Hillary Clinton couldn’t resist a dose of schadenfreude after news of the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The twice-failed presidential candidate promoted the sale of “But her emails” shirts and hats on Twitter on Tuesday. Proceeds from the merchandise go toward Clinton’s Onward Together PAC, the mission of which is “to support progressive candidates who uphold the values that brought this team together during and in the wake of the 2016 election.”
The merchandise initially went on sale in February after it was revealed that former President Donald Trump flushed documents down the toilet. The FBI’s raid triggered a rampant increase in sales, and the hats sold out on Tuesday afternoon, according to Clinton’s Twitter.
This was clearly meant as payback to Trump and his supporters. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump frequently referenced Clinton’s numerous scandals. Crowds at his events were known to chant, “Lock her up!” Six years later, the tables have turned. So Clinton jumped at the opportunity to mock Trump for being raided by the FBI over, among other things, mishandling classified material — the same transgression for which Clinton was exonerated in 2016 by then-FBI Director James Comey.
In July 2016, Comey stated the FBI was investigating Clinton’s mishandling of classified information through a personal email system during her time as secretary of state. He even referred the case to the Department of Justice “for a prosecutive decision.” Furthermore, Comey stated there was evidence of “potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information” by Clinton and evidence that a regular person “who engaged in this activity” would face consequences for such violations. However, he chose to recommend “no charges.”
Although her merchandise may be a bit of petty revenge against Trump, it really sends a message she probably doesn’t want to send. The fact that she never faced accountability for any of the multiple scandals seems inconsistent with the treatment Trump is getting. It may be that both failed to handle government documents properly, but none of Clinton’s residences were ever raided, even though she destroyed evidence.
If the facts show that the raid on Mar-a-Lago was for a violation only on par with Clinton’s, it will further destroy the public’s faith in federal law enforcement. People will want answers as to why Clinton was treated differently from Trump.
