prosecute, all hell will break loose.
That’s all that’s needed. There will be no escape.
UPDATE
There is some concern for Paglilano’s outlook over Instapundit:
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.