President Trump hammered his attorney general Friday morning over an alleged “double standard” at the Department of Justice, piling on his ongoing criticism of Jeff Sessions.
Reality Winner is set to spend more than 5 years in jail for the crime of leaking classified NSA documents detailing the extent of Russian cyber intrusions in the U.S.
In a tweet directed at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump complained that what Winner had done was “small potatoes” compared to allegations surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server at the State Department.
{mosads}”Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over ‘classified’ information. Gee, this is “small potatoes” compared to what Hillary Clinton did! So unfair Jeff, Double Standard,” Trump wrote early Friday.
Clinton was never accused of leaking classified documents to unauthorized personnel, but was judged to have been “extremely careless” in her handling of classified data during a 2016 FBI investigation.
The tweet was part of a series directed at Sessions on Friday morning. Trump has taken out his anger and frustration with the Justice Department on Sessions throughout his presidency, deepening this week in a Fox News interview that prompted a rare, sharp response from Sessions.
Trump has frequently criticized the Justice Department over the agency’s handling of the Clinton email investigation during the Obama administration and the ongoing investigation into possible ties between his campaign and Russia, which continues under special counsel Robert Mueller.
The president has characterized the Mueller probe and its beginnings as a “witch hunt,” while simultaneously accusing the agency of letting Clinton off for supposed criminal conduct while serving as secretary of state.
During a debate with Clinton in 2016, Trump now-famously threatened the candidate that she’d “be in jail” if he were president, adding that he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her use of the private server if elected, an investigation that was never launched.