Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in the hush-money case last week led several social-media users to recall an incident in 2016 when then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton escaped with merely a fine for what was allegedly a case of election interference committed by her campaign. On Saturday, Tesla CEO and X platform owner Elon Musk called it out as a “double standard.”
What Happened: On Saturday, tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist David Sacks took to X to delve deep into the 2016 incident. Calling it a “double standard” himself, he said Clinton’s campaign team was fined $8,000 for violating campaign laws after the team falsely reported the funding of the Steele dossier as “legal services” and “legal and compliance consulting.”
The Steele dossier, a report compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, was financed by Democrats and included allegations about Trump's conduct in Russia and allegations about ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Sacks said in the post that the research was an attempt to smear Trump with “false and salacious allegations.”
“Obviously, it was also intended to influence the 2016 election,” he said.
The entrepreneur also noted that Clinton’s campaign team was then headquartered in the state of New York. This would “make [her campaign’s actions] fall under the jurisdiction of New York Penal Law §175.10, the state law which makes it a felony to falsify business records with the intent to conceal the commission of a crime,” he added.
Delving into the key distinction between Clinton’s campaign violation and Trump’s falsification of business records, Sacks said, “With Hillary's violation, there wasn't a Manhattan prosecutor politically motivated to bring an unprecedented case to trial.”
Musk agreed with Sack, simply responding, “True.”
Musk also commented on a separate post by Human Events’ Senior Editor Jack Poso, who said, “In 2022, Hillary Clinton quietly settled a campaign finance violation over reporting the *Steele Dossier* funding as ‘legal services' She paid a fine and was never even charged with anything.”
“You will never find a Democrat who has a problem with this.”
Poso noted that “the Hillary campaign official that did this is now the Chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler.”
In response, the Tesla CEO said, “This seems like a double-standard. The Steele Dossier was unquestionably election interference.”
Why It’s Important: Trump has emerged as the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 general election. Opinion polls show that he is running a tight race against President Joe Biden, who is the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Each of the 34 felony charges he is convicted of carries a potential $5,000 fine and a four-year prison sentence. Whether Trump will be imprisoned depends on Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who has set the sentencing for July 11. Even if Trump is jailed, he can run for the Nov. 5 presidential election, although he may not be eligible to cast his own vote.
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