WhatFinger

Why so shy, Bryan?

Fox News: Hillary IT crony Pagliano takes Fifth more than 125 times in Judicial Watch deposition



I guess he really needed that immunity deal. I guess there must have been some hella lawbreaking going on in HillaryWorld. How else do you explain why a guy who's already been told by a judge that he can't take the Fifth just because he doesn't feel like answering questions, but can only do so to legitimately protect himself against self-incrimination, nevertheless does so 125 times in a discovery deposition? That's what Bryan Pagliano, who set up Hillary's schlock, homebrew e-mail server in her home in Chappaqua, New York, did in a Wednesday deposition - which was conducted as part of an open records lawsuit by Judicial Watch. Pretty much no matter what they asked, Bryan ain't talking. Fox News's Catherine Herridge has been all over this:
Hillary Clinton IT specialist Bryan Pagliano invoked the Fifth more than 125 times during a 90-minute, closed-door deposition Wednesday with the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, a source with the group told Fox News. The official said Pagliano was working off an index card and read the same crafted statement each time. “It was a sad day for government transparency,” the Judicial Watch official said, adding they asked all their questions and Pagliano invoked the Fifth Amendment right not to answer them. Pagliano was a central figure in the set-up and management of Clinton’s personal server she used exclusively for government business while secretary of state. The State Department inspector general found Clinton violated government rules with that arrangement. He was deposed as part of Judicial Watch's lawsuit seeking Clinton emails and other records. A federal judge granted discovery, in turn allowing the depositions, which is highly unusual in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The judge cited "reasonable suspicion" Clinton and her aides were trying to avoid federal records law.

Huma Abedin is next to be deposed. That should be good. But back to Pagliano, I'm very curious to see the questions he refused to answer. If all he did was set up the server for Hillary, it's not obvious to me where the criminality comes in. I get that he was on the State Department's payroll and was apparently moonlighting at the time by doing this personal IT work for Hillary as well. That's probably against government policy but it doesn't sound like a criminal matter. The Judicial Watch suit is all about violating the Freedom of Information Act, so a reasonable extrapolation would be that Hillary asked Pagliano to set up the server in such a way that it would aid her avoiding FOIA exposure. That was the whole idea, and she needed him to design it for just that purpose. Now just because he took the Fifth 125 times doesn't mean he committed 125 crimes. Judicial Watch's lawyers might have been trying multiple different angles to get at the same facts, only to have Pagliano respond each time by reading the invocation of the Fifth that had apparently been written out for him on an index card. But we do know this; Pagliano sought and received an immunity deal from the Justice Department. And Pagliano is continually taking the Fifth in depositions for a lawsuit in which the immunity deal may or may not protect him. These are not the actions of a man who is confident he's done nothing wrong. They're the actions of a man who knows he's in serious legal jeopardy. And for what? For the manner in which he assisted the presumptive Democrat nominee for president with her e-mail needs. How can that be possible if there was nothing untoward here? It can't.

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Dan Calabrese——

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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