Less than a day after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey’s announcement that Hillary Clinton should not face criminal charges for her private e-mail servers scandal, Fox News Channel's Dana Perino went on “a bit of a rant” on Twitter about the fact that the Democratic presidential candidate will apparently face no legal consequences as a result of the investigation.
Perino, who serves as a co-host on the channel's weekday afternoon program entitled The Five, tweeted that “when you work for the federal government and at the WH (White House) in particular, you work for THE PEOPLE. Your sense of self is erased.”
“I remember when we went to Russia, we had to leave our Blackberries on AF1 (Air Force One),” Perino noted. “We were nervous -- how would we communicate? But we did it.”
“Because the USSS (United States Secret Service) asked us to do so -- to protect the nation's information,” she continued. “This wasn't about our e-mails -- but the nation's information.”
Perino further explained:
Because when you work for the federal government and at the WH in particular, you work for THE PEOPLE. Your sense of self is erased.
You don't have a right to the information. Every thing you do should be for the nation's wellbeing. So we left our devices on the plane.
“I never thought of being at the WH as being there just for the Republicans,” she stated. “The party existed, it was important, but I was there for the USA.”
“So Comey says HRC (Hillary Rodham Clinton) had no intent,” Perino noted. “1) I don't believe that. 2) Who cares? That's not what the law says. At a minimum, I'd lose my clearance.”
“For years, we've had to say Comey sure stood up to the president when he was bothered by the Terrorist Surveillance Program,” the Fox News host asserted. “Fine. So brave.”
“But then what of this decision yesterday?” she asked. “Is that brave? Would the same deference and pretzel twisting of the law been done for a Republican?”
“I think we all know the answer: NO. It would not,” Perino asserted. “A GOP in the same circumstances would have at least lost their clearance.”
“Maybe the Dems will have enough self respect to recognize they just won this round on a terrible call by a ref,” she added. “If they gloat, I'll scream.”
Again referring to Clinton, Perino stated the Democratic candidate is trying to downplay the email scandal because “she wants to be the president of the United States of America. What does that mean to her? President to half the nation?”
“Every single day when I walked into the White House, I said a prayer of gratitude for the privilege to work on behalf of the nation” as press secretary, she noted.
“I loved working at the White House and for President GWB (George W. Bush), Perino concluded. “I never would have put the country nor his presidency at risk by being so reckless.”
As NewsBusters previously reported, moments after Comey's announcement on Tuesday, Pierre Thomas -- senior justice correspondent for ABC News -- called the judgment an “extraordinary decision” during “a monumental day” in which “a cloud is lifted” for Clinton and her campaign.
Not long after, MSNBC correspondent Kristen Welker, who is covering the Clinton campaign for the liberal cable channel, called the decision a “game-changer” that will “allow the Clinton campaign to move on from” the e-mail scandal.
The Cable News Network joined the fray by allowing Emory University Professor Drew Westen to give advice on how Clinton might combat such negative views toward her by “flimsy excuse-making and blaming others for her 'bogus' scandals.”
Reacting to Comey’s announcement, MSNBC and NBC News Senior Political Editor Bet Fouhy decried the idea that anyone should still be arguing that “the system is rigged” now that Clinton won’t face charges.
Perhaps the most bizarre reaction to the announcement came from NBC News Clinton campaign correspondent Andrea Mitchell, who anchored her MSNBC show from Charlotte and spent the hour repeatedly complaining and lamenting the array of guests on Comey's decision overshadowed the Clinton/President Barack Obama rally.
Meanwhile, Bob Beckel, a liberal correspondent for CNN, likened the conservative boosters of the issue to those who doubt Obama's natural-born citizenship.
Beckel referred to "Bill Clinton meeting with the attorney general at the airport” by declaring “I don't agree with people about this being an unfortunate moment for Obama and Clinton.”
Nevertheless, Perino's view of the situation has the added value of experience she gained while actually working in the White House. As a result, her “bit of a rant” on Twitter gives us the “inside story” on Clinton's email escapades.
