Mike Pence Vs. Hillary Clinton: E-Mail Scandal Comparison Is Irrelevant

The recent presidential election has proved that anything is possible when it comes to politics. Millions of Hillary Clinton’s supporters felt betrayed when the reports of her e-mail controversy surfaced online. Earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence also faced a similar controversy but given the circumstances, it is highly irrelevant to compare the email scandals between him and Hillary Clinton.

Before we dig into the latest Pence’s email controversy, let’s go down the memory lane and talk about the email controversy that made Hillary Clinton lose the presidential election.

In March 2015, it was revealed by senior authorities that while serving as the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had used her family’s private email server for major official communications. According to the law, she was supposed to use official State Department email accounts, which is maintained on federal servers.

This major email controversy became the topic of discussion and was used against the backdrop of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential election campaign. Senior political experts and official members of the Congress went on to suggest that her use of private messaging system software violated State Department protocols as well as federal laws and regulations that keep track of all the statements. In her defense, Clinton said that the use of her personal email was in compliance with all the State Department regulations and federal laws.

After the allegations were raised by media, the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated a proper investigation regarding the origin and handling of all classified emails on Hillary Clinton’s server. In her interviews, Clinton openly said that “I did not send classified material, and I did not receive any material that was marked or designated classified.”

The FBI says it’s possible, but not proven, that Clinton’s emails were hacked.

However, during their investigation, FBI Director James Comey identified 110 emails as containing information that was classified at the time it was sent using the private email server.

Sixty-five of those emails were found to contain information classified as Secret; more than 20 emails contained top-secret information, and three emails were found to be marked as classified.

On the other hand, while serving as governor, Mike Pence routinely used a personal AOL email account to conduct official business. According to The Indianapolis Star, many hackers compromised Pence’s account and used it to send some fraudulent emails in their attempt to make money from his contacts.

Government transparency advocates and many cybersecurity experts were surprised by Mike Pence’s use of personal email account to conduct public business, given he has always been very vocal about Hillary Clinton’s use of private email server.

Both, Hillary and Mike had reportedly used their personal email accounts but comparing their respective controversy is highly irrelevant.

Hillary Clinton Was In The Cabinet, While Pence Was A Governor

According to the report published by The Indianapolis Star, one email from Pence states his discussion over a terror-related arrest, which was already being covered by different news publishing houses. Another Pence email discussed the gate locks of his residence. On the other hand, as mentioned above, Clinton’s mail created a major controversy. She was the subject of an FBI investigation into whether she mishandled that classified information found in her emails.

Photo of Hillary Clinton reading about Mike Pence's email scandal goes viral https://t.co/ZZmsPC4h1H pic.twitter.com/KQ8lgWLlro

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 3, 2017

Indianapolis Allows Private Email Server, While The Same Is Discouraged At The State Department

According to The Washington Post, it is legal in Indiana to use a private email account for work. In fact, it is illegal in Indiana for a government official to use their respective official account for their political business. Under these conditions, it seems credible that Pence had no other option.

At the same time, it is not straight-up illegal at the State Department to use a private account, but all the government officials are urged to use their official accounts for transparency and security sake.

At the end, there are only 30 pages of Mike Pence emails that he forwarded from his AOL private account server to state archivists and Hillary Clinton handed over 55,000 pages to the State Department.

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images and Spencer Platt/Getty Images]