Just ask Hillary Clinton how questions about the mishandling of classified information can impact the prospects of a campaign. It’s a non-ideological issue that resonates with voters across the spectrum.
Colin Reed (Republican Strategist)
It is already being called “Garage-gate” on social media: a sure sign Biden belongs on the lived-to-regret-lying president’s list. His defense (“People know I take classified documents, classified information seriously”) is as bad as Dick Nixon’s (“I am not a crook”) and Bill Clinton’s (“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky”). Their screw-ups and cover-ups prove Ben Franklin’s worst fear for the presidency has come to pass: arrogant politicians acting as self-serving monarchs.
In 1787, Franklin was asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” He knew the down side of a republic was a commander in chief wresting supreme power from the people, and not being held to account by Congress or the Judiciary. Nixon was accused of an “Imperial Presidency” after he secretly bombed Laos – and asked his military to lie about it. That would make him a crook, right?
Want citizens to stop storming the Capitol? Don’t pardon Nixon or let Clinton and Trump waltz away from impeachment. Don’t nominate Hillary Clinton after the FBI finds she was “extremely careless” with top-secret emails. Let Joe Biden have “no regrets” for improperly retaining classified documents as an ex-president. Fire “weaponized” federal employees – with no benefits.
House Republicans hope a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government exposes Obama’s “weaponized” holdovers in Biden’s Mad King George administration. I hope they follow the investigation trail to Adam and Eve Clinton, who studied Nixon’s “Imperial Presidency” and created the abuse-of-power business model that invites skirting national-security laws.
Start in 1996 with Bill Clinton’s CIA director, John Deutch, who mishandled top-secret documents in his two homes on “unsecured” computers that linked to the Internet, and “knowingly processed a large volume of highly classified information, [taking] no steps to restrict unauthorized access to national-security information” (source: CIA Inspector General’s report).
Or 2000, when Clinton’s national security advisor, Sandy Berger, left office aware of terror threats and, two years later, stole National Archives documents he “knew he was not authorized to remove” that “were different versions of a single document” needed at the 9-11 Commission (source: DOJ). He admitted hiding “some papers” in his clothing, removing them without detection, and stashing them at a construction site.
Or 2009, when Hillary Clinton did not hire a State Department inspector general.
Or 2015, when Secretary Clinton ordered her private tech adviser to erase some 30,000 department emails (the “bleach bit” scrub) from her private email server, after receiving an evidence preservation notice from Congress. 4 months later, an FBI (the “Midyear Exam”) inquiry found “81 email chains and 193 emails ranging from CONFIDENTIAL to TOP SECRET sent to or from Clinton’s personal server.” There’s a clear pattern that gets worse.
Deutch refused to be interviewed by the CIA’s inspector general, and Attorney General Janet Reno declined to prosecute. Only after congressional outcries was a special prosecutor appointed. Deutch pled “guilty” to a misdemeanor and was pardoned on President Clinton’s last day in office. Berger confessed to stealing and destroying the papers with scissors, after the Archives proved documents were missing. He pled “guilty” to a single misdemeanor charge, and lost his law license.
Secretary Clinton refused to be interviewed by the inspector general (Steve Linick) hired by her successor, John Kerry. Not only did the attorney general (Lynch) talk privately to Bill Clinton (the “tarmac” meeting), the DOJ extended “numerous privileges” to Ms. Clinton and her advisors. The DOJ declined to prosecute, despite evidence that Clinton was “extremely careless in [her] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information” (source: FBI statement).
If everybody profits – and nobody goes to jail – in the Clinton business model, why not abuse power and thwart the justice system? It’s why an elite MIT professor (Deutch) ignored national-security protocol, an elite lawyer (Berger) schemed to cover his tracks, and a presidential wannabe (Clinton) tried to protect work emails from open records requests mandated by the Freedom of Information Act. And does it ever pay!
Credible news outlets like Newsweek question how Democrats Nancy Pelosi ($120M), Bill Clinton ($120M), and Barack Obama ($135M) amassed such fortunes. Even Obama aides Ron Klain ($12M) and Susan Rice ($40M) got richer. This week, CNN’s big news was the Biden family “seeking to exploit their connections to power for profit.” Democrats, who used to help the poor, now help themselves – because that’s what Clinton-Obama Democrats do.
If Barack had run a tight ship, Joe would not have taken “classified documents” off federal grounds and stored them “in a box in a locked cabinet, or at least a closet.” If Bill hadn’t lied to the press, Joe wouldn’t have posed; “I was surprised to to learn there were any government records.” If Hillary hadn’t mocked (“like with a cloth”), Joe wouldn’t snark, “By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked garage, okay? It’s not like it’s sitting out in the street.” Joe is just exhibiting learned behavior.
Order no visitor’s logs kept at your two homes, but promise voters you’ll “restore dignity to the presidency.” Tell reporters Trump was “totally irresponsible” for having government documents at Mar-a-Lago, but say you have “no regrets” for mishandling classified documents. Let the National Archives, FBI, and DOJ discuss Trump’s investigation, but remember “ongoing investigations” aren’t discussed when it’s your life and presidency.
Joe Biden won’t be indicted, but a “special counsel” cloud now hangs over his 2024 hopes; meaning Democrat hopefuls (and a suddenly curious press) are now part of a gauntlet that already included GOP House investigations. After more documents turned up Friday, the President’s got a tiger by the tail.
64% of voters – including 52% of Democrats – now want Congress to investigate his mishandling of government documents (source: YouGov).