A Republican senator was not ready to give up on his comparison between the treatment of investigations into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) appeared on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday and brought up the example of the FBI’s decision not to charge Clinton.
“Here’s what I believe, we live in an America where if you’re the Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, secretary of State, you can set up a private server in your basement to conduct government business, and when an investigation is had about your activity…” Graham began.
However, host George Stephanopoulos interjected as he argued the senator was not answering his question.
“No, let me finish!” Graham shot back.
He continued, “This panel you had was ridiculous. I’m trying to answer your question from a Republican point of view. That may not be acceptable on this show.”
The senator criticized Trump’s handling of classified documents as well as the way President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence handled classified documents.
Watch the video below:
Lindsey Graham just went off on George Stephanopoulos for interrupting him after bringing up Hillary Clinton's private server: "Let me finish…I'm trying to answer the question from a Republican point of view. That may not be acceptable on this show." pic.twitter.com/yMzT6rKNaR
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) June 11, 2023
Graham went on:
“I don’t like any of that. But what I don’t like is a system in America where the secretary of State, who’s a Democratic candidate for president, has people take a hammer to social media devices and break them apart, apply bleach bit to a hard drive to erase emails, allow classified information to get on a felon’s computer — Anthony Weiner. You haven’t even mentioned that.”
He added, “Most Republicans believe we live in a country where Hillary Clinton did very similar things and nothing happened to her.”
The exchange comes after Trump was indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith for his handling of classified documents.
Smith hit Trump with 37 charges in the case, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, and one count related to making false statements.
In 2016, FBI Director James Comey announced Clinton would not be charged for her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of State and her handling of classified documents.
At the time, Comey said there was “evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information.”
However, he added, “Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
