Plagued by scandal and facing a near-unprecedented trust deficit with the American people, Hillary Clinton likely would bring with her to the Oval Office a team of top aides also facing a host of ethical and legal questions — potentially crippling her administration from Day One, political analysts say.
The cadre surrounding Mrs. Clinton — longtime adviser Huma Abedin, trusted aide Cheryl Mills, campaign policy adviser Jake Sullivan and others — has been swept up in the furor over the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server, and those key figures in Clinton world could darken an already thick cloud over a would-be Clinton White House. The sheer spectacle of not only a president but also her closest advisers being dragged before Congress on a regular basis, coupled with a constant drip of new information that will continue long past Inauguration Day, threatens to overwhelm the administration.
“We’re seeing people close to her embroiled in the criminal aspects of what she did, and presumably a lot of them would be working in the White House,” said Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, which has forced the release of thousands of Clinton emails through Freedom of Information Act requests.
“It’s going to be worse than Watergate in the sense that the revelations were made prior to the election, and it’s going to almost immediately blow up,” he said.
Ms. Mills, for example, faces potentially lethal credibility questions. The veteran Clinton adviser and top official in Mrs. Clinton’s State Department was fingered by the Clinton campaign as the person who likely approved her use of a private server, according to hacked emails posted Sunday by WikiLeaks.
Ms. Mills said in a sworn deposition this year that she wasn’t a part of any conversations about the server, but the leaked emails add fuel to the lingering narrative that she, along with others at the top of the Clinton political pyramid, were at best aware of the private server and at worst actively condoned or encouraged its use.
Questions about Mr. Sullivan’s handling of classified information, and campaign chairman John Podesta’s incendiary words about Catholics and Southerners made public by WikiLeaks, a Clinton White House — should it include those officials, as seems likely — may have little credibility in dealing with Congress and could struggle to engender the public’s trust, analysts say.
“Incoming administrations often face scandals with nominees, but most don’t have a carryover from their campaigns,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston who studies presidential leadership.
“The potential baggage from Clinton staffers would complicate the Clinton team’s ability to command the attention of the public with their issues and instead flood the environment with stories about staff problems,” he said.
Top Republicans, such as House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, have said they intend to continue investigations into Mrs. Clinton and her team even after an inauguration, a messy process that easily could drag on for years.
The former first lady clearly would be the focus of such inquiries, but she wouldn’t be alone.
Ms. Abedin, for example, faces renewed questions about her own role in Mrs. Clinton’s email scandal. Records show she was included in at least a handful of classified emails that passed through Mrs. Clinton’s private server.
Mr. Sullivan, who worked with Mrs. Clinton at the State Department and now is a senior policy adviser to her presidential campaign, also has come under fire. Nearly one-third of the classified emails that passed through Mrs. Clinton’s private server included Mr. Sullivan, who seems likely to have a key role in a Clinton White House.
Other top officials in the Clinton campaign, such as top spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri, have been caught up in the WikiLeaks hack of Mr. Podesta’s private email. Ms. Palmieri would have influence in a Clinton White House, as would Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden, whose messages have slammed Catholicism, leading reporters and others.
Their inflammatory comments could dog them politically long after Mrs. Clinton assumes the presidency.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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