Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Michael Mukasey, Orthodox Ex-Attorney General, Blasts Hillary Clinton as ‘Unfit’

CLEVELAND — Michael Mukasey, the U.S. attorney general under President George W, Bush, attacked Hillary Clinton’s fitness for office at the Republican convention.

Mukasey, speaking Tuesday to the Republican National Convention, outlined examples of what he said were Clinton’s violation of her oath of office when she served as secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s first term, referring to her use of a private email server to send official emails, including some containing classified information.

“Hillary Clinton is asking the people of this country to make her the president in history to take the constitutional oath of office after having violated it,” he said. “No way Hillary!”

The FBI recently concluded that Clinton’s actions with the server were lax, but did not merit prosecution.

Mukasey did not mention nominee Donald Trump in his remarks. During the primaries, he said Trump was unfit to hold office, in part because of the candidate’s broad generalizations about national security,

Mukasey, who is Orthodox, is the second Jew to serve as attorney-general. The first was Ed Levi, who served under President Gerald Ford.

A former judge, he has since leaving office emerged as a fierce critic of Islam, suggesting that the Muslims are rapidly radicalizing.

He has come under fire from anti-torture groups for his defense of the use of waterboarding.

Much of the convention, so far, has focused on attacks in Clinton, leavened occasionally with praise for Trump.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor on Tuesday “tried” Clinton for what he depicted as her foreign policy transgressions, urging the crowd to declare her “guilty.”

One of these was her role in shaping the sanctions relief for nuclear rollback deal.

“She launched the negotiations that brought about the worst nuclear deal in history,” he said.
“It’s a deal that will lead to a nuclear Iran an Israel that is much less secure.”

“Guilty,” the crowd shouted.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version