Fmr. Top DOJ Official: Clinton Likely Committed ‘Biggest Violation of Federal Records Act in History’

Dan Metcalfe was the Founding Director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy (1981-2007). Metcalfe was essentially “the federal government’s chief information-disclosure ‘guru.'”

When most people hear the phrase, “violates the law,” or “is contrary to law,” or perhaps even the word “unlawful,” they tend to think that the conduct involved is a violation of some criminal law for which there are criminal penalties. But some laws and legal obligations are only civil in nature, for which there exist only monetary or administrative sanctions at best. Such is the case with federal records laws such as the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act, which govern the conduct of federal employees and officials, even that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

What’s more, the civil sanctions provided in these laws can be applied only to people who still remain federal employees at the time at which their violation is discovered and acted upon. In other words, if you violate these laws and then leave government service quickly enough, you are beyond the reach of their penalties. Indeed, a common refrain among political appointees during the latter part of the George W. Bush Administration was: “That’s OK, because by the time anyone finds out about it, we’ll be long gone.”

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