Like father, like son. Like president, like vice president.
Everyone had a grand ol’ time making fun of Donald Trump’s tweet from June 2014, when he wrote, “Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?” He was referring to Barack Obama, but it’s a question many have asked about the current president. If Trump is, however unlikely, impeached, then white-haired Vice President Mike Pence would step in and run the country (or at least become Steve Bannon’s mouthpiece). In one respect, he’s already acting presidential: the internet recently dug up a tweet that, like Trump’s “gross incompetence” query, he probably regrets writing.
As we reported on Thursday, public records show that while governor of Indiana, Pence “communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe.” A scandal involving email? That sounds familiar. Pence was one of Hillary Clinton’s most outspoken critics over her use of a private email server — last year, he tweeted, “[Trump] and I commend the FBI for reopening an investigation into Clinton’s personal email server because no one is above the law.”
.@realDonaldTrump and I commend the FBI for reopening an investigation into Clinton's personal email server because no one is above the law.
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) October 28, 2016
Pence also said, “What’s evident from all of the revelations over the last several weeks is that Hillary Clinton operated in such a way to keep her emails, and particularly her interactions while Secretary of State with the Clinton Foundation, out of the public reach, out of public accountability. And with regard to classified information, she either knew or should have known that she was placing classified information in a way that exposed it to being hacked and being made available in the public domain even to enemies of this country.” Pence’s account was hacked last summer (by someone, according to the New York Times, “who sent an email to his contacts claiming that Mr. Pence and his wife were stranded in the Philippines and urgently needed money.” Both Republicans and Democrats can agree: that’s hilarious.)
Twitter was quick to pounce on Pence’s hypocrisy. And AOL jokes.
When it comes to proving hypocrisy, has anything in history ever matched old tweets? https://t.co/DyMoAwJlVY
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) March 3, 2017
So a bunch of Mike Pence's AOL emails can't be released because they're too sensitive.
Oh, here's Mike Pence one day before the Election: pic.twitter.com/NQ6G0E1ODp
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) March 3, 2017
Mike Pence used a private email server to conduct govt business!!! What a scand… Oh, wait, his name isn't Hillary Clinton. Never mind.
— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) March 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/ElizabethDrewOH/status/837547777009696768
A reminder:
H.Clinton set up a private secure work server at home. It was never hacked.Mike Pence used AOL to chat with Homeland Security. pic.twitter.com/hRh7wClRwi
— Brad Reason (@BradReason) March 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/SamScrogg/status/837550703602118656
https://twitter.com/AltEEOB/status/837506204654055424
So I guess it was never really "But her emails!" it was "But she's female!" #PenceEmails
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 3, 2017
"Every accusation against @HillaryClinton is materializing as fact about the #Trump administration" #Sessions #TrumpRussia #PenceEmails
— Jonathan Carrara (@joncarrara) March 3, 2017
If you've ever chanted "Lock Her Up" but don't care about Mike Pence using AOL email and being hacked, you're a hypocrite #PenceEmails
— 💉♻️🇺🇸 Christopher Zullo (@ChrisJZullo) March 3, 2017
Defenders are spinning #PenceEmails, but they're obscuring this:
PENCE USED HIS AOL ACCOUNT FOR SENSITIVE SECURITY MATTERS AND WAS HACKED.— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) March 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/ditzkoff/status/837471023356391425