What Does Immunity For Clinton Email Staffer Signal?

[Purveyor]

By Danny Cevallos, CNN Legal Analyst
Updated 3:36 PM ET, Sat March 5, 2016

The Department of Justice has granted "immunity" to a former State Department employee who worked on Hillary Clinton's private email server. Bryan Pagliano initially invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not testify. Of course, the Department of Justice, known to defense attorneys simply as the "government," has many ways of getting people to talk.

The big question is whether there is a grand jury convened. The smart bet is yes. After all, the fact that there are immunity agreements logically means there's a grand jury investigation in some district. The grand jury is typically the genesis of the government's subpoena power. The next, bigger question, is whether anyone will be indicted.

The mere fact that the DOJ wants to talk to Pagliano does not mean anyone will be indicted. But if the DOJ is investigating criminal activity, they tend to find criminal activity.

In general, when the government wants to talk to someone, the person falls into one of three categories: target, subject, or witness.

If Pagliano was a "target," that generally means the prosecutor or grand jury has significant evidence connecting the person to a crime. Targets routinely become defendants. A "subject" is a midrange status; this person is part of the investigation but not quite a target; a precarious position to be in. A "witness" is a person who has valuable information, but is not (currently) believed to have committed a crime. However, "witnesses" matriculate up to "targets" very quickly, often because of the very information they provide.

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http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/opinions/clinton-staffer-email-immunity-cevallos/index.html

[Chasstev365]

1. rut row!

Maybe Hillary supporters should stop living in denial. She could be in deep doo doo!

[onehandle]

2. Immunity is often granted to close a winding down investigation.

Sorry!

[Its Got Electrolytes]

3. Keep on thinking that.

[JonLeibowitz]

4. Reality is less certain

It could mean that Pagliano, concerned about his legal exposure, might implicate others, including Clinton. But it also could be an indication that agents and prosecutors are winding down an inquiry that will not result in charges, said Justin Shur, a former deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section who now works in private practice at the MoloLamken firm.

“I don’t know that I would necessarily jump to the conclusion that this person has ‘flipped,’ and now they’re going to say a bunch of incriminating things about other people,” Shur said, adding that the agents could simply be making sure they have spoken to everyone relevant to the investigation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/what-does-a-former-staffers-immunity-deal-mean-for-hillary-clinton/2016/03/03/0fbb6ab2-e15e-11e5-846c-10191d1fc4ec_story.html

Sorry, your talking point is bye-bye.

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. Do you know of an instance where immunity was granted to a witness that hasn't committed a crime?

[Punkingal]

5. Very good article...best information I have seen on this subject.

just information, not opinion. Seems like we don't see that much anymore.

[napi21]

6. It signals that he has a good lawyer. That's all! He was asked to testify before Congress

a while ago. He did, but he took the fifth. He said that he did that because the Pugs always misinterpret your words, or just make stuff up, so they could have accused him of ANYTHING. He wasn't willing to do that. Now, the FBI wants to hear his side of the story and the only way they can compel him to give his answers is to grant him immunity. From everything I've heard, they want to aks him if he ever heard or was told that the reason for the personal server was to keep her communications from
FOIA requests, or any other negative info he might have. I got the majority of my info from Norm Goldman who was asked the same question you did.

[Arazi]

7. Norm Goldman is a HUGE HRC supporter. He's not unbiased

Pagliano himself says he took the fifth because of the investigation

According to the Washington Post, that letter also cited the current FBI investigation into Clinton’s email as a reason for Pagliano to plead the Fifth. The FBI is investigating Clinton’s use of a personal email server while serving as Secretary of State, specifically whether the use of that server jeopardized national security information.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/09/02/3698234/clinton-server-fbi-bryan-pagliano/

[Jester Messiah]

8. That there is something against which to be immune. n/t

[6chars]

9. Immunity is quite common

If you don't want to testify, you just take the fifth. If they grant you immunity, then you have to testify. Better to be safe than sorry.