While Hillary Clinton edged out rival Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday, her campaign woes continue with confrontations at political events, and more bad news regarding the controversy over her emails, as the U.S. Justice Department is now granting immunity to a former staffer who set up her email system.
In Minnesota on Tuesday, where Bernie Sanders defeated Clinton by more than 23 percent, Clinton was confronted by a Somali-American woman during a campaign stop — now identified as Stacey Rosana — which turned a bit ugly when Rosana challenged Clinton on her “super-predator” comment in a speech back in 1996, and raised concerns that Somali youth were being “stigmatized.”
Some of the video is unintelligible, but after Clinton expressed that her now retracted super-predator label was a one-time comment, Rosana persisted in asking about how Clinton would be accountable to black communities now. The Democratic presidential candidate began talking vaguely about her history, but Rosana wasn’t accepting Clinton’s explanation, interrupting her to tell her Hillary’s account of her record with black Americans wasn’t true.
“I’m happy to give you more information, and the reason that so many black people across America support me is because they know me, they know what I’ve done, and they know I’ll do what I say and I will have a very, uh, comprehensive agenda to deal with a lot of the problems and I am very proud to have met with the Somali American community.”
The next section of the video is unintelligible, but Rosana can be seen shaking her head in disagreement, and that’s when the exchange grew strained, to say the least, with Clinton cutting her off.
“You know what, dear? You have a different opinion. He is a Somali-American elected to the city council, and I am really proud of that. Why don’t you go run for something, then?”
When Rosana responded she works for a Somalia-American, Clinton told her “Well good, good luck to you” before chuckling about the exchange. The video of the awkward confrontation has now gone viral.
Then Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Justice Department granted prosecution immunity to the State Department employee responsible for setting up and managing Hillary Clinton’s private email server she used while secretary of state.
According to the Washington Post , Bryan Pagliano has been given immunity by the FBI in exchange for his cooperation in their investigation into whether Clinton sent or stored classified information through unsecured channels. AOL News reported that out of 30,000 emails turned over by Clinton, over 2,000 emails contain classified information that pose a threat to national security if released, and 22 of those were classified as “top secret,” the highest level security required.
However, Clinton “chose not to keep” thousands of other emails that her staff claimed weren’t related to her job as Secretary of State, and Clinton staffers have admitted other work-related emails have not been turned over, with no explanation as to why.
Pagliano had previously invoked his Fifth Amendment rights when questioned about the emails, citing his right against self-incrimination. Brian Fallon, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said they are happy Pagliano is now cooperating with the investigation.
“As we have said since last summer, Secretary Clinton has been cooperating with the Department of Justice’s security inquiry, including offering in August to meet with them to assist their efforts if needed.”
Hillary Clinton maintains no wrongdoing has occurred in her handling of email and that she believes the investigation will vindicate her, and has apologized.
“Yes, I should have used two email addresses, one for personal matters and one for my work at the State Department. Not doing so was a mistake. I’m sorry about it, and I take full responsibility.”
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]