Things are looking up for Trump as Clinton stumbles

Published May 26, 2016 5:24pm ET



Donald Trump looks to be having the best week of his campaign since he became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

The New York billionaire cleared the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination on Thursday, and is likely to add a couple hundred more delegates to his count following the remaining GOP primaries on June 7.

But beyond reaching that magical number, which officially puts Trump at the helm of the Republican Party, the billionaire was handed fresh material this week that he’s used to facilitate his argument that Hillary Clinton is “crooked.”

On Monday, news broke that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is being investigated by the FBI and Justice Department over possible illegal campaign contributions. McAuliffe is a longtime friend of the Clintons and a former board member of the Clinton Global Initiative. And his gubernatorial campaign manager Robby Mook now runs the former secretary of state’s presidential campaign.

Trump has yet to comment on the investigation (he donated $25,000 to McAuliffe’s first campaign for governor in 2009), but he could turn it into a line of attack against Clinton if further negative developments unfold.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when the State Department Inspector General released a report about Clinton’s private email server, claiming they found “no evidence that [Clinton] requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business” on it.

The OIG report also concluded that she violated the agency’s record-keeping rules by not preserving “any federal records she created and received on her personal account by printing and filing those records with the related files in the Office of the Secretary.”

“The Inspector General’s report on Crooked Hillary Clinton is a disaster,” Trump fired off in a tweet Thursday morning. “Such bad judgement and temperament cannot be allowed in the [White House].”

Hours before his morning attack on Twitter, the billionaire blasted his opponent in front of thousands of voters at a campaign rally in Anaheim, Calif. “She had a little bad news today, as you know from some reports that came down. Not so good.”

The report gives Trump enough ammo to hit Clinton on a subject that has haunted her campaign this cycle, and allows him to put the 1990s sex scandals he recently rehashed to target her and her husband on the backburner, if only temporarily.

Trump also began the week with a series of weekend polls that showed him tied with, or ahead of Clinton nationally. He now leads the former first lady by a single percentage point in the RealClearPolitics polling average, and has been quick to brag about his lead during interviews and campaign appearances.

Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign has had to do damage control following Wednesday’s OIG report while their candidate is under continued attack in her battle against Bernie Sanders.

Just this week, the Vermont senator accused Clinton of “insulting” California voters by refusing to debate him ahead of the state’s June 7 primary.

“Democracy, and respect for the voters of California, would suggest that there should be a vigorous debate in which the voters may determine whose ideas they support,” Sanders said in a statement Monday night. “I hope Secretary Clinton reconsiders her unfortunate decision to back away from her commitment to debate.”

Clinton’s prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination has quickly become another line of attack for her general election opponent.


Unfortunately for the Clinton campaign, Trump could finish off the week with another headline-grabber that’s likely to put the former secretary of state on her toes.

Trump told comedian Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night that he would be willing to debate Clinton’s Democratic opponent in California since she denied Sanders’ invitation.

“If he paid a nice sum toward the charity, I would love to do that,” Trump said, prompting Sanders to respond: “Game on.”