Some days working on Hillary Clinton's campaign have been tougher than others — like those that involved the fallout from her use of a private email server while secretary of state. In fact, hacked emails released by WikiLeaks show that some of her biggest allies were also some of her biggest critics. In the messages, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta had some frank words for how the Democratic nominee handled the server. Campaign Chair John Podesta listens backstage to Hillary Clinton at an Iowa rally in January. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) The Post's Rosalind Helderman has the whole story. Some highlights from the emails: “Speaking of transparency, our friends Kendall, Cheryl and Phillipe sure weren’t forthcoming on the facts here.” That's Podesta in a March 2015 email, the day news broke Clinton had used a private email account and before he was on Team Clinton. (Here he's referring to Clinton's personal lawyer and State Department aides. The broader point is: He was getting ready to lead a presidential campaign and didn't know about the email server until the rest of us did. Which is probably something he would have liked to know.) “Why didn’t they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy,” replied Neera Tanden, a friend of Podesta's who has also worked for Clinton. “I guess I know the answer. They wanted to get away with it.” Then, in September 2015 as the Clinton camp fretted over Vice President Biden entering the presidential race, Podesta wrote: “We’ve taken on a lot of water that won’t be easy to pump out of the boat. Most of that has to do with terrible decisions made pre-campaign, but a lot has to do with her instincts.” “Almost no one knows better [than] me that her instincts can be terrible.” -- Tanden replied. So… what can we learn from this? Two things: 1) Clinton's allies and her staff were sometimes frustrated with their nominee. 2) That's likely because they instinctively grasped that her email setup would be a massive political problem, in a way it doesn't seem Clinton herself did. She would apologize, but with caveats, like insisting no laws were broken (more on that below). Fix Boss Chris Cillizza writes that Clinton's email setup “played into an existing narrative that Clinton thought the rules didn't apply to her.” These new emails show some in her campaign instinctively got that. You've been warned, possible future President Clinton
(Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images) Republicans, you may have heard, are furious the FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against Clinton. There's not a lot they can do to change that. (Congress can't charge someone with a crime). But there's plenty they can do to make her life harder politically. If Republicans hold onto the House (likely) and Clinton becomes president (also likely), House Republicans are expecting to launch years-long investigations into her server, reports The Post's David Weigel. Again, it's doubtful they'll find anything the FBI didn't. But a years-long investigation by Congress into the sitting president is exactly the sort of thing that could undermine whatever political capital Clinton might start off with. Speaking of things that could undermine the next president ... | 