Trump and the MAGA wingnuts are hystericl screeching about Hillary Clinton’s emails again so it’s worth reminding everyone what it actually was about and comparing it to Trump’s bizarre classified documents case:
The obvious comparison that Republicans have, and will, make to Trump’s predicament is Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. The email server became a public controversy during her 2016 presidential campaign against Trump, with his rally crowds chanting “Lock her up,” a sentiment Trump said he was “starting to agree with” in July 2016. Trump ally Alex Jones sold “Hillary for prison” T-shirts.
The initial investigation into Clinton’s private email server revealed classified information had been shared in upwards of 2,000 email chains stored on the server. In making the server a campaign issue, Trump promised to enforce the law.
“In my administration, I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information,” Trump said in August 2016. “No one will be above the law.”
Trump’s repeated attacks on Clinton and promises of upholding the rule of law are cited in the indictment against him as evidence that he knew about the importance of enforcing the proper handling of classified information.
The investigation into Clinton’s private email server crescendoed when FBI Director James Comey’s July 2016 statement that although Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” no charges would be filed because “our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
Comey used such prosecutorial discretion because there was no evidence Clinton or her aides failed to turn over documents or that the server was set up to receive classified information and retain it and that there was little evidence that the documents deemed to be classified were properly marked as such when they were sent and received in her email.
A Justice Department inspector general’s report on the investigation and the agency’s handling of it was released in June 2018, revealing that none of the emails contained clear classification markers as required under executive rules.
Just three email chains “contained any classification markings of any kind,” according to the IG report. The classified documents in these three chains were “call sheets” marked with the lowest priority of classification, providing reminders and talking points on scheduled calls between Clinton and foreign leaders.
It was also difficult for prosecutors to determine if Clinton and her aides intended to receive and retain classified information because the State Department’s email oversight and retention practices had been so poor for years that her actions were just normal practice.
Two State Department reviews conducted under Trump’s secretaries of state, Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo, also found that Clinton bore no “individual culpability” for any “spillage” of classified information and there was “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.”
Four investigations revealed that Clinton did not have forethought in her retention of classified information, just three of the emails on her server were even marked as classified when they were received and she complied with the Justice Department’s investigation fully. This is almost the exact opposite of what Trump is alleged to have done.
There’s more at the link comparing the Biden and Pence cases. And this Fact Check by Daniel Dale on Trump’s stupid claim that Biden has stashed 1850 boxes of classified documents is also informative.(Hint: they’re Senate papers held at the University of Delaware under he same rules and laws that govern all Senate records. Trump is full of shit as usual.)
The “whataboutism” is rampant and I’m sue it will have a political effect. Just look at this garbage — and he’s supposed to beone of the moderates:
Luckily the whole panel was shocked at his inane attempt to have it both ways. This is the correct response:
It’ the GOP “moderates'” job to clean up their party. And they refuse to do it.