Thursday, March 05, 2015

Politicized justice

Andrew McCarthy writes:
David Petraeus, the former top U.S. military commander and CIA director, is reportedly being permitted by the Obama Justice Department to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in order to end the criminal investigation into his mishandling of highly classified information. It is just another example of Obama’s hyper-politicized administration of justice: One set of rules for government insiders like Petraeus, another set for most Americans, and a third — law as a weapon — for use against Obama’s political detractors and scapegoats.

...Had he not negotiated a plea, Petraeus should have been charged in a multi-count indictment. If he wanted to dispose of the case without a trial that would have further disgraced him, he should have been required to plead guilty to at least one felony count and to have admitted his lies to government officials — misrepresentations that, under the sentencing guidelines that apply to people who don’t get special treatment, instruct judges to impose a term of incarceration.

McCarthy goes on here to detail the criminal acts of Petraeus, then concludes,
General Petraeus served his country with courage and distinction. That record certainly should have weighed in his favor . . . at sentencing. His deliberate and reprehensible criminal conduct, however, cried out for a felony prosecution. That it was treated instead as a trifling misdemeanor is another shameful chapter in the Obama legacy of politicized justice.

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