Retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn called on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to quit the presidential race, saying at the GOP’s convention Monday that the former State Department secretary has disqualified herself for mishandling classified information.
In a night focused on denting the former first lady, senator and top U.S. diplomat, and which saw two of the men who tried to fight off the attack in Benghazi in 2016 accuse her of costing the lives of their comrades, Gen. Flynn said Mrs. Clinton should be in prison.
“You know why we’re saying that? We’re saying that because if I, a guy who knows this business — if I did a tenth of what she did, I’d be in jail today,” he said.
While most of the evening’s attacks focused on Mrs. Clinton’s Libya policy and her handling of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, the GOP delegates were eager to press the issue of Mrs. Clinton’s secret email server.
“Hillary for prison,” one woman near the back of the floor shouted repeatedly throughout the evening.
Gen. Flynn was serenaded with chants of “lock her up” — and he diverted from his prepared remarks to agree with those delegates.
“That’s right, lock her up,” he said, adding, “I use #neverHillary.”
The FBI concluded that Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” with national security information in her use of a secret email server during her time as secretary. But FBI Director James Comey said prosecutors would never take the case, and he recommended against pursuing charges against her. Attorney General Loretta Lynch agreed with that conclusion — a move the Clinton campaign said is a vindication of her.
Gen. Flynn, a registered Democrat, had been rumored to be among Mr. Trump’s potential vice presidential picks.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.