Do Two Legal Systems Exist – One for Conservatives and One for Liberals?

by: Jeremy Frankel 
Much of the last election cycle revolved around the scandal regarding Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton using an illegal private, unsecured email server to handle classified information while Secretary of State, which is a violation of many laws, including the Espionage Act. Violations of this egregious and dangerous nature should result in enormous jail time, but the FBI refused to indict her on these charges, despite her enumerable lies regarding her lack of intent and “gross negligence.”  

Be that as it may, while Clinton ultimately lost the election to President Donald Trump, it should not exonerate her for her crimes. We shall wait and see what happens regarding Clinton’s mishandling of classified information and if she gets away with her crimes she gets indicted.
Meanwhile, we have a similar case, albeit on a much smaller scale. A Navy sailor named Kristian Saucier, aged 29, who was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill on August 20th, 2016 to one year in prison, six months of home confinement following his release, 100 hours of community service and a $100 fine for taking six pictures of submarine USS Alexandria’s classified nuclear propulsion system with his own phone for his own personal use in 2009. He has also been banned from owning firearms, according to the Washington Times. He has sit in the Federal Medical Center at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, since his sentence started in October.

Saucier’s case, comparatively, an overly harsh sentence, considering Clinton’s enumerable crimes with little legal backlash and former President Barack Obama’s inexplicable pardon of Chelsea Manning, who leaked classified information about our soldiers’ whereabouts in Afghanistan, putting them in grave danger.
Thankfully, we now have a new administration who cares deeply about the military, and, as such, according to Fox News, Saucier has sought a pardon from Trump. As a candidate for President, Trump often would cite the Saucier case as unjust. Saucier’s attorney, Ronald Daigle, told Fox News that he met with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security advisor, about the Saucier case, and submitted a pardon request at Flynn’s request. Daigle believes that politics played a role in the overly harsh sentence that didn’t fit the crime, even after arguing for leniency by citing the FBI’s decision regarding its decision on Clinton regarding her mishandling of classified information. Greg Rinkley, another attorney representing Saucier, stated that the sentence for Saucier for his actions, compared to the crimes committed by Clinton and Clinton aide Huma Abedin, “smacks of two types of justice systems in the United States.”

Daigle hopes that Saucier receives a pardon from Trump that would both commute his sentence and erase his conviction from his record. I sincerely hope President Trump, a patriot who truly respects the country and its military, gives Saucier the pardon he deserves.