When former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was caught using her personal email to conduct business as the nation’s top diplomat, it set off a firestorm of controversy and an investigation into whether she mishandled classified information. Now that President Donald Trump has been accused of doing the same thing, some Republicans are upset with their party’s response to the situation — or lack thereof. In fact, some members of Congress seem downright disgusted by the hypocrisy of their own party — at least if one GOP lawmaker’s recent comments are any indication. Rep.
The FBI Report
Former FBI Director James Comey said that Hillary Clinton acted carelessly by using a private email server but didn’t commit any criminal acts. But the Republicans who criticized her so aggressively for mishandling classified information during the campaign now don’t seem to care that Trump was reckless with secrets. They have also yet to demand for accountability for Trump aides who were in contact with Russian officials during the campaign and then had security clearance. With Trump, it’s clear we are living in an era of one set of rules for him and another set of rules for everyone else.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is another lawmaker whose opinion of Hillary Clinton’s private email server appears to have changed. During a November appearance on Fox News, he said that handling classified information improperly wasn’t just an error in judgment, but also malpractice. But when it comes to Trump’s actions, he thinks those are no big deal either. Nunes told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that he doesn’t have an issue with taking classified material to Mar-A-Lago because it’s not as if people at Mar-A-Lago are likely to spill secrets to members or waiters.
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The Allegations Against Hillary Clinton
While Trump’s classified emails in Mar-a-Lago may not have endangered anyone, Hillary Clinton’s emails did. To that end, some of her fellow Republicans are now defending her and slamming Trump for the act. Peter King from New York, who is a conservative Republican and member of the House Homeland Security Committee said he understands why she has been attacked by people determined to undo her, adding that she’s a scapegoat. Meanwhile, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford argues she should be off the hook after FBI Director James Comey cleared Clinton of criminal wrongdoing in a public statement back in July. Critics point out that Donald Trump has broken protocol before and defended his violations by claiming ignorance.
The Allegations Against President Trump
There is a double standard for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. A report from the Washington Post found that Trump’s aides (including a top foreign policy advisor) reportedly went to Mar-a-Lago with him, into a secure space that apparently had classified information on it. The event was open to the public for $100 a person, with photos as souvenirs. If that were Obama or Bush, Republicans would have been up in arms calling for investigations into how this happened and how this potentially endangered national security information by sharing the space with civilians. Yet these same Republicans are defending President Trump without question – even if they did have an issue with Hillary Clinton handling classified material during her time as Secretary of State on an unsecured private email server.
The irony here is that Republicans never called for President Obama to be investigated for handling classified information in such a way. They said he was ‘reckless’ when taking office, even though he turned out to be far more cautious than Trump seems to be. The double standard between how Democrats handle sensitive material and how Republicans do doesn’t just exist in politics – it’s evident within news organizations as well. One network recently deleted tweets critical of Hillary’s email situation after Trump used those criticisms during his debate with her last year. Another report from January shows how Fox News actually has different standards when reporting on Democratic scandals like Benghazi versus Republican ones, such as Fast & Furious or e-mail/Clinton issues.
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