Hillary Clinton stunned the world when she got away with the gross mishandling of classified information through her use of a private email. Yet former FBI General Counsel James Baker sought to have Clinton charged for her crimes.

Baker explained how he saw enough evidence to charge Clinton for violations of the Espionage Act. He was under the assumption that this is how events would unfold until his former boss, FBI Director James Comey, announced that Clinton would not face charges.

Baker’s own position on the matter only changed after heated discussions with senior bureau colleagues, which included Comey. Baker stated that he had “argued with others about why they thought she shouldn’t be charged.”

The former FBI counsel lamented that he was ultimately persuaded not to pursue charges as the evidence was insufficient.

“I had that belief initially after reviewing, you know, a large binder of her emails that had classified information in them. And I discussed it internally with a number of different folks and eventually became persuaded that charging her was not appropriate because we could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt — we, the government, could not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that she had the intent necessary to violate (the law)….”

While it’s now in the past it’s unfortunate that Baker was so outnumbered as to allow Clinton to go free. If there’s any silver lining it’s that at least Clinton is being watched harder than ever.