-By Warner Todd Huston
Recently Democrat National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D, FL, was cornered on Fox News about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s violations of national security and Schultz slipped up big time in her reply giving an admission that Hillary won’t want to hear..
Schultz appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to defend Hillary Clinton but didn’t do a very good job. Other than sounding a bit halting and confused with her delivery, the core of her argument was that with her email use Hillary didn’t do anything differently than other high profile members of government. But Schultz defeated her own claims with one little line.
First off Schultz said it was “ludicrous” for the FBI to investigate Hillary’s breach of national security laws for sending classified information over a private email server housed in her own home and then deleting tens of thousands of them so they could never be seen.
“Yes, and I’m going to say it again,” Schultz insisted. “It’s ludicrous to keep raising the question of whether this plays out to an unfortunate end. Hillary Clinton has released 55,000 pages of emails, has provided the most transparency of probably any previous presidential candidate in terms of the conversations that she’s had as secretary of state, as a public official.”
Schultz next went on to claim Hillary used private email “in the same way that previous secretaries of state have done.”
But Fox host Chris Wallace wasn’t going to let Schultz get away with this mischaracterization. “You know that’s not true,” Wallace said. “Nobody says that’s true.”
But then Schultz threw in five crucial words when talking about the supposedly “similar” use of emails that invalidated her entire argument.
“Other than the private servers,” she said.
This line proves that what Hillary did was not like what other government officials have done.
In the history of the way Hillary and Democrats have defended her use of private email the initial response was to say she sent no classified material at all. But as the number of emails containing classified material grew into the thousands of messages the tactic had to change.
Now, the latest claim Democrats have been using to defend Hillary’s actions as Obama’s Secretary of State is to say she used private email “just like” other high profile members of the government have in the past. This is the tactic Schultz was employing on Fox News. Except that Hillary’s situation is far different than the others. While other members of presidential cabinets have occasionally used a private email service like Google Gmail and others, they didn’t house their own server in their own home and they didn’t then go on a systematic campaign of deleting tens of thousands of emails to keep them from being seen. Further, there is no proof that any other government official used a private email address to send thousands of emails containing classified material like we already know Hillary did.
And fittingly Wallace pounced on Schultz’ “other than private servers” comment with both feet.
“Well, other than the private server is a big deal,” Wallace insisted, “and nobody had 30,000 work emails on their private server or their private email, period,. So the comparisons to Colin Powell … that’s just not true, Congresswoman.”
Schultz continued to try to spin the truth Hillary’s way, but failed to convince Wallace.
Full Transcript of ‘Fox News Sunday’ Hillary email segment
WALLACE: I want to talk about one last subject with you congresswoman. You have dismissed the idea that Hillary Clinton could face any legal troubles over her private e-mail server as, quote, “ludicrous.” How do you know that?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I — I’m simply confident that as the investigation continues, that Hillary Clinton has, made it clear, and there are scores of individuals who are associated with the federal government, that have indicated that it’s clear that, she, conducted herself completely legally, that she was able to, use private e-mail just like previous, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state and, un, I think that —
WALLACE: Well —
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: – At the end of the day, this is going to amount to nothing more than an investigation, when they take a close look. I think she’s going to be fine.
WALLACE: Well — well — well, I — the — the reason I ask is, the FBI has, dozens of agents who have been investigating this issue for, months. And, just this week, FBI Director James Comey said that this could go on well past — or at least past the Democratic convention in July. You know there’s got to be something there that they’re investigating. Are you saying it’s all a waste of time?
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I’m — I’m not commenting on it one way or the other, other than to say that it is ludicrous to keep raising —
WALLACE: Well — well, wait a minute. You have. You said it’s ludicrous.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes, and I’m going to say it again, it’s ludicrous to keep raising the — the question of whether, uh, this plays out to an end — an unfortunate end. She’s — Hillary Clinton has released 55,000 pages of e-mails. She — the — it — has provided the most transparency of — uh, of probably any previous presidential candidate in terms of the — the, conversations that she’s had as, Secretary of State, as a public official. Uh, it is, uh, completely available for perusal by the press and she was doing something and using private e-mail in the same way, that previous secretaries of state have — have done, and that’s according to the policy that she was allowed to.
WALLACE: But, well, you — well, well, well, you know that’s not true. I mean Hillary — nobody says that’s true. Nobody —
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Other than the private —
WALLACE: No — no — nobody —
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Other than the private server, right, with the exception —
WALLACE: Well, “other than the private server” is a big deal, and nobody had 30,000 work e-mails on their private server or private e-mail, period. So, I mean, the comparisons to Colin Powell are — I mean that’s just not true, congresswoman.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The compare — you know, it certainly is true, because Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, John Kerry all used private e-mail to communicate with their staff. And Hillary Clinton —
WALLACE: Yeah, and maybe — maybe a dozen, not 30,000.
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I — I — I’m not counting, heh, but over the course of her — of her term she used private e-mail and was allowed to use private e-mail. That’s not in dispute. And she’s released 55,000 pages of e-mails. At the end of the day, this is a distraction because the American people are going to decide who they vote for, for president, based on who they believe is going to continue to move us forward and help everybody who wants to succeed have a fair shot to do so. And what they’re not going to vote on is distractions like this one …
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Federalist Papers, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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