Recently, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told radio host Hugh Hewitt that, “I think the odds are pretty high countries like Iran, China, and Russia hacked Hillary Clinton’s email server.” Considering that the intelligence community’s inspector general discovered that the server contained documents that were classified as “above top secret,” the news constitutes one of the most serious possible penetrations of the American government’s secrets in the history of the Republic. The irony is that 0secrets may have been exposed to America’s greatest enemies, not as a result of a master spy penetrating the most inner circles of the government. Those secrets were revealed because a willful, entitled woman decided to use a private, unsecured email system, the better to keep secret what she was up to from the American government she allegedly served. Those secrets may have included how the Clintons were using Ms. Clinton’s status as secretary of state to sell influence.
To understand the damage that Clinton has done to the United States, the kinds of documents that Gates thinks were purloined from her server likely included the identities of deep cover agents and accounts of covert operations.Documents described in the IG’s letter would have been only for the eyes of high government officials, including the president of the United States.
The betting among political and media insiders is that the question is now not whether Clinton will be indicted for violations of the Espionage Act, but when. Even so, Hillary Clinton, aside from accusing the IG of working with her Republican enemies, is behaving as if nothing is happening. She is still campaigning as if she thinks a chance exists that she will become president.
The moment the indictment is handed down, Clinton will have to decide whether to withdraw from the race or to try to brazen it out. The former path would be gut-wrenching for her. She has put up with so much, particularly with her husband’s sexual misconduct, to satisfy her will for power. The latter path may be impossible. Democratic voters are already turning away from her to Sen. Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist. Hillary Clinton does not enjoy the fervent popularity that her husband used to have. No reason exists for Democrats to stand by Clinton and not turn to Sanders, who is promising a lot of free stuff, to be paid for by others.
Clinton may have to make a deal with the Obama administration. If she pleads guilty to a lesser charge, she gets a suspended prison sentence. The White House would then be spared a long, drawn-out spectacle of a trial during which every piece of dirty laundry will be exposed for all to see. The horrible damage that Clinton caused, under the very noses of President Obama and his people, will be swept under the rug. Everyone wins, except, of course, for the American people.