Clinton was riding high on Tuesday following a series of decisive primary victories that seemed to put her on an unstoppable path to the Democratic presidential nomination.
But after her campaign celebrated big victories against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the marquee issue that Republicans hope will sink her in the general election was thrust back into the spotlight.
The day after her Super Tuesday victories, a law enforcement official leaked that Bryan Pagliano, who helped set up Clinton’s personal server, has been granted immunity in exchange for his cooperation with the FBI’s investigation.
Pagliano, a former information technology official with the State Department, is seen as a key figure in the investigation into whether Clinton illegally transmitted classified information over her private server.
Clinton has consistently maintained no information that was classified at the time passed through her server, and a spokesperson immediately said that the campaign was “pleased” that Pagliano is cooperating with the FBI’s investigation.
Still, the immunity deal adds to the appearance of possible misconduct in Clinton’s email practices — and creates more uncertainty for her campaign.
Republicans have repeatedly invoked the possibility of criminal charges against Clinton in the server investigation. GOP front-runner Donald Trump has suggested Clinton might not be able to run for president, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday called the immunity deal “an ominous development for the Clinton campaign.”
“This is nothing but bad news for Hillary,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist.
Deepening Republican suspicions, Pagliano has previously declined to speak to investigators from both the Statement Department Office of Inspector General and the FBI. In September, he exercised his Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to provide answers to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, citing the "current political environment.”
Legal experts say the kind of deal the Department of Justice (DOJ) has struck with Pagliano is common in cases where investigators want to work their way up the food chain in uncovering possible criminal activity.
Bernie Sanders believes that Americans are not stupid and here's a chance for him to be proven right;
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Sunday that Wall Street is influencing rivalHillary Clinton with millions of dollars in campaign donations and speaking fees.
"Obviously, I don't think there's any debate," he said on "Fox News Sunday," in response to a question about whether Wall Street donations have influenced the former secretary of State.
"She's obviously not the only candidate out there," he said. "Many Republicans are raising huge amounts of money from Wall Street as well."
He added that every candidate says that the donations from Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry don't impact their decisions.
"Every candidate says that. Well the question that we ask: Is Wall Street and all of these other billionaires and wealthy individuals, are they really so dumb? Why are they contributing to much money?"
"I'll let the American people make that decision," he said.
Bernie has long preferred to focus on the issues rather than his opponents and the bulk of his interviews reflect that; See Video; Bernie talks about Medicare For All
No comments:
Post a Comment