Clinton Email Reveals Could be Damning Even if There Are No Legal Consequences

Americans are not likely to know whether the Hillary Clinton email controversy will result in campaign-crippling criminal charges until sometime in early 2016. But while charges against Clinton would surely sink her presidential bid, the former Secretary of State could see very real damage to her campaign from the behind the scenes look into the Clinton machine provided by the ongoing release of emails from her private server.

Clinton is currently under investigation by the FBI for the possible mishandling of classified information while Secretary of State. As I noted in last Sunday's column, it's a complicated investigation filled with political elements. At this point, there's little but guesswork in terms of knowing what impact it could ultimately have on her campaign. But as the email dumps continue to drop, voters are getting a closer look at the inner workings of the Clinton dynasty, and what they're seeing could be a huge liability come next fall, regardless of whether she escapes charges.

Most recently, emails from Clinton's personal account revealed that she had intervened on behalf of her son-in-law, hedge-fund partner Marc Mezvinsky, when an investor in a mining firm asked him to help set up contacts at the State Department, while a Law of the Sea Treaty was being negotiated. Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, forwarded the email to then-Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides (now Vice Chairman at Morgan Stanley), asking him to have someone follow up on it.

The emails do not reveal what, if anything, happened next. However, they do serve to remind voters that Clinton's close ties to Wall Street include family members. In fact, when her daughter's husband, Wall Street millionaire Marc Mezvinsky–himself the son of two former members of Congress, including a father, Ed Mezvinsky, who pleaded guilty to cheating family and friends out of more than $10 million in a Ponzi scheme–set up his hedge fund, the initial investors included a who's who of Clinton family campaign supporters and foundation donors.

Wall Street firms and big banks are Clinton's largest source of financial support in her campaign. Clinton made big money giving paid talks to companies like Goldman Sachs, which paid her $750,000 for three speeches shortly after she left the Senate in 2006. Those same deep pockets have given plenty to the Clinton Foundation, another sore spot for her campaign, which has had to defend against claims that it is another mechanism in which special interests can trade donations for access to the couple's influence.

The emails also reveal much lobbying by Clinton allies who seemed to be looking to tap the SOS's influence. Most notably, former ambassador Joe Wilson lobbied Clinton when he was consulting for an African utilities company. Less than a year later, Symbion Power was awarded a lucrative contract to help develop the power grid in Tanzania through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a federal agency that helps develop projects in foreign countries. Clinton served as chair of the MCC board in her capacity as Secretary of State.

One of Clinton's more frequent contacts in the emails is political operative Sidney Blumenthal, who was a White House aide to Bill and remains close with the family. Blumenthal often emailed Clinton to discuss political gossip but also introduced business-related matters, including Wilson's utilities pitch. In some instances, Blumenthal appears to have had a financial stake in companies he lobbied the SOS on behalf of, such as a security company that sought to provide security services in Libya. In many of the other emails, it is unclear whether or not Blumenthal was paid by companies to lobby Clinton on their behalf.

Blumenthal clearly seemed to have an impressive channel of access to Clinton while she was Secretary of State. The emails remind voters of the Clintons' unparalleled network of political operatives, wealthy corporate executives and other business interests that have helped them build a historic political dynasty in one generation. In a year in which outsider candidates and non-Washington elites are clearly striking a chord with the electorate, none of this is good for Clinton's image with voters, especially since they highlight many of the issues they seem to like least about the person vying to be America's first female president.

Another email that would surely be used by a Republican opponent in campaign commercials show that Clinton slept past staff efforts to set up an intelligence briefing, just two days after the attacks on the U.S embassy in Benghazi. Clinton, who ran the infamous who do you want answering the phone at the White House when it rings at 3 a.m.? ads in 2008, will almost surely get guff for being asleep at 9:30 a.m. during a crisis.