A Different Set of Rules

Press Release

This week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a scathing report highlighting their investigation of Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server, calling her "extremely careless," but opted not to indict her. Whether you agree with Director Comey's decision not to charge Secretary Clinton or not, one thing is very clear: career politicians like Secretary Clinton seem to play by a different set of rules than the average American. And this is exactly why Marylanders on both sides of the aisle are fed up with Washington and fed up with career politicians who care more about their own power and privilege than the people they are supposed to represent.

Let's look at the numerous ways Secretary Clinton repeatedly lied to the American people, put herself above the rules and put classified information at risk.

* Secretary Clinton claimed none of the emails sent on her unsecured server were classified at the time. However, the FBI found at least 110 of the emails in 52 email chains contained information that was classified at the time, including eight emails that contained top secret information (the highest level of classification).

* Secretary Clinton claimed she turned over all work-related emails to the State Department. However, the FBI found "several thousand work-related emails" that were not turned over. Clinton's staff then deleted all emails both from the server and from their own hard drives making them impossible to recover.

* Secretary Clinton claimed the server was protected. However, the FBI found her actions did put classified information in jeopardy, including the fact that she sent and received emails while on foreign soil. Comey said "it is possible that hostile actors gained access" to Clinton's emails.

* Secretary Clinton claimed she had this private, unsecure server because of convenience so she would only have to carry one mobile device, however, the FBI found she used multiple mobile devices.

Maryland is home to more than 100,000 federal employees and when I speak with many of them, they tell me at the very least they would have been fired if they had violated the rules in this manner. And some of the active duty members of our military have told me they would have been court-martialed if they had put classified information at risk like this, even if it was unintentional. Secretary Clinton -- because of own power and privilege and connections -- seems to have gotten away with nothing more than a public scolding.

This is the problem with career politicians like Secretary Clinton and my opponent, seven-term Congressman Chris Van Hollen. They have spent their entire lives building up connections and currying favors that they can then use to avoid the rules the rest of us have to follow. People who are in power stay in power by gaining the system. And that is why we need to change the system from within.

Congressman Van Hollen will never do anything to stand up to the Clintons -- some of his biggest benefactors when he was the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- and he will never do anything to challenge the status quo in Washington. Why would he when he's benefitted from it his entire life? If we really want to see Washington change we need to send an outsider with real world business experience who knows how to roll up her sleeves and get things done.

Our Founding Fathers meant for this country to have a citizen government and instead it has been taken over by career politicians and DC insiders. On November 8th, we have the opportunity to take it back.

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