In the last week, the media has been going overboard concerning a statement made by First Lady Melania Trump in which she sought the firing of a staffer on the National Security Council. It was an "unprecedented" move according to the AP. In the past no First Lady had ever gotten involved with firing White House staff. Article after article has attacked Mrs. Trump for getting involved in the staffing of the White House in a way that had never been done before. Except, of course, it was actually nothing new.
When the Clintons moved into the White House in 1993, one of the first things that then First Lady Hillary Clinton did was to get the staff of the White House travel office removed. The cover story was that the FBI had found improprieties by the staff during the first Bush administration, but actually, Hillary just wanted to reward some of the Clintons' friends with the jobs. The whole mess of her involvement and the phony charges went on for years. It was even given the name of "Travelgate". Various prosecutors looked into the supposed wrongdoing by the travel office staff who were fired at Hillary's behest, but no one was ever convicted of any crime. On the other hand, an Independent Counsel, Robert Ray, issued a final report in 2000 in which he said that some of Hillary Clinton's statements in the matter were false, but he declined to indict her because there was insufficient proof that they were "knowingly" false or that she understood that her statements led to the firings. It was just another instance of there being one law for the Clintons and one for everyone else.
The same media outlets that now castigate Melania for her "unprecedented" interference with the White House staff, defended Mrs. Clinton at the time of Travelgate.
It's important to remember that the current action by Mrs. Trump are neither dishonest, nor motivated by an attempt to get friends into cushy federal jobs. Mrs. Clinton, however, couldn't say that. More precisely, Mrs. Clinton couldn't HONESTLY say that. (We all know she could say anything at any time whether or not true.) Melania Trump was dissatisfied with the work of this NSC staffer. She said so, but her actions were hardly unprecedented.
When the Clintons moved into the White House in 1993, one of the first things that then First Lady Hillary Clinton did was to get the staff of the White House travel office removed. The cover story was that the FBI had found improprieties by the staff during the first Bush administration, but actually, Hillary just wanted to reward some of the Clintons' friends with the jobs. The whole mess of her involvement and the phony charges went on for years. It was even given the name of "Travelgate". Various prosecutors looked into the supposed wrongdoing by the travel office staff who were fired at Hillary's behest, but no one was ever convicted of any crime. On the other hand, an Independent Counsel, Robert Ray, issued a final report in 2000 in which he said that some of Hillary Clinton's statements in the matter were false, but he declined to indict her because there was insufficient proof that they were "knowingly" false or that she understood that her statements led to the firings. It was just another instance of there being one law for the Clintons and one for everyone else.
The same media outlets that now castigate Melania for her "unprecedented" interference with the White House staff, defended Mrs. Clinton at the time of Travelgate.
It's important to remember that the current action by Mrs. Trump are neither dishonest, nor motivated by an attempt to get friends into cushy federal jobs. Mrs. Clinton, however, couldn't say that. More precisely, Mrs. Clinton couldn't HONESTLY say that. (We all know she could say anything at any time whether or not true.) Melania Trump was dissatisfied with the work of this NSC staffer. She said so, but her actions were hardly unprecedented.
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