DID THE F.B.I. VIOLATE THE HATCH ACT AND HUMA ABEDINS FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS?

     The F.B.I. director, James Comey, recently sent a letter to Congress saying that emails had been found that may pertain to Secretary Clinton's handling of classified information, and he was going to look into them. Read the letter in here: 

Dear Messrs Chairmen:

In previous congressional testimony, l referred to the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had completed its investigation of former Secretary Clinton's personal email server. Due to recent developments, I am writing to supplement my previous testimony.

In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.

Although the FBI cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant, and I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work, I believe it is important to update your Committees about our efforts in light of my previous testimony.

Sincerely yours,
James B. Comey

     This after, last July the F.B.I. director had stated that Secretary Clinton's actions were careless, but did not recommend that she be prosecuted for that carelessness. The F.B.I. director then sends an email to the F.B.I. employees explaining his action: 

     Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.  At the same time, however, given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.  In trying to strike that balance, in a brief letter and in the middle of an election season, there is significant risk of being misunderstood, but I wanted you to hear directly from me about it.  - The Washington Post.

     After the F.B.I. director sent the letter to congress informing them of the F.B.I. looking into new emails, many questions were raised, such as, did F.B.I. director Comey violate the Hatch act? Did the F.B.I. violate the fourth amendment?

First, what is the Hatch act? 

     "The Hatch Act, also known as An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is designed to prevent members of the federal government who do not have explicitly political roles — like the president or vice-president — from engaging in political activity." - The Washington Post.

     So, did the F.B.I. director violate the Hatch act? No, I don't think he did. Just because the F.B.I. director is a Republican, it does not mean he is not professional enough to separate his politics from his job. If he went before Congress wearing a "vote for Trump" button, then yes, he would have. He didn't.

     Did the F.B.I. violate Huma Abedines fourth amendment right? First of all, what is the fourth amendment?     

"the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." 

The F.B.I. was looking into Anthony Weiner's (Abedin's husband) computer for proof that he was being dirty to a 15 year old. We think that the F.B.I. had a right to look for proof of Weiner's creepiness, not Abedin's professional emails. As you can see in the fourth amendment, looking at everything in the computer not related to Anthony Weiner and his creepy behavior, is unconstitutional. 

     I want to make clear, I'm not a lawyer. I just enjoy reading the news. These are just my opinions, which the articles below helped me form. Some of this is just copy pasted on here from those articles. The Washington Post and The New York Times definitely earn their shared title "the paper of record." I hope this has been helpful. 
     




https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/07/17/do-you-work-in-government-have-you-violated-the-hatch-act-lets-investigate/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/10/28/read-the-letter-comey-sent-to-fbi-employees-explaining-his-controversial-decision-on-the-clinton-email-investigation/?utm_term=.0582064cd097

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/28/comey-letter-text/92907470/

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourth_amendment

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/10/30/was-it-legal-for-the-fbi-to-expand-the-weiner-email-search-to-target-hillary-clintons-emails/?utm_term=.03c808abe86c