Former Navy sailor pardoned by Trump says he’s suing Comey and Obama
Fox News News reports a former Navy sailor is planning to file a lawsuit against Obama administration officials, charging that he was subject to unequal protection of the law.
Former First Class Petty Officer Kristian Saucier served a year in federal prison for taking photos of classified sections of the submarine on which he worked, and claims that the same officials who meted out punishment to him for his actions were lenient with Hillary Clinton for using a private email server for handling classified information.
His lawyer, Ronald Daigle, told Fox News on Monday that the lawsuit, which he expects to file soon in Manhattan, will name the U.S. Department of Justice, former FBI Director James Comey and former President Barack Obama as defendants, among others.
“They interpreted the law in my case to say it was criminal,” Saucier told Fox News, referring to prosecuting authorities in his case, “but they didn’t prosecute Hillary Clinton. Hillary is still walking free. Two guys on my ship did the same thing and weren’t treated as criminals. We want them to correct the wrong.”
“We’ll highlight the differences in the way Hillary Clinton was prosecuted and how my client was prosecuted,” Daigle said. “We’re seeking to cast a light on this to show that there’s a two-tier justice system and we want it to be corrected.”
Saucier, who lives in Vermont, pleaded guilty in 2016 to taking photos inside the USS Alexandria while it was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, in 2009. He said he only wanted service mementos, but federal prosecutors argued he was a disgruntled sailor who had put national security at risk by taking photos showing the submarine’s propulsion system and reactor compartment and then obstructed justice by destroying a laptop and camera.
Saucier said that he recognized he had erred in taking the photos, which he said he wanted to show only to his family to show them where he worked. But he lashed out at Obama officials, saying that his prosecution was politically motivated, prompted by sensitivity about classified information amid the scandal involving Clinton’s emails.
“My case was usually something handled by military courts,” he said. “They used me as an example because of [the backlash over] Hillary Clinton.”
Saucier, 31, said that the pardon has enabled him to pick up the pieces and rebuild his life with his wife and young daughter.
Well, good for him. He screwed the pooch and paid the price, no sympathy here. That being said, I wish him well in in his endeavors to expose the double standards that currently exist between the hoi polli and the elites. 30,000+ subpoenaed emails destroyed? Cankles McPantsuit has some ‘splainin’ to do.
Category: Navy, Reality Check
He’ll get as far as if he pissed into a hurricane.
No sympathy for what he did, double standards or not.
Absolutely agree.
I also agree. We nukes all knew from day 1 not to ever do this. One of my CO’s couldn’t get permission to have re-enlistment pictures taken for one of my fellow crew members even with the background area “scrubbed” of possible classified items. To hell with this guy – he needs to STFU and move along.
I think they eventually published 1 or 2 of the pics he took.
What I want to know is, if he did in fact get pics inside the RC, how the FUCK did he get the phone in, and more importantly, get it out past the Control Point?
^ This!
+1
He knew it was wrong and paid for it, tough dodo and he got what he deserved.
Agree, no sympathy for him, but he’s 100% right that a double standard existed… IMHO, the only wrong that needs to be corrected is Cankles needs to be fitted for an orange jumpsuit..
Indeed.
One of my numerous cousins (Irish family; there’s lots of us) is stationed at Fort Hood and has a security clearance. I once asked him about Hildabeast’s shenanigans with classified documents. His reply: “They very specifically said that I can be shot if I pull that shit.”
Gee, some of us knew without being told that you don’t do stuff like that. He knew better, but did it anyway. So he gets punished for doing something enormously stupid.
And then shrillary does the same thing and gets away with it, but gets off scot-free.
No sympathy for him for doing something very stupid, but he’s correct in the double standard and that cow needs to be prosecuted in a very, very expensive manner, along with her former boss.
I hate to be critical, but the comparo of his conduct of taking a few photos for his eyes only is not compararable to the Hildabeast massive security violations. And the reason she did it was for her own personal convenience and to hide her gov’t emails from anyone outside her circle of corrupt bootlickers. Somehow, I don’t think the sailor’s photos had the ability to get our intel assets exposed and executed.
Somehow, I don’t think you know enough about his photos to be able to judge whether they had the ability to get our intel assets exposed. Your comment seems to be a weak attempt to excuse his actions. I worked with highly classified Navy data, and any breach of security needs to be fully prosecuted. Taking photos of any area of a Navy submarine, whether classified or not, isn’t just a small lapse of judgement, it’s a total disregard for Navy security protocol. He placed his shipmates at risk. He broke the law. He deserved his sentence.
So did Hillary and about a dozen of her sycophants, only about times 2,000. What happened to her prosecution? Comey and the past regime said no crime because she didn’t specifically intend to harm national security. That is the point his attorney is making, although, his lawsuit won’t likely go anywhere.
What I do know is that the inside of a submarine does not display the information on foreign intel assets (people) working for us in top secret SAP documents, stuff that can’t be looked at outside of a SCIF. But Hillary had some of that info illegally copied into her unsecure private email and then had her foreign national maid print it out at her residence.
It seems like you’re wanting those foreign intel assets (people) to be more important to national security than active-duty US Navy servicemembers who are also (people). I mean, it’s as if you’re saying that the inside of a submarine isn’t as important because it doesn’t contain (people). Exposing the classified data on one submarine of the class, the class containing 35 boats, each with a crew of around 110, puts not just this one boat, but over 3500 sailors directly in jeopardy, even if you don’t include the (people) that this class of submarine is designed to protect.
rgr769’s point seems to be that security breeches should all be prosecuted. Instead, some people are once again proven to be above the law.
