Democrats in a fury as Trump docs revive trauma of Clinton emails

Accusations that former President TrumpDonald TrumpArizona GOP asks court to strike down vote-by-mail system McCarthy criticizes GOP members who spoke at white nationalist conference: ‘Unacceptable’ First jury trial against accused Jan. 6 rioter begins MORE improperly took authorities paperwork are stirring outrage amongst Democrats and resurfacing years-old political trauma stemming from the GOP’s assaults on Hillary ClintonHillary Diane Rodham ClintonThe US and NATO failed Ukraine and enabled Putin’s aggression Juan Williams: Biden’s big speech must counter GOP’s false narrative Trump wins CPAC straw poll as DeSantis’s support grows MORE’s use of a non-public e mail server.

Democrats say the revelation that Trump took containers of official paperwork with him upon his departure from the White House final 12 months carries the markings of a political double commonplace.

Republicans — and Trump, in specific — criticized Clinton relentlessly through the 2016 presidential race over her doc retention practices on the State Department, but many in the get together have remained silent on the latest accusations in opposition to the previous president.

“The hypocrisy isn’t a surprise in any respect given President Trump has all the time had a completely different set of guidelines for himself than he has for different folks,” mentioned Patti Solis Doyle, who served as Clinton’s marketing campaign supervisor throughout her 2008 White House bid.

Trump handed over 15 containers of presidential data and different supplies that he had taken with him to his Palm Beach, Fla., Mar-a-Lago resort to the National Archives final month. Some of these containers have been believed to incorporate categorized info, a violation of federal record-keeping legal guidelines.

On Thursday, Rep. Carolyn MaloneyCarolyn MaloneyA simple idea to promote tolerance and trust in Congress House panel expands probe into Trump’s handling of White House documents Archives confirms Trump records at Mar-a-Lago included classified documents MORE (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, despatched a letter to David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, searching for details about Trump’s dealing with of the White House data, together with experiences that he “repeatedly tried to destroy presidential data.”

According to a forthcoming ebook by The New York Times’s Maggie HabermanMaggie Lindsy HabermanThe Hill’s Campaign Report: CPAC is back Document dump turns toxic for Trump Press: Time for Merrick Garland to flush Donald Trump MORE, White House employees additionally suspected that Trump had tried to flush sure supplies after discovering wads of paper in a bathroom. Trump denied that account on Thursday.

“Another faux story, that I flushed papers and paperwork down a White House bathroom, is categorically unfaithful and easily made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a principally fictitious ebook,” Trump mentioned.

He additionally claimed that the handover of materials to the National Archives was “routine and ‘no large deal,’” insisting that he was “below no obligation to present this materials primarily based on varied authorized rulings which have been made through the years.”

Solis Doyle mentioned that she is hopeful Trump’s dealing with of White House paperwork will obtain the identical stage of scrutiny as Clinton’s use of a non-public e mail server, arguing that federal guidelines governing the dealing with of confidential info “can’t actually be shrugged off.”

“The guidelines set on confidential info are set by U.S. legislation enforcement and may’t actually be shrugged off,” she mentioned. “So I imagine the right authorities will examine as they rightly did HRC’s emails. And I hope equal media consideration can be paid in Trump as was in Hillary.”

Other Clinton allies, nonetheless, aren’t as optimistic that Trump will face the identical scrutiny as Clinton did, noting that the previous president repeatedly bucked authorities guidelines and norms all through his time in the White House.

“What’s the purpose anymore?” mentioned Philippe Reines, a longtime senior adviser to Clinton. “People both see the excellence between his intentional and systemic circumvention of each legislation of man and God warranting prosecution of not solely him however these complicit round him — and our Olympically silly mistake our Democracy paid for dearly — or they do not.”

For Clinton and her allies, the investigation into her use of a non-public e mail server throughout her tenure as former President ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaA promise kept: How Biden can come away with a win this SOTU US expels 12 Russian diplomats for ‘espionage activities’ Supreme Court wrestles with EPA power to regulate climate change MORE’s secretary of State stands as a painful reminder of her 2016 electoral loss to Trump, who spent a lot of his marketing campaign elevating damaging questions on Clinton’s conduct.

Many Democrats nonetheless blame the probe — notably former FBI Director James ComeyJames Brien ComeyDemocrats in a fury as Trump docs revive trauma of Clinton emails Hillary 2024? Given the competition, she may be the Dems’ best hope Trump draws attention with admission he ‘fired Comey’ MORE’s announcement weeks earlier than the 2016 election that his company was reopening its investigation — for serving to propel Trump to victory. Adding to Democrats’ exasperation is the truth that the investigation into Clinton’s emails cleared her of wrongdoing.

“The two-year frenzy over emails was a political Rorschach take a look at, the place everybody noticed one thing completely different in what was in the end nothing,” mentioned Nick Merrill, a spokesperson for Clinton, in a assertion. “Call it sexism, Republican depravity, ratings-hungry media, it is time we acknowledge it was bullshit, and write that into the historical past books.”

In a nod to the alleged hypocrisy, Clinton tweeted hyperlinks to merchandise on her political group’s web site emblazoned with the slogan “But Her Emails,” a reference to critics’ repeated makes an attempt through the 2016 presidential race to maintain the give attention to the investigation into Clinton’s document-retention practices.

Trump’s allies have sought to keep at bay any comparability between his actions and people of Clinton. Former White House chief of employees Mark MeadowsMark MeadowsSupreme Court deals final blow to Trump bid to stymie Jan. 6 panel Supreme Court turns away Trump’s appeal in dispute with House Jan. 6 panel Right wing criticizes media for lack of coverage on Durham probe  MORE mentioned that, not like with Trump, “there was really an investigation” into Clinton’s e mail practices.

He additionally insisted that Trump would in the end be cleared of any wrongdoing, saying that the White House was “very diligent” in its file retention.

“What they’re doing with Donald Trump is making an attempt to look backwards and fix some sort of relative comparability, which there isn’t any comparability,” Meadows mentioned on the right-wing information community Newsmax. “When you actually purposely exit to destroy paperwork like Hillary Clinton did … I can let you know there may be not a comparability.

“We have been very diligent in ensuring we protect these paperwork, and in the end I believe the file will present that,” he added.

For Trump, who’s eyeing one other bid for the White House in 2024, the political ramifications of the controversy are unclear. The former president has confronted quite a few scandals earlier than solely to retain the assist of an ultraloyal voter base. At the identical time, the 2024 presidential election remains to be years away.

“He actually has a exceptional capability to brush issues off, and should you’re speaking about one thing that’s going to occur two years from now, that’s an eternity in politics,” one former Trump marketing campaign aide mentioned.

Still, for a lot of in Clinton World, the e-mail investigation has endurance.

“The extraordinary nothingness of ‘however her emails’ won’t ever not astound me,” mentioned Tracy Sefl, a Democratic advisor who served as an aide to Clinton. “Even extra extraordinary is that simply after we suppose we have heard the weirdest or worst about Trump, somebody reveals a soggy pile of paper from a White House bathroom.”