By Debbie Schlussel

Both Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus should do serious jail time for mishandling and improperly possessing classified information and risking America’s national security. But, sadly, neither will. And, yet, Larry Franklin was initially sentenced to 12.5 years in jail for it. Jonathan Pollard still rots there.

Mrs. Clinton lives a life of luxury. So does Petraeus. And yet Franklin was set to go to jail for it, served 10 months in a halfway house, and was forced to dig ditches and clean bathrooms for a living. Franklin was warning Israel about the Iranian threat, though. And, so, the Bush Administration prosecuted him. It’s a tale of double standards.

I’ve been galled over the last two weeks as both former General Petraues and Mrs. Clinton got away with what you or I would be prosecuted for.

According to news stories, Mrs. Clinton had all kinds of classified information stored in e-mails she sent through private e-mail on a private server. As Secretary of State, she likely would have had access to information on which employees at U.S. Embassies were really CIA spies. She might even know the details of covert operations and security missions of those CIA spies. If those agents were from the State Department’s own agents–a lesser-known group of federal agents–she definitely would have had details of their operations and missions. And all of that likely went through her private e-mail server, all improper and all illegal.

Oh, and all ready and able to be hacked into, despite Mrs. Clinton’s laughable claim that the Secret Service was physically guarding the server. Um, did someone tell her hacking is like robbery or home invasion, and you need to be there to do it? Also, do you really believe a Secret Service agent was guarding the doors of Mrs. Clinton’s private server? Uh-huh. I’m sure that happened. Guy at the bar: “Hey, baby, I’m a Secret Service Agent. But, don’t worry, I’ll never take a bullet, ‘cuz I’m the guy who guards that bitch Hillary Clinton’s server.”

Over the weekend, the Clintonistas–reeling from a week of bad PR–announced that in a frantic effort, Mrs. Clinton’s private staffers were going through more e-mails from her private e-mail address, and finding more e-mails pertaining to State Department business, which they were turning over to the federal government. Um, who are these Clintonista staffers going through the e-mails and viewing this classified information? Do they have security clearance? Or are they recent college grads who chose the tarnished “glamor” of Clintondom over better pay and benefits at Starbucks? More likely the latter than the former. And it’s yet another national security hazard in play at Clinton Adventureland.

Hillary Clinton should be indicted for this. She took classified evidence home and she took it around the world and a lot of mysterious places by putting it in a private e-mail account on a private server. She should serve jail time. But it’ll never happen. She skates every time, more lives than a cat. Oh, and she did this for self-interest, not any important cause, like helping our allies or doing what’s in America’s best interest. So all the more reason that she’ll get away with it. This isn’t about State Department policies, which she broke, and the law that was enacted after the fact (or in the middle of it), against federal officials using private e-mail accounts for federal business. It’s about the law that’s been in place for decades–against taking home and disseminating classified info via private servers and private e-mail to unauthorized third parties.

Oh, and don’t forget that one of Hillary’s staffers–her key staffer, in fact–Muslim Brotherhood associate Huma Abedin was collecting illegal dual salaries at the time of Hillary’s dual e-mail addresses. Huma got a State Department salary and one from Teneo, a “consulting firm” with mysterious “investors.” Teneo gave “information about the government” to its customers. Who were those customers and who were the investors? Which e-mail addresses did Huma use when “consulting” with them? And is Huma one of Hillary’s staffers who is now going through the e-mails? Did Hillary write to any Teneo customers while using her “private server” and are these considered “private e-mails” that will never be turned over?

By the way, some of Mrs. Clinton’s e-mails containing classified information are “lost”–somewhere on the internet or on a server somewhere, only to be recovered by who knows whom or to show up when. Attention, Islamic terrorists . . . .

And, then, there is David Petraeus. As you probably know from recent news stories, Petraeus had several “little black books.” They didn’t contain the names of paramours and their sex acts. Far worse, they contained a lot of super top secret, classified information, including the names and details of covert operations and the details of undercover American operatives overseas. Petraeus improperly and illegally took these books home. And he kept them, even after he was deposed from his position atop the CIA. And he gave the black books to his mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell, authoratrix of the ironically-titled “All In.” Then, under questioning by FBI agents, Petraeus lied and denied having the books. He also lied again, denying that he gave these books and the classified information contained therein to Paula Broadwell.

We’re lucky that Ms. Broadwell isn’t secretly an Islamic terrorist operative or working for the Chinese or the North Koreans. It’s certainly possible someone could have taken advantage of Mr. Petraeus’ lascivious and extremely risky ways. Regardless of who Ms. Broadwell was, David Petraeus took tremendous risks with America’s national security and put other Americans’ lives at risk, all because he was thinking with his penis. And, for that, he deserved jail time. But he won’t. He’ll skate.

As you probably know from reading the stories, Petraeus will merely serve probation. And, now, he’s serving as the high-paid adviser to a venture capital firm. He lives the life. And you get to read about it.

But if you or I did what Petraeus or Mrs. Clinton did, we’d serve time. Anyone else would. Just ask Larry Franklin, a righteous guy who went to jail for far less, and who did what he did for the right reasons. As you may recall during the Bush Administration, the Bush Justice Department prosecuted two American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC–the American pro-Israel lobby) staffers and a Defense Department employee. Michelle Fraudkin shrieked about the “spies for Israel” all over her website in at least NINE! different posts (and then Daniel Pipes made excuses for her to me). So did anti-Israel, Grover Norquist butt-licker Ed Morrissey, whom Malkin then promptly hired to run her Hot Air site.

So, here’s what happened with Franklin. Larry Franklin was the Pentagon’s Iran analyst during the Bush Administration. Pursuant to binding treaties between the United States and Israel on intelligence gathering and sharing, the Bush Administration had the legal responsibility and obligation to hand over to Israel certain intelligence on Iran. But, instead of doing what it was supposed to do, the Bush Pentagon didn’t. Franklin showed a report on Iran (reportedly its growing nuclear threat) to two AIPAC staffers, who passed it on to the Israeli Embassy and the press. He also reportedly leaked information on a bad deal the Bush Administration was negotiating with the Iranians for the release of two Al-Qaeda officials held in Tehran.

The FBI and Bush Justice Department were looking to go after Jews and the pro-Israel lobby to pander to whining Muslims and “balance out” their anemic efforts to root out Islamic terrorists in our midst after 9/11. Franklin discussed the incredible anti-Semitism communicated to him by the FBI agents investigating him and looking for “spies for Israel” in the Pentagon in an interesting interview with the Forward.

Franklin was initially sentenced to 12.5 years in federal prison for this. Instead, to avoid prison, he agreed to set up an FBI sting against the two AIPAC staffers. (He says he felt betrayed by the AIPAC because he did not want the report on Iran made public, only communicated to the Israelis and the National Security Council.) The charges against the AIPAC staffers were dropped. They feds had no case. And Franklin, who’d pleaded guilty for his deal, had to spend 10 months in a halfway house, do 100 hours of community service, and was forced to clean bathrooms in his church and mop floors at a Roy Rogers location.

This is what Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus should be doing for putting classified information at risk. They knew better . . . but they did it anyway.

A nice jaunt in a halfway house and cleaning some urinals would be appropriate for both.

Sadly, instead of doing time, they are laughing at you all the way to the bank. And in Hillary’s case, probably all the way to the White House.

She’s betting this scandal, too, like all the others, shall pass. And that’s a good bet.