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For decades, the late J. Edgar Hoover led a charmed life as director of the FBI. In some ways he was the most powerful man in Washington.
Hoover wanted people to believe he had files on everyone, most of them containing secrets powerful people didn't want to be revealed.
Because the politicians knew Hoover possessed embarrassing information on many people, no one was quite certain whether they were in his index. That allowed Hoover to remain in power even when people who would have loved dearly to fire him had the ability, technically, at least, to do so -- but didn't dare take the risk.
Hillary Clinton, the Democrat candidate for president, has just been let off the hook by current FBI Director James Comey. He has made it clear that while secretary of state, Clinton put national security at risk through her use of personal email servers that processed a large amount of classified information.
But Comey says the FBI will not recommend charges be filed against Clinton because, in effect, she didn't mean to put secret material in jeopardy of being seen by computer hackers working for the nation's enemies.
Under the law, that is no excuse, of course.
Lots of people have been charged with crimes for breaking the rules on government secrets, though it was clear they did not mean to do harm.
So what makes Clinton special? Obviously, the possibility she may be the next president of the United States.
On Monday, the FBI released Comey's 2,305-word statement on the investigation of Clinton and her emails. In it, Comey noted thousands of hours were put into the probe. He added that FBI agents read every one of the about 30,000 emails to and from the former secretary of state that were handled with private servers -- and that were available. Many of the messages had to be reconstructed because attempts had been made to delete them. Agents found fragments of many messages they were not able to reconstruct.
All that was boiled down to a summary. What it disclosed was bad enough, that Clinton and others at the State Department had been incredibly irresponsible in their handling of secret material -- and that, clearly, attempts were made to cover up the extent of their misdeeds.
But what else did the FBI find? What "dirt" unrelated to the official investigation -- limited, remember, to how the emails were handled -- does Comey have in his possession? What other than classified material did the agents find in those 30,000 messages to and from Clinton?
If you're Clinton, this thought has to be in your mind: Comey has said some emails she thought were destroyed have been reconstructed. Which ones? Clinton is in the unpleasant position of knowing Comey has information she didn't want him to have, but not knowing just how much she should be worried.
It is not just Clinton who has reason for concern. Many other people in Washington and outside of it in the Clintons' circle of influence should be fearful of Comey.
If they were not bright enough to understand that on their own, the FBI director issued a few blunt, threatening reminders in his statement. He noted that as part of the probe, agents reviewed "the archived government email accounts of people who had been government employees at the same time as Secretary Clinton, including high-ranking officials at other agencies …"
What juicy tidbits were found in those examinations? That's for Comey to know -- and lots of people to lose sleep over.
Then there was this: "To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who engaged in this activity would face no consequences. … But that is not what we are deciding now (my emphasis)."
There is, of course, always what someone may decide later, regardless of whether Clinton or Donald Trump becomes our next president.
Somewhere, J. Edgar Hoover is smiling.
Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.