WASHINGTON — The former US ambassador to Kenya said he was flabbergasted Friday to learn that Hillary Clinton did the exact same thing he did with e-mail — only he got punished and she’s getting protected.
Scott Gration said he was hammered in 2012 by the State Department for using his personal e-mail on official business while Clinton, who ran the entire agency, is being defended three years later.
“I was very surprised to learn of the double standard,” Gration told CNN.
Gration served as President Obama’s ambassador to Kenya but stepped down before the release of an internal inspector general’s report that cited, among other things, his use of commercial e-mail in violation of State Department policy.
The former Air Force general was so miffed, he named names — singling out Clinton’s longtime aide Cheryl Mills for what amounted to hypocrisy.
Gration said Mills “obviously knew Secretary Clinton was using commercial e-mail, yet she stated my use of Gmail was one of the reasons I had to move on.”
Clinton has been under fire this week after revelations she used a private e-mail account to conduct all of her official business while serving as secretary of state — and had no separate official government account.
The e-mail issue was only one of several facing Gration before he resigned. An investigation also determined his leadership was “divisive and ineffective.”
The White House continued to field questions Friday about whether President Obama or administration lawyers knew about Clinton’s unusual arrangement.
“I didn’t receive one of those e-mails. I think it is reasonable to expect that they [officials] noticed that she was not using a “.gov” e-mail address,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. “But I think they also had the expectation, as they do for all employees of the administration, that they’re properly complying with the Federal Records Act.”