But yes, some security breeches are worse than others.
If anyone here suggested that Saucier should have been allowed to skate on his violations, I missed it. Quite the opposite has been said repeatedly.
What I hear mostly coming from the choir is that his punishment was appropriate while others received no punishment at all for more serous breeches of security. That also seems to be the point that Saucier is making with this lawsuit.
“Two guys on my ship did the same thing and weren’t treated as criminals.”
Phuk him, his lawyer, and his case.
That lawsuit will be tossed out so fast his head will spin.
Yeah, I hear that the “selective prosecution” argument (e.g., “others did the same or worse but didn’t get punished”) generally doesn’t get much traction if/when it’s raised in court. Most people find out that argument is worthless and quit using it before they graduate from high school.
On the other hand, I quite clearly recall the order to never speak of, nor photo or render images of the reticle in the M1 Abrams, under threat of UCMJ and all sorts of evil terror that would be bestowed upon the hapless Sad Sack that would do such a grievous affront to the good ‘ol US of A.
So instead, the world watched all about the wonders of the M1 sights and capabilities of the armor and main gun…..on the History channel.
Our enemies haven’t needed an intelligence service for the last 30 years to learn all our TTPs, just a basic cable subscription.
If the enemy wanted to know about our troop movements or when and where we were going to attack all they had to do was watch Geraldo or the former White House resident’s press briefings.
Nothing new…I remember when some intel analysts used the stories in Stars &Stripes to put together a more accurate TO&E of US units in Europe than the Pentagon published.
Shit, my eyes got truly opened on my first Westpac.
Supposedly, submarine movements on deployment are classified SECRET.
We pulled into Subic for a stores load/PERSTRANS. The Filipino stevodores knew EVERY port call we were going to make for the next four months, down to the dates.
And damned if they weren’t right. Even the crew didn’t have the knowledge they did.
Still didn’t give us the right to blab our movements.
Sounds like your crew may not have known, but your senior leadership and a gent by the name of Fat Leonard did.
This was way before Fat Leonard time.
Subic was still open then (over 30 years ago.)
Shit, the Hey Joe’s they’d bring aboard during port visits in the Med, would leave their shit aboard if we had short at-sea periods…then meet us at the next port, and sell their wares again on the fwd mess decks. MARDET was tasked with guarding the stuff. (Carriers) I don’t think ship’s movements have ever been secret.
There has always been a Fat Leonard… and unfortunately there probably will always be Fat Leonards and those that would trade secrets for cash. Although he may actually be thin, short, tall, stocky, or even a she. There have been cases of individuals lining their pockets as long as there have been wars. So I’m sure 30+ years ago someone else was trading those tips for tricks… they just never got caught.
After three decades in the defense electronics industry I would tend to agree. A lot of it is at a much lower level involving such mundane things as janitorial services etc.
Or have a subscription to Jane’s.
The guy was thrown a life preserver and now he wants to throw it back.
I would like to think he is doing it to bring more heat upon the “elite” but I’m pretty sure he is doing it for fame and fortune.
Will not and should not end well.
while this is probably true, he could not have picked a better time to do so; best case, it’s a news story heading into the midterms under a president that bears no love for she who shall not be named. worst case, the case dies an ignoble death after spotlighting the differences in prosecutions. either way, attention is drawn to the subject, and all that’s left to decide is if he falls on his sword again.
the kid does have a point about the timing and magnitude of his case in relation to the servers, however. that also needs to be explored.
I understand wanting to take momento photos. but there have to be other areas to get your pictures on a nuc boat than sensitive areas like propulsion. you can’t get off on that, dickhead – you *knew* better.
Son, press on with your life. The only one benefitting here is your lawyer – even if it is only for media coverage
These two things can be true at the same time:
1. Hillary Clinton broke the law and should have been prosecuted.
2. Kristian Saucier broke the law and was appropriately prosecuted and got what he deserved.
Just because someone else did something wrong and got away with it does not make it okay for you to do something wrong. That’s a basic lesson most of us learned at our mother’s knee.
Saucier should have just said “thanks for the pardon” and then got on with his life.
Here’s a Jane Q. Public perspective, which I offer timidly to my betters…
I both understand and agree with the different spanks for different ranks in many ways, but this is about more than that. Did he fornicate Fido? Yeppers, and he got the punishment such transgressions earn.
The way I read this, his case was handled in a different way because there was a political point to be made. It doesn’t exonerate him, but I would think everyone here – and everyone who ever honorably wore the uniform – would be up in arms over politicizing a UCMJ prosecution.
I hope he gets his day in court. Even if he does, we’ll have to search for it because I do not believe any mainstream media will cover it due to it’s implications.
No one here is your better, Denise W, all opinions are welcome. As long as you mind the very broad guidelines mentioned in the TAH FNG FAQ tab, which really are nothing more than common courtesy, you’ll be fine.
AW1Ed-
respectfully, I disagree. All who served honorably are my betters. I am just a grateful civilian. A veteran is an evolved civilian. In case you forget it, I’ll remind you. Every. Damn. Time.
My only possible reply to that is, Aye Aye, Ma’am.
The only reason this dumbass received a Pardon or commutation is BECAUSE of what HRC did.
Count your blessings, and get on with your life dummy.
Nail those government cock knockers to a barn door, Sailor.