Unraveling the Clinton Email Scandal

Art+credits+to+Erika+Woo%21

Art credits to Erika Woo!

Sarah John ’16, Non School News Editor

For months now, details on Hillary Clinton’s private email server have dominated the news; this latest Clinton scandal holds special significance due to her presidential bid for 2016. Most recently her usage of a private email server came up in the Benghazi hearing, which focused on the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya in 2012.

Anusha Siddaramanna ‘16 reflected on Clinton’s performance during the hearings remarking, “I think, to her supporters, Clinton came out of the hearing as a strong candidate—while she came out as an untrustworthy nominee to those opposed to her.” Clinton repeatedly has insisted that no wrongdoing occurred when she used her own private email account for state business. However the public does not seem so ready to believe these assertions, since her poll numbers have dropped since the scandal first emerged.

Questions about Clinton’s private server first surfaced during government investigations of the Benghazi attack in October 2014; during this time the State Department asked for access to Clinton’s emails. Clinton handed over 30,000 emails while also deleting another 30,000 emails that she deemed personal and not work related.

In the initial stages of the investigation, Clinton explained to the public that she used a private email server for convenience because she did not want to carry around two devices as Secretary of State. She also claimed that her deleted emails contained no classified information. However, later investigations proved Clinton’s bid for convenience questionable since she did carry around two devices with her: both an iPad and a Blackberry. In addition, her claim that no emails with classified information were deleted was also proven false when the FBI recovered deleted emails that contained classified information.

The Republican-led investigations of Clinton’s emails have caused Democrats to label the investigations a “witch hunt” designed to take down the Democratic frontrunner and hurt her presidential bid. Recently Congressman Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, commented that if it were not for the investigations hounding Clinton, she would be “unbeatable” in 2016. The Clinton campaign has since used this statement to insist that the investigations are motivated by politics.

Rana Shahani ’16 felt similarly, commenting, “It has become clear due to the statements by Kevin McCarthy that this scandal has become a politically motivated issue.” Shahani defended his opinion by noting that 8 congressional committees had been assigned to oversee the issue and that $20 million taxpayer dollars have been spent so far in the investigation.

Although Clinton leads in the polls, this controversy continues to hurt her poll numbers. Specifically, Clinton’s numbers rating her honesty and trustworthiness have decreased drastically. According to a Gallup Poll, when voters think of Hillary Clinton, the first word that comes to mind is “emails.” Time will tell whether this controversy will be a deal-breaker for Clinton in the upcoming general election.