Silence is not guilt, but silence can only raise questions, questions that should be answered during a presidential campaign, ABC News contributor Bill Kristol intimated to Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg on Monday.
Kristol was responding to the revelations Hillary Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin had ties for 10 years to a radical Muslim journal before joining her staff at the State Department and her current campaign. When those discoveries have been made in the past, Kristol said on "Steve Malzberg Show," "people tend to get fired or disciplined, and the Clinton team seems to have no interest in any of that at all."
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Kristol, who opined "Three Baby Boom Presidents Would Have Been Enough" in the The Weekly Standard on Aug. 12, wants answers from the Clinton campaign.
"I guess the only thing is shouldn't she [Abedin] just answer the questions about it and shouldn't Hillary Clinton answer the questions?" Kristol asked. "What's amazing is not that we're having this conversation, it's a thing that's out there and a normal campaign would have answered within 24 hours. Have they answered? Have they explained anything, the Clinton campaign?
"That is a little stunning and again, in general, I think that is a very legitimate – this is one of the reasons why I find her so unacceptable: Who's ever heard of a candidate going, what, 200 plus days without — is this literally true that she hasn't had a press conference?"
Trump's new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway criticized the media Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" for not holding Mrs. Clinton accountable for going "260 days" without a news conference.
Kristol said at least the Republican presidential campaign is delivering details of its campaign to the public.
"I'm not a fan of Donald Trump as you know, but I will say this, that he does answer questions and his campaign answers questions," Kristol told Malzberg. "And so, if he says something or someone associated with him says something, you can usually get an answer about whether they stand by it or what the circumstances were — why someone says something or whatever."
Kristol also echoed Trump's call Monday on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" for the Democratic presidential campaign to cut ties with The Clinton Foundation.
"The Clinton global initiative thing is beyond belief," Kristol said. "And then they announce that they're cutting off contributions, but only if she were to become president, right? Not now.
"So people can buy an amazing amount of good will [right] now. It really is astonishing."
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