The 2016 vice presidential candidates both invoked Richard Nixon this weekend as they attacked each other’s nominee.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence went first, and claimed Democratic nominee Hillary is the “most dishonest” presidential candidate the United States has seen since Nixon.
His comments came in reference to the FBI releasing more than 50 pages of notes this week from its interview with Clinton as it investigated her use of a private and unauthorized email server.
“It’s just more evidence that Hillary Clinton is the most dishonest candidate for president of the United States since Richard Nixon,” Pence said in an interview on “Meet the Press.”
“What’s evident from all of the revelations over the last several weeks is that Hillary Clinton operated in such a way to keep her emails, and particularly her interactions while secretary of state, with the Clinton Foundation out of the public reach, out of public accountability,” he said.
“I think it all truly does disqualify her from serving as president of the United States,” the governor added.
Later, on ABC News’ “This Week,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said it is Donald Trump who is most like Nixon.
.@timkaine compares Trump's encouragement of Russian hacking to Watergate break-in https://t.co/DjmLljSkq5 #ThisWeek https://t.co/HGUrNLUGOT— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 4, 2016
The Democratic vice presidential candidate made the remarks as he referred to Trump suggesting in July that the Russians should help the U.S. find Clinton’s State Department emails.
“A president was impeached and had to resign over an attack on the DNC during the presidential election in 1972. This is serious business,” Kaine said as he also referred to hackers who broke into the Democratic National Committee’s database this year.
Trump “has openly encouraged Russia to engage in cyberhacking to try to find more emails or materials, and we know that this cyberattack on the DNC was likely done by Russia,” Kaine said.
In July, the GOP nominee told reporters in a lengthy press conference Wednesday morning, “[The Russians] probably have her 33,000 emails that she lost and deleted. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said.
