Top Republican Invites Scorn For Saying ‘It’s Awfully Tough’ For Ivanka To Comply With Email Standards
It appears House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte is intent on appeasing Donald Trump, even at the cost of sounding wholly hypocritical.
Goodlatte has invited social media’s scorn for saying that it is not right to expect Ivanka Trump to be compliant with the government’s email procedures because she wasn’t a government employee before her father became America’s president. As the Inquisitr reported last week, Ivanka has found herself at the receiving end of an investigation attempt by House Democrats who accuse her of using a private email address to carry out government activities. Right before Thanksgiving, President Trump defended his daughter’s actions and deflected from the accusations by instead focusing on Hillary Clinton’s past email troubles.
And now Goodlatte, appearing keen to tow the president’s line, said that “it’s awfully tough” for Ivanka to follow the procedures, according to the Hill.
“When things like this come up, it’s important people understand, they need to make sure they’re doing what they can,” he said during an appearance on CNN Monday night, before adding that it would be difficult for Ivanka to understand everything so soon.
“And it’s awfully tough, as everyone knows, when you’re sending emails about a lot of different things to make sure that you’re doing it according to the rules in the White House or wherever you’re doing it.”
Goodlatte seemed to regurgitate the Republican line about Ivanka’s troubles, arguing that her use of private email for carrying out government activities cannot be compared to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server for sending government emails while she was the secretary of state. He argued that there is no evidence to suggest that anything Ivanka might have shared through her private email constitutes classified information. But until an investigation is conducted, that cannot be known for sure.
“I do think, of course, it’s very different to send private emails about matters that are not classified information,” Goodlatte said. “There’s a criminal penalty imposed for doing that — when you have classified information that is transmitted improperly, as was the allegation, and I think the facts now support, with regard to Hillary Clinton.”
So if some of Ivanka’s emails turn out to contain classified information, she should be prosecuted? https://t.co/KMaXlHxRR1
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) November 25, 2018
This is of course in line with Trump’s own defense of Ivanka’s use of private email for government activities, with the president terming the Washington Post article which first reported it “fake news.” He later even went on to allegedly “invent” 100,000 nonexistent Hillary emails in apparent attempts to deflect from the accusations plaguing his daughter.
??WHAT??@GOP House Judiciary Chair @RepGoodlatte claims it‘s “awfully tough” for gov’t officials such as @IvankaTrump to comply with email rules.?
He just subpoenaed Jim @Comey & Loretta Lynch to testify about their handling of the Clinton email case??https://t.co/gMvsp4V9kO
— Dena Grayson, MD, PhD (@DrDenaGrayson) November 27, 2018
They’re not even trying anymore: when partisans embrace situational ethics. Goodlatte: ‘It’s awfully tough’ for Ivanka Trump to comply with email standards – POLITICO https://t.co/BBwdfGAfTZ
— John Avlon (@JohnAvlon) November 27, 2018
