Top defense officials who mistakenly included a journalist in an encrypted group chat about airstrikes in Yemen engaged in what officials have described as a devastating breach of national security.
But just a few years ago, several members of that group chat criticized Hillary Clinton for using a private email server to conduct official business when she was secretary of state under President Barack Obama.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who disclosed the war plans in the chat this month, condemned Mrs. Clinton’s actions during a Fox News segment in November 2016.
“Any security professional — military, government or otherwise — would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct and criminally prosecuted for being so reckless with this kind of information,” he said.
Mr. Hegseth was also adamant that anyone engaging in similar acts should be summarily punished.
“People have gone to jail for one one-hundredth of what, even one one-thousandth of what Hillary Clinton did,” he said during a Fox Business segment that same month.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, another participant in the encrypted group chat, also voiced those sentiments in a Fox News appearance in 2016, when he was running for president.
