Ex-Gen. David Petraeus, who was convicted for sharing top secret information with his mistress, arrives at Trump Tower in New York to talk about Secretary of State. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The fact that Trump is seriously considering him for another sensitive, high-level government job, is not only reckless, but rife with hypocrisy.
During the election campaign, Trump relentlessly pounded rival Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server while Secretary of State, even though there was never any security breach or leaked classified information.
In fact, only a few emails out of tens of thousands housed on the server could be considered even remotely classified. Yet Congress investigated her half a dozen times and the FBI torpedoed her campaign with it.
Petraeus, on the other hand, is one of, if not the highest ranking member of the military, who knowingly shared top secret information with an unauthorized individual. The fact that he was bedding her behind his wife’s back is even worse.
He knew exactly what he was doing when he did it–and did it, anyway. He betrayed his oath to the American People for some pussy. She could have easily been a foreign agent.
To make matters worse, after sharing nearly a dozen notebooks filled with highly classified information with his lover/biographer, he lied about it to the FBI in an attempt to cover his tracks.
Yet, the horny ex-general wasn’t even given community service. He was ultimately convicted for “mishandling classified information,” a misdemeanor, even though he even turned over the names of CIA agents in the field, among other top secret information.
Petraeus pay a $100,000 fine and was sentenced to probation. He probably made back the money and then some from his first speaking engagement to some gun-happy defense contractor.
We all know there’s a double standard when it comes to justice. The more connected you are, the more chance you have of getting away with it.
Meanwhile, a real patriot, Edward Snowden , is trapped in Russia, eating borscht three times a day. He’s been threatened with a life sentence if he ever returns to the United States.
His crime is blowing the whistle on massive illegal domestic spying by the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA). Congress and the rest of the free-thinking world now sees that as egregious violation of individual privacy guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
It’s beyond shameful that the former Director of the CIA is not only free to walk the streets and profit off his experience, but he’s now possibly a confirmation hearing away from being the Secretary of State.
President Obama ran his first presidential campaign on greater government transparency, an issue Snowden sacrificed his freedom for. Yet, to this day, he still refuses to grant him a pardon.
We all know what will happen if the president continues to bow to pressure and refuses to clear Snowdon before the end of his term.
He’ll be left twisting in the wind in Russia, while Trump potentially turns the State Department over to a real traitor. Better hope he doesn’t meet any hot Russian interns.