Today's Question Blog

Is Hillary Clinton a political liability for Democrats?

"Late Monday night, the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt reported that Hillary Clinton, when she was secretary of state, only used a personal email address for conducting official business. It’s just the latest in a string of negative stories that have put Clinton on the defensive—and should make Democrats extremely concerned about her uncontested path to the nomination," writes Danny Vinik for the New Republic.

The Times claims that during her time at the State Department, Clinton broke federal regulations about email use. “Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers at the time, as required by the Federal Records Act,” Schmidt wrote. That may not be precisely true: The Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky discovered that the Federal Records Act only required Clinton to preserve copies of her emails, which Clinton appears to have done. It wasn't until October 2014—a year and a half after Clinton left office—that the State Department finally issued specific instructions for employee record management.

https://twitter.com/josephfcox/status/574292695067312128

Vinik adds:

Clinton herself isn't speaking. As a still-unofficial presidential candidate, she doesn't feel compelled to answer questions about this latest damaging report. But she should—because it’s starting to appear that Clinton is far less prepared for a presidential run than anyone expected.

Today's Question: Is Hillary Clinton a political liability for Democrats?