Lawyers representing a Navy shipman convicted of mishandling government secrets reminded a federal judge last week of the leniency recently afforded to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, arguing that their client should receive similar considerations.
Kristian Saucier could face more than six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized collection of defense secrets. He was found to be in possession of six photos depicting classified compartments of a US nuclear submarine that he once served aboard.
The six images, Saucier’s lawyers noted in their filing, are “far less than [Hillary] Clinton’s 110 emails,” which were also of a classified nature and improperly retained on a personal device she used as Secretary of State.
“It will be unjust and unfair for Mr. Saucier to receive and sentence other than probation for a crime those more powerful than him will likely avoid,” the attorneys argued on Friday, at a federal court in Connecticut.
FBI Director James Comey revealed last month that agents had found 110 classified emails that were improperly sent and received on the private server Clinton used during her time as Secretary of State. Comey determined, however, that it was unlikely Clinton intended to break the law and recommended no criminal charges be filed.
He did reprimand Clinton and her aides for acting “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive information.”
In Saucier’s case, his lawyers noted that the government did not have to prove harmful intent, and only had to show that the sailor had “unauthorized possession” of government secrets—a lower bar than in Secretary Clinton’s matter.
They added that their client “neither passed the photos or disclosed their contents to any unauthorized recipient nor ever attempted to do so.” In his guilty plea, Saucier said he took the pictures out of “misguided desire” to one day show his future children “what he did while he was in the Navy.”
During a July hearing, Chairman of the House Oversight Government Reform Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) accused Director Comey of setting a “dangerous precedent” by not recommending charges against the former Secretary of State.
“If your name isn’t Clinton or you’re not part of the powerful elite, Lady Justice will act differently,” he charged. “It’s a concern that Lady Justice will take off that blindfold and come to a different conclusion.”
Other elites, too, have attempted to use the Clinton email affair as a precedent in dealing with their own legal troubles.
Lawyers for the GOP presidential nominee, Donald Trump, asked a US district judge last month to keep sealed videotape featuring the businessman being deposed for more than ten hours in a class-action lawsuit against his now-shuttered Trump University.
They cited a recent court decision in Washington that blocked public access to recorded depositions of Clinton’s aides testifying about the Secretary’s email system.
“We have an almost identical situation that just came up in the Hillary Clinton email case,” Trump’s legal team had argued.
The court ultimately agreed to keep the Trump deposition under seal.
