It’s time to put the Hillary Clinton email controversy to bed once and for all. The news about the end of an investigation into the former Secretary of State’s emails was buried in what some refer to as a “Friday night news dump.” Late this past Friday, the Washington Post wrote:
A multiyear State Department probe of emails that were sent to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s private computer server concluded there was no systemic or deliberate mishandling of classified information by department employees, according to a report submitted to Congress this month.
The report appears to represent a final and anticlimactic chapter in a controversy that overshadowed the 2016 presidential campaign and exposed Clinton to fierce criticism that she later cited as a major factor in her loss to President Trump.
It seems like a huge story based on how much this has been covered over the years, but it was barely a blip on the radar for many news outlets.
Regardless of the coverage, or lack of it, this is significant nonetheless. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin wrote, “Note the mostly buried news that State Dept closed @HillaryClinton email probe with this verdict: no big deal. As a journalist, I regret my role in blowing this story out of proportion.”
Perhaps it’s a little late for mea culpa. And as several media outlets ran stories about Clinton’s comments about a particular Democratic candidate being “a favorite of the Russians,” Rolling Stone writer Jamal Smith said:
“This is the only news concerning @HillaryClinton that I give a shit about today. We spent an entire election on this inane story four years ago because a lot of otherwise intelligent people deemed it important. Many of them still run media outlets today.”
Politico points out that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was one of those who “pressed the State Department to investigate,” but after the report was released, “A Grassley spokesman had no comment on State’s findings.”
No doubt this report won’t make any difference in Trump’s world. But his supporters chants of “lock her up” will ring more hollow than ever.
This post contains opinion and analysis
