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Richardson: Email Scandal Overblown; Hillary Here to Stay
Thursday, August 20, 2015 05:55 PM
By: Bill Hoffmann
Do not count Hillary Clinton out — because the email scandal surrounding the former secretary of state will eventually fade and she'll triumph as the Democratic choice to run for president, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson tells Newsmax TV.
"Obviously some mistakes have been made by the campaign. But in the end, the facts are going to be that there was no classified information. She was the secretary of state. She would know what is classified," Richardson, a Democrat, said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show."
"We've got to get all the facts here. This thing has gotten so politicized with all these investigations, mainly partisan ones … But I predict that at the end of the day towards the end of the campaign, this will not be an issue.
"The American people care about jobs, the economy. They care about foreign policy, they care about environmental issues. I just think right now, because she's a front-runner … she's drawing all this scrutiny. But in the end, she's got staying power … she'll be the Democratic nominee."
Clinton, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, is being investigated by the FBI over her use of a private email address and server as secretary of state — and the possibility that top secret materials were exchanged on the unsecured system.
Federal investigators, who are combing through Clinton's email server, have flagged more than 300 emails that passed through her email account that may have contained classified information.
But Richardson, the former U.S. secretary of energy, said those "classifications" are likely much ado about nothing.
"I can tell you the State Department, it's a huge — I ran the Department of Energy, thousands of people, thousands of documents, thousands of technology. Let's just get the facts here, but I don't believe any strong jeopardizing [of] national security has happened," he said.
"I mean she's the secretary of state, she would know. She would know what is classified and what isn't. Let me tell you, bureaucrats love to classify. There's a certain classification, limited official use, which is like nothing and they classify it. So let's just get the facts.
"In the meantime, focus on the issues that she's talking about and she's talking about some good issues. She's talking about economic populism, climate change, she's talking about not drilling in the Arctic, which is a good thing. She's talking about Wall Street. She's got good issues out there. Let's judge the candidates on the issues."
Richardson said he doesn't believe that Vice President Joe Biden, said to be mulling a run against Clinton, will throw his hat in the ring.
"It certainly would become a race because he's been a very good vice president, he has a labor base, he has wide acceptance within the Democratic Party. But his own personal situation is going to lead him not to run," Richardson told Steve Malzberg.
He added: "But who knows, who knows, Clinton would be a formidable candidate."
