Could No-Indictment and Access to New Clinton Information Turn Minnesota Red?

Source: Wikileaks

This morning’s news of FBI Director James Comey’s pardon of Hillary Clinton comes on the heels of a new Wikileaks database that now houses 1,258 of Hillary Clinton’s emails originally handed over to the Benghazi Committee from her personal email server. The latest development in the Clinton email saga could prove beneficial to Republican leaders who seek to turn Minnesota red.

Wikileaks, which first gained attention in 2006 for publishing classified material involving governments around the world, became famous for aiding NSA Analyst Edward Snowden in leaking classified United States Government intel. The new database within the site now allows average citizens the ability to do detailed searches of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks told The Hill, that they had more than enough evidence to prosecute Clinton and “We could proceed to an indictment, but if Loretta Lynch is the head of the [Department of Justice] in the United States, she’s not going to indict Hillary Clinton.”

A search by Alpha News turned up interesting results.

Source: Wikileaks
Source: Wikileaks

In one email, Clinton admits to “Diane Reynolds”, an alias allegedly used by former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, that “Two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an Al Queda-like group.” Overall, an inventory search of the 1,258 emails shows:

  • “Classified”: 2,414 times
  • “Sensitive Source”: 285
  • “Benghazi”: 829
  • “Top Secret”: 40
  • “Drones”: 65
  • “Military Operation”: 48
  • “Terrorist”: 546

Huffington Post  reported that a Russian hacker known as Guccifer testified before a Federal Judge that he was able to hack into Clinton’s personal server. It is also known that the Kremlin has its own copy of Clinton’s emails.

The next four months will prove difficult for those involved both on the trail and on The Hill as both voters and members of Congress begin to question and scrutinize every move of Hillary Clinton, FBI Director Comey, and Attorney General Lynch that led to the decision of no indictment.

Minnesota will be a must watch state in months leading up to the election. Historically, Hillary Clinton has done poorly in Minnesota presidential elections. In 2008, Clinton lost the Minnesota primary to then Senator Barack Obama by 73,000 votes or 34%. In 2016, Clinton also lost the Minnesota primary to Senator Bernie Sanders by approximately 48,000 votes or 23%. Sanders supporters, who have been vocal of their ideological differences with Clinton have made it clear that  they will consider not voting for Clinton in November. Poll numbers from a Bloomerberg Politics National Poll indicate that 45% of Sanders’ supporters will seek an alternative for Clinton should she receive the nomination, with 22% saying they will vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump and 18% voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

Source: Wikileaks
Source: Wikileaks

The Clinton trust factor could also lead to a new group of voters choosing another option in light of Director Comey’s harsh words for Clinton’s State Department Administration stating, “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” Poll numbers from an NBC – Wall Street Journal Poll suggest that 69% of voters found Clinton’s record of untrust concerning.

New findings in the coming days could lead to that number increasing. Should poll numbers stay the same or continue to show a lack of trust in Clinton, Minnesota could very well be up for play in the 2016 presidential race.

Preya Samsundar

Preya Samsundar was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this Spring with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, with a minor in Strategic Communications. Preya has previously worked on several State Campaign Races.