It seems Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has decided the best way to move up in the polls is to attempt to be every bit as hyperbolic as Donald Trump. Jindal made an appearance on ABC's This Week, and despite the fact that the State Department has said that Hillary Clinton's email server did not violate their policy, decided to pretend that she's on the verge of landing in prison.
RADDATZ: I want to go back to Donald Trump if we can. In the last 24 hours, we have heard him basically accuse Hillary Clinton's long-time aid Huma Abedin of breaking the law by passing secrets to her husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner who as you know was caught up in a texting scandal. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She receiving this very, very important information and giving it to Hillary? Well, who else is she giving it to? Her husband has serious problems. And on top of that, he now works for a public relations firm.
What she did is a very, very dangerous thing for this country, and probably it's a criminal act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Did Donald Trump cross a line there with those accusations?
JINDAL: Well, look, Martha, I think there's a broader question in terms of how Hillary Clinton has handled not just her but her staff, how they've handled classified information.
What's clear is this, if a private in the military had done what they're accused of doing, there would be real consequences. There shouldn't be a different set of rules for Hillary and her aides than others in the military, than others that deal with classified information.
With Hillary Clinton, it just seems to be one scandal after another. She’s literally one e-mail away from going to jail. She’s sworn to a federal judge she’s turned over all of her work-related e-mails. What I fear is that maybe we’ll have to go the Chinese and the Russians to actually see her e-mails. Those hackers may be the only ones --
RADDATZ: But should -- should Donald Trump be saying things --
JINDAL: -- that truly have all of her e-mails.
RADDATZ: -- like that? Should Donald Trump be saying things like that about Huma Abedin?
JINDAL: Martha, look, I think the bigger issue here, the bigger scandal here, is the fact that Hillary Clinton seems to think what difference does it make? She seems to think the same rules don’t apply to her that apply to the other -- that’s the real issue. I don’t think we should get distracted by others.
I think the real issue here is that she’s not above the law. The real issue is that if any private in the military, if any other government official, had handled classified information the way she is said to have handled classified information, there would have been a court martial, there would have been even criminal prosecution. There would have certainly been consequences. She shouldn’t be above the law. There shouldn’t be a different set of rules for our elected leaders than for the rest of us.
I think that’s one of the reasons voters are so angry. I think one of the things Donald Trump has tapped into, and other candidates have tapped into, is the frustration the American people have against this permanent political elite who think the rules don’t apply to them.
Martha Raddatz, par for the course, proved herself to be about as useful as a potted plant with giving Jindal any push back on this media generated non-scandal.
