Amid reports that former President Donald Trump took various White House items to his home in Mar-A-Lago, former first lady Hillary Clinton also left the White House with permanent artifacts but never faced any consequences.
In 2015, Breitbart News noted that former President Bill Clinton and his wife departed in 2001 with a spree of lavish gifts, but also took home property from the permanent White House collection.
According to Sally Bedell Smith’s book For Love Of Politics, written in 2007:
[The Clintons’] financial-disclosure forms revealed that they walked away with $190,027 worth of furniture, china, flatware, art, and other gifts, nearly half of it acquired in their final year. It also turned out that they took some property that actually belonged to the permanent White House collection. [Emphasis added]
Ethics questions were also raised as Hillary Clinton, who was sworn in as senator on January 3, 2001, was accepting gifts significantly over $50, which is legally prohibited as a senator.
She evaded any consequences by claiming she received the gifts at Christmastime, before she was sworn in. The Associated Press (AP) also noted that “since the presents arrived while she still was first lady, no such limit applied.”
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported the National Archives and Records Administration in January retrieved various items from Mar-A-Lago that Trump allegedly took home upon departing the White House. Some of those items included cocktail napkins, maps, and a birthday dinner menu, among other items.
An unprecedented FBI raid for cocktail napkins and birthday dinner menus.https://t.co/Ouk45KCfNl pic.twitter.com/o9T0BmSXcl
— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) August 9, 2022
In Donald Trump’s statement regarding the FBI raid on his home Monday, he highlighted that Hillary Clinton also brought home various expensive items when she left the White House in 2001:
Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress. Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. She even took antique furniture, and other items from the White House. [Emphasis Added]
He also highlighted — which Breitbart News has too — that the former Secretary of State mishandled classified information on her private e-mail server but has not faced any consequences whatsoever.
Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home was raided on Monday night, reportedly for taking home “classified information” from the White House.
“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump stated.
Politico reported on the raid:
Two sources familiar with the search said it was related to allegations that Trump allies improperly removed boxes of presidential records from the White House after leaving office — including some that may have included classified information. One of those sources said the raid took “hours.”
However, Kash Patel, a former top Trump administration official, said in an interview with Breitbart News’s Kristina Wong in May that the documents were “already declassified by then-President Donald Trump, but the classification markings had not been updated.”
Trump was reportedly at Trump Tower in New York City when the raid occurred.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
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