Fox News Hosts Clash Over Trump Indictment: 'Nothing to Do With Hillary'

Fox News presenters clashed on Friday over whether Donald Trump's indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents is in any way comparable with the Hillary Clinton email scandal, which saw her use a private server for government work.

Trump's 49-page indictment was released by federal prosecutors on Friday, revealing the former president faces 37 felony counts, including 31 brought under the Espionage Act. The business tycoon turned Republican politician, who says he is innocent, is expected to make his first appearance before a Miami court on Tuesday.

Polling shows Trump is the current Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election, meaning his legal battles are likely to play a significant role in the campaign. The ex-president also faces charges related to his alleged payment of hush money to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, in a separate case in which he denies any wrongdoing.

Trump's legal troubles were discussed at length on Friday's edition of Fox News discussion show The Five, which regularly ranks as the network's most watched program.

After host Jesse Watters brought up Clinton's emails, Jessica Tarlov, who tends to provide a more liberal voice on the show, interjected, commenting: "This has absolutely nothing to do with Hillary Clinton."

After Jeanine Pirro, another host, insisted it "has everything to do with it," Tarlov shot back: "No it doesn't. If you want to argue, you want to talk about the difference again between gross negligence and extremely careless, a lot of people have that conversation.

"But today you're looking at boxes of classified documents strewn across a public place, also that were transported to another location, even to the point [that] whoever the family member [was] who texts 'I won't be able to fit all the boxes on the plane, whatever shall we do?"

A 52-second clip of the exchange was posted on Twitter by the Acyn account, attracting more than 330,000 views and 2,700 likes.

Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state was a major issue during the 2016 presidential election, which she lost to then Republican candidate Trump. Then FBI Director James Comey described Clinton's behavior as "extremely careless" during a July 2016 press conference, when he said the agency had concluded that "no charges are appropriate in this case."

The FBI controversially reopened its investigation into Clinton's emails during the campaign, just 11 days before polling day, before standing by its original decision not to recommend charges. A State Department investigation later found no evidence of deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees, but did conclude Clinton's use of a private server increased the risk of hacking.

Prosecutors released photos that they said showed classified information being stored in Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida private members club which was raided by the FBI in August 2022.

Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing, alleging the case is politically motivated on his Truth Social website.

He wrote: "I AM AN INNOCENT MAN. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS TOTALLY CORRUPT. THIS IS ELECTION INTERFERENCE & A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"

Previously Trump suggested he had declassified the files recovered from Mar-a-Lago, which he claimed the president can do "even by thinking about it."

Trump hit out at Tarlov in a January outburst after she criticized him on The Five, saying "her facts are knowingly wrong" and "her voice is grating and unendurable."