Former Navy Sailor Pardoned by Trump Sues Obama Admin

A former Navy sailor who received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Monday against several Obama administration officials for allegedly giving him unequal protection under the law when they gave former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a pass for the same offense he received a prison sentence for.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Albany, New York, claimed that the Obama administration harshly prosecuted former Navy sailor Kristian Saucier for mishandling classified information while going easy on Clinton for committing a much more serious violation of the same offense.

Saucier’s lawsuit lists several Obama administration officials involved with the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information on private email servers.

Among those listed are former President Barack Obama, former FBI Director James Comey, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch,  former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and FBI agent Peter Strzok, who led the investigation into Clinton’s email account.

Saucier claimed that Obama administration officials used him as a scapegoat when they found themselves in hot water for not aggressively going after Clinton hosting classified information on private email servers.

“The U.S. Constitution clearly states that all citizens are born with inalienable rights to be free from persecution by the government,” Saucier said. “My conviction and subsequent sentence for a minor military infraction compared to the treatment of politically connected individuals is a glaring example of a violation of the rights of all Americans to have equal protection under the law.”

The former Navy sailor pleaded guilty in 2016 to mishandling classified information for taking six cellphone photos of a classified engine room aboard the USS Alexandria in 2009 while it was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, and served 12 months in federal prison. Trump pardoned Saucier in March after he had completed his sentence.

The former Navy sailor is representing himself in court after the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court in New York suspended his lawyer, Ronald Daigle, from practicing for a year.