During the 2016 elections, the pious Mike Pence called Hillary Clinton “the most dishonest candidate for president of the United States since Richard Nixon” in reference to the email scandal that was used by Republican candidates to discredit her and insist she wasn’t fit to serve as president.
Now, after all the chants of “lock her up” and calls for her arrest, Mike Pence has his own email problem.
MaddowBlog: Pence’s email controversy is everything his critics could’ve hoped for https://t.co/Tru92SNyap pic.twitter.com/FPbhE3bjng
— The Last Word (@TheLastWord) March 11, 2018
According to the Indianapolis Star:
‘Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.
‘Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence’s top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges.’
HIS emails. https://t.co/JHe4sPJbzF
— Amy (@flwrpwr1969) March 9, 2018
Pence’s email problem doesn’t stop there, however. Unlike Hillary’s email debacle, Pence’s emails (which included sensitive information too classified to release to the public), were hacked.
‘Cybersecurity experts say Pence’s emails were likely just as insecure as Clinton’s. While there has been speculation about whether Clinton’s emails were hacked, Pence’s account was actually compromised last summer.’
A spokesman for Mike Pence, Marc Lotter, responded to the story with outrage, saying that the comparison between Pence and Clinton is “absurd” because her emails dealt with federal business and Pence’s were simply about state business, but that doesn’t appear to be true. Pence shared emails from the FBI over his personal AOL email account and discussed details of counterterrorism efforts made by the state in emails that the state considered “confidential and too sensitive to release to the public” in response to document requests.
I'm betting @foxnews & their hair on fire Hillary Clinton Critics like @seanhannity will have absolutely nothing to say about @VP Pence using a private email server which had classified information and was hacked.
— Dale Hansen (@DaleHansenDNews) March 8, 2018
Regardless of whether or not Pence’s emails dealt with the same level of issues (some appear to have done so), Hillary Clinton was not deemed unfit due to the level of security her communications handled. She was, according to Republicans, deemed “unqualified” because of what they called her “carelessness” in handling classified emails. That is what the investigation into her use of a private email server was about, and yet no one on the right has called for the same kind of investigation into Mike Pence’s carelessness.
"There's issue of double standard," said Gerry Lanosga, Indiana U prof & past president of Indiana Coalition for Open Gov. “He's been far from forthcoming re: his own private email account on which it’s clear he's conducted state business. https://t.co/8qblkTgrvj via @indystar
— Beth⭐️ (@PersuasivePR) March 8, 2018
The issue for which Pence criticized Clinton on the campaign trail was a lack of transparency, insisting that she hid emails to cover mishandling of classified information. However, experts agree that Pence’s email scandal is similar. Gerry Lanosga, who the Indianapolis Star identifies as “a professor at Indiana University and past president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government,” explained that:
‘There is an issue of double standard here. He has been far from forthcoming about his own private email account on which it’s clear he has conducted state business. So there is a disconnect there that cannot be avoided.’
Where are the cries, then, to “lock him up”?
Featured image via NurPhoto
