JB: I'm truly disheartened by this litany of ill-conceived behavior on the part of a person in high office, running for even higher office. Is there anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?
PT: I feel that way too. I feel that if most people knew the facts I've explained to you, they would decide that Hillary Clinton is unqualified to be president. And that's a big problem for me, because I'm a Democrat and I want to see our next president be a Democrat and most definitely not be Donald Trump! The Republican powers-that-be have to be aware of all this evidence against her, and they're likely lying in wait until after the Democratic Convention to use all their right wing media platforms to make sure this sort of information becomes widely known. What I'm trying to do is get this out as soon as possible, so Democrats will see this is a real scandal and a serious problem, and it's time to consider nominating someone else. There's still time to avoid making a tragic mistake that could give us either President Trump or a President Clinton who is so ethically compromised with the Clinton Foundation that that could be its own nightmare as well.
And that's not even considering the blackmail potential. Former heads of the CIA, NSA, DIA, and Defense Department have said that countries like Russia and China almost certainly have all of Clinton's emails, including her redacted and deleted ones. What would stop them from threatening to release some of them, such as the top secret ones, as political leverage?
JB: I shudder at the thought. Hang on a minute; One more question before I let you go. I just saw an article purporting that some of Hillary's supporters are suggesting that, if the FBI recommends her indictment, President Obama should preemptively and fully pardon her. What are your thoughts on that?
PT: That is a possibility. But it's one that's fraught with difficulties. For instance, most people don't know this, but in 1915, the US Supreme Court ruled that accepting a pardon is "an admission of guilt." Furthermore, that would tarnish Obama's legacy and create a scandal in and of itself. Consider what happened to President Ford. When he pardoned Nixon in 1974, his popularity plummeted. Many believe that cost him a close election against Jimmy Carter in 1976. Furthermore, I don't think that would slow down Republican efforts to try to destroy Clinton through this scandal. They could still hold hearings and pursue "fact finding" investigations and so on for years to come - look how long they've been going on about Benghazi. Plus, there are dozens of on-going civil lawsuits that would still continue regardless, since they are about the release of government documents. The idea of a pardon would be to make this scandal go away, but I don't think it would have that effect.
JB: You're probably right; She can run but she cannot hide. In any case, we'll have to wait and see, won't we? Thanks so much for talking with me, Paul. And especially for devoting your time to putting together this comprehensive timeline so that readers can read and decide for themselves about Hillary.
PT: Thank you for giving me this space to get this information to a wider audience.
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Thanks to Michael Collins for suggesting that I interview Paul Thompson.
Thanks to Meryl Ann Butler, Managing Editor at OpEdNews, for her editing expertise, good titles, great graphics and general, all-around moral support.
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Part One of my interview with Paul: Hillary's "Damn" Emails? Or "Damning" Emails? - Hidden In Plain Sight, Part One
Part Two of my interview with Paul: Did Clinton Foundation Pimp Out State Department? - Hidden in Plain Sight, Part Two
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Link to YouTube of Paul's interview with Mike Malloy
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