It was one of the many moments when vice presidential debate moderator Elaine Quijano shushed Republican Gov. Mike Pence, but he is winning support for claiming that his Marine son, or Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine’s, would be court martialed if they mishandled classified information like Hillary Rodham Clinton did at State.
“If your son or my son handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did, they’d be court martialed,” said Pence, as Quijano interrupted.
Kaine responded, “That is absolutely false and you know that,” to which Pence said, “Absolutely true.”
Kaine’s oldest son, Nathaniel, is a First Lieutenant based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Lt. Michael Pence is undergoing pilot training at Whiting Naval Air Station Field in Florida. CNN had the story.
Examiner contributor Jed Babbin, a former Defense Department official and Air Force judge advocate, said that Pence was correct.
“It’s a rarity for anyone in the military to handle top secret information with the ‘extreme carelessness’ the way the FBI said Mrs. Clinton did,” he said.
“However, it’s a dead-bang certainty that anyone who did would be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and either sent to jail for a long time or dishonorably discharged. They would never be trusted to handle classified information again,” added Babbin.
Virginia state Sen. Bryce Reeves, a former Army Ranger and co-chair of the chamber’s military caucus, agreed.
“Governor Pence is exactly right when he stated if any member of the military set up a private server and put national security information at risk, even exposing classified information, they would be court martialed. In fact, one can be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 18 U.S. Code § 798, and face up to 10 years in prison,” said Reeves, running for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination of Virginia.
Reeves also raised the concerns among those in the military that there is a prosecutorial double standard.
“We must stop the favoritism of the elite and maintain justice for all — which means all of us, not some of us. Hillary Clinton, or any other politician for that matter, should not be held to a different standard than any other American, whether they are a member of the military sacrificing their lives for our nation, a small business owner, or a working mom trying to make ends meet. This is precisely the reason the American people are fed up with politics in Washington,” he said.
Military law is broad to bar any misuse of classified information. And it is punishing, promoting a sentence of up to 10 years for violators.
Below is the transcript of the vice presidential debate exchange:
PENCE: We have an intelligence, sir (ph). But I will also tell you that it’s important in this moment to remember that Hillary Clinton had a private server in her home that had classified information on it…
QUIJANO: And I don’t — 30 seconds is on up.
PENCE: … about drone strikes, e-mails from the president of the United States of America were on there.
QUIJANO: Right.
PENCE: Her private server was subject to being hacked by foreign…
QUIJANO: I’d like to ask you about Syria, Governor.
PENCE: We could put cybersecurity first if we just make sure the next secretary of state doesn’t have a private server.
KAINE: And all investigation concluded that not one reasonable prosecutor would take any additional step. You don’t get to decide the rights and wrongs of this. We have a justice system that does that. And a Republican FBI director did an investigation and concluded that…
QUIJANO: All right, we are moving on now. Two hundred fifty thousand people…
PENCE: If your son or my son handled classified information the way Hillary Clinton did…
QUIJANO: … one hundred thousand of them children — Governor…
PENCE: … they’d be court martialed.
KAINE: That is absolutely false and you know that.
PENCE: Absolutely true.
KAINE: And you know that, Governor.
QUIJANO: Governor…
PENCE: It’s absolutely true.
QUIJANO: Gentlemen, please.
KAINE: Because the FBI did an investigation.
QUIJANO: Gentlemen.
KAINE: And they concluded that there was no reasonable prosecutor who would take it further. Sorry.
QUIJANO: Senator Kaine, Governor Pence, please.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
