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State Dept. is an arm of Clinton campaign

Hillary Clinton’s primary defense against allegations of wrongdoing raised by the recent release of emails involving her and Democrat Party officials has been to note there is no way to determine whether the information released by WikiLeaks is accurate. Some of it may have been faked in an attempt to harm her campaign, aides have said.

But there is no such defense against one revelation during the past few days. It is 100 percent the truth, according to the FBI.

Clinton has been under fire for more than a year for using private email servers while secretary of state to handle messages to and from her that contained government secrets. That is illegal, as Clinton knew when she undertook the practice.

Finding out just what was in emails stored on her private server — and vulnerable to discovery by foreign hackers — took some doing. The State Department delayed releasing much of the material for months.

It is no surprise to learn some of Clinton’s aides attempted to persuade the FBI to deal with some of the emails as not containing classified material even though they clearly did.

And in one contact, State Department official Patrick Kennedy, a longtime Clinton aide, sought to prevent public disclosure of one email he clearly worried would embarrass him and Clinton. He wanted the FBI to classify the message in such a way that it could be hidden, “never to be seen again.”

Then came the attempt to persuade the FBI to play ball. The agency had sought State Department approval for more FBI agents to be stationed in certain countries. Concealing the message might result in that happening, it was suggested.

All this has been admitted by the FBI, which adds no deal ever was made. There was no “quid pro quo,” the agency insists.

Still, the episode is more proof that for a time, some in the State Department were functioning as an arm of the Clinton for president campaign — safeguarding her, not U.S. interests abroad.

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