In his press conference, one that will eventually rate up there with Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” performance, FBI Director James Comey made several assertions. These were two of them:

I should add here that we found no evidence that any of the additional work-related e-mails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them.

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In looking back at our investigations into mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts. All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here.

Trey Gowdy was on Fox News last night and effectively pinned the donkey’s tail on James Comey, essentially branding him as a disingenuous hack who was taking his marching orders to clear Hillary Clinton very seriously.

As it turns out, all of the emails that Clinton’s toadies had identified as non-work related, which included nearly 15,000 that were deemed by the FBI to be work related, were, in fact, destroyed in a way designed to conceal them:

“She and her lawyers had those emails deleted. And they didn’t just push the delete button; they had them deleted where even God can’t read them,” the lawmaker said during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Thursday. “They were using something called BleachBit. You don’t use BleachBit for yoga emails or bridemaids emails. When you’re using BleachBit, it is something you really do not want the world to see.”

The manufacturer claims

Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster.

The very fact that 15,000 work related emails were not turned over to State indicates that the process used by Clinton’s pettifoggers was either so deficient as to be criminal or it was a criminal act of concealment. The selection of an industrial strength, if you will, cleanser for her server indicates they knew exactly what they were doing.

The next part is also important. Allegedly, according to Comey, grotesque negligence in the handling of US secrets is perfectly okay because, contrary to the black letter of the law, he thinks it is not fair to prosecute for negligence. According to Comey, you need intent. Even if we accept that nonsensical argument as non-nonsense, we are still left with the fact that Clinton’s intent was never explored by the FBI agents conducting the inerviews:

FBI agents never asked Hillary Clinton about the intentions behind her mishandling of classified information, despite the fact that FBI Director James Comey said he declined to recommend charges against her because he found no evidence she intentionally thwarted the law, Rep. Trey Gowdy said.

“I didn’t see any questions on the issue of intent,” the South Carolina Republican said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News. “[Comey] said he didn’t go forward with charges because she didn’t have specific criminal intent.”

“I didn’t see the followup questions in the summary I read,” Gowdy added.

Gowdy’s career as a federal prosecutor indicates that he knows what he’s talking about.

The FBI handled Hillary Clinton with kid gloves during her interview. Comey came perilously close to lying to the nation in his press conference. I hope he is well rewarded by Hillary Clinton for saving her political life.