Lawyer: Hillary Committed Felony if She Signed Disclosure FormWednesday, 11 Mar 2015 10:13 PM Hillary Clinton said in a press conference on Tuesday that, "I fully complied with every rule that I was governed by" when serving as secretary of state. But a Washington lawyer says that's not true if she signed the OF-109 form required of every State Department official, including the secretary, upon leaving office. The form states that the signer has "surrendered to responsible officials all unclassified documents and papers relating to the official business of the government acquired while in the employ of the federal government." Signing and not complying constitutes a false statement and is a felony, punishable by fines and/or prison time, said Shannen Coffin, a former assistant deputy U.S. attorney general, on Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File." Clinton did not surrender her emails until two years after she left office. "She didn't comply with the Federal Records Act," Coffin said. "And she clearly did not comply with her own records management handbook for the Department of State, which sets out a very specific process about how you remove records from the department's control." Those rules require an exiting employee to "prepare an inventory of personal papers and nonrecord materials that you are proposing for removal" and then "request a review of those materials that you've proposed for removal." A records official then sorts through through all records, including emails, at the time of departure to determine what is public and what is private, Coffin said. The form itself warns that making a false statement is prosecutable, he said. "Making a false statement in this context knowingly and willfully – which I can't imagine anything more knowing and willful than knowing you have 55,000 records sitting in your home – if you do that, it is a felony punishable under 18 U.S.C 1001," Coffin said. Coffin also wrote about the issue at National Review. Related Stories:
© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved. http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/hillary-clinton-disclosing-records-form/2015/03/11/id/629656 |