title:  Donald Trump’s Own Email Scandal Actually Broke The Law And He Should Be In JAIL
text: This is hypocrisy of the highest order and proves that Donald Trump would only make a mockery of our government institutions if he became president.The Republican nominee has made Hillary Clinton s emails one of his central campaign talking points, much to the delight of his rally crowds who chant  lock her up  at every opportunity because they think she somehow broke the law even though it has been determined by law enforcement that she has not.Trump has called Hillary s email circus  worse than Watergate,  which has drawn sharp criticism from anyone with a fully functioning brain, including former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman, who called the comparison absurd.As it turns out, Donald Trump has his own email scandal that really did break the law.According to Newsweek,  Trump s companies have systematically destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents demanded in official proceedings, often in defiance of court orders  since 1973 when he and his father fought the federal government after they got caught discriminating against African-Americans when it came to housing.Again, we are talking about thousands of emails and documents that multiple judges ordered Trump and his companies to provide to the court. Yet Trump flouted the orders and had the evidence destroyed rather than produce something in court that might help his opponent win the case.This is what is known as  spoliation of evidence  which  is the intentional, reckless, or negligent withholding, hiding, altering, fabricating, or destroying of evidence relevant to a legal proceeding. Such actions are a criminal act and are punishable by a fine or imprisonment.As many times as Trump has committed these acts, he should have been behind bars by now. And he certainly should not be allowed to be president, because it s clear that Trump has no problem ordering his employees to break the law and would most definitely run one of the most secretive administrations in American history. Transparency would no longer exist because Trump hides anything that could hurt him.He has already demonstrated this behavior on the campaign trail by refusing to release his tax returns and his medical records, and now we know that Trump regularly destroys documents and email evidence despite such evidence being ordered provided by a court of law.Hillary Clinton s emails were a one-time mistake that other former Secretaries of State have made, including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, both of whom are Republicans who served in Republican administrations. Nobody made a fuss when they used private servers, yet Trump and his rabid fans are whining about Hillary doing the same thing. If anything, Hillary Clinton is way more transparent than Trump has ever been. She didn t permanently delete the emails. They have all been recovered, which means there wasn t an actual effort to nefariously hide anything. Furthermore, she has released her medical records and tax returns. And she has never destroyed evidence in defiance of a court order.So while Trump s supporters are chanting  lock her up,  it s actually Donald Trump who should be in prison right now.Featured Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images