Democratic Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) ran into a roadblock Monday in the form of a caller who fact-checked her in real-time during a C-SPAN interview.
Rep. Plaskett, a non-voting delegate in Congress, was making the rounds on cable TV to claim that President Donald Trump’s failure to turn over classified documents was a criminal act while similar instances involving Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden did not rise to that level. The male caller quickly pointed out that the congresswoman was mistaken.
“She said that when Donald Trump was subpoenaed he didn’t want to turn over classified documents, but the other people did like Pence and Hillary and Biden. Well I don’t know what planet she lives on, but I know Hillary destroyed 33 emails after the subpoena, after Congress ordered those, subpoenaed those and busted up phones with hammers. Is that following or is that obstructing?” asked the caller.
WATCH:
The caller appeared to be referring to 33,000 emails that disappeared from Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State following a subpoena from Congress to turn over all correspondence related to the fall of a U.S. embassy in Benghazi in 2012. President Trump frequently hammered on the emails’ disappearance during the 2016 campaign, an allegation that fact-checkers rated as mostly true although Clinton defenders maintain the request to delete the emails came before a congressional subpoena.
Rep. Plaskett shot back that she was correct in claiming only President Trump ignored demands by federal authorities to turn over classified documents and that he did not follow proper procedures to do so, saying the president cannot “in his mind” declassify documents. Over the weekend, Rep. Plaskett accidentally said live on air that Trump should be “shot” before quickly correcting herself to say “stopped.”
Just months after the discovery of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the White House disclosed that President Biden had wrongfully taken classified documents from his time as vice president and improperly stored them in the garage of his Delaware home. The resulting investigation led to a sweeping search of the residence by FBI agents, though no charges were filed, something critics have been quick to point out. President Trump‘s attorneys have argued they will seek to have the case against their client dismissed for prejudice, which they contend will come out during discovery interviews.
