Busy in the dirty work of torpedoing 67-year-old former First Lady, U.S. Senator (D-N.Y.) and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the GOP clandestine establishment just got some bad news in their efforts to put a Republican back in the White House. Rumored for years to run for president, the GOP establishment knew from the get-go they had one hope of keeping Hillary out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave: Sabotage any semblance of a future campaign. Well before declaring for president April 12, Reince Priebus and the Republican National Committee figured out before Obama was re-elected to his second term, Hillary would be unstoppable heading into the 2016 presidential sweepstakes. Starting with the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the GOP relentlessly pursued Hillary’s culpability.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appointed 51-year old Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) May 5, 2014 to head a Select Committee investigating the Benghazi attack. President Barack Obama didn’t help matters telling then U.N. Amb. Susan Rice to go on Sunday morning talk shows after the attack, telling the press that the Benghazi mission was torched by spontaneous rioting from Muslim protests. When that proved false, the GOP went wild trying to pin Rice’s smoke on a White House cover-up before the Nov. 4, 2012 presidential election. When Gowdy’s inquiry didn’t pan out, the GOP’s attention shifted to revelations that Hillary used private email during her tenure as Secretary of State. Breaking news March 2 about Hillary using private emails, the New York Times handed the GOP a belated Christmas gift hoping to find another way to sabotage her fledgling campaign.
Running with the story since March 2, the GOP media wing, largely run through Fox News, the Drudgereport and NewsMax, dedicated saturation coverage to Hillary’s alleged email crimes, hoping FBI or Justice Department indictments would follow. GOP’s right wing media campaign hoped to show that Hillary deleted what she calls “personal” emails to cover-up nefarious activities, possibly accepting bribes from foreign governments. Seeking to derail a lawsuit filed by conservative Judicial Watch, the Justice Department filed in District Court Sept. 13 that Hillary had a right to delete some 30,000 private emails, not relevant to her government work. “There is no question that former Secretary of State Clinton has authority to delete personal emails without agency supervision—she appropriately could have done so if she were working on a government server,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
News of the Justice Department filing traveled quickly from Capitol Hill to the Republican National Committee. All the effort put into hammering Hillary on the email scandal was about to backfire, especially if the email scandal amounted to a tempest-in-a-teapot. Judicial Watch hoped to file under the Freedom of Information Act to force Hillary to reproduce her deleted private emails. Judicial Watch’s lawsuit claims Hillary engaged in a cover-up involving obstruction of justice regarding deleting her private emails. Telling the District Court that Hillary legally deleted emails turns the GOP strategy to discredit Hillary on its head. “Government agencies,” said the Justice Department, “are not required to take steps to recover deleted material based on unfounded speculation that responsive information had been deleted, throwing cold water on the Judicial Watch’s case.
If the GOP’s legal and media strategy against Hillary backfires, she’ll find herself with a clear path to the White House. If nothing else, the Justice Department filing with the District Court against Judicial Watch shows there are no pending criminal actions against Hillary. As that news filters into the media, it could help Hillary’s campaign turn the corner of what’s become an annoying distraction. Reacting quickly to the Justice Department filing, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, asked the Justice Department for clarification. Both men have wanted to offer Hillary’s Web master, Brian Pagliano, immunity for testifying about scrubbing Hillary’s server. Grassley and Johnson want to know whether the FBI or Justice Department are pursuing a criminal investigation.
Recent filings by the Justice Department suggest strongly that the GOP—and its right wing media—case against Hillary appears to be petering out. Unless the FBI or Justice Department finds any criminal wrongdoing, the GOP strategy to discredit Hillary begins to unravel. Word of the Justice Department stating Hillary had a right to delete some 30,000 private emails, whether or not it was on her own or government server, indicates Hillary’s so-called email scandal has started to fade out. Pagliano handed the GOP some red meat last week asserting his Fifth Amendment right, refusing to answer questions regarding the 2012 Benghazi attacks. Refusing to answer questions gave the GOP more ammunition to continue questioning Hillary’s motives. With legal—and media—options dwindling against Hillary, the GOP looks to change strategies to keep Hillary out of the Oval Office.
