The first Democratic congressman has come forward and said that Hillary Clinton’s emails are a serious problem that “could upend her campaign.”
In an interview with a local news station, Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., described the scandal “as very confusing” and worried about its impact on the presidential race.
“I just never feel I have a grasp of what the facts are,” he said Wednesday. “Clearly, she has handled it poorly from the first day. And, there’s the appearance of dishonesty, if it’s not dishonest.”
Clinton has been under fire for using a personal email account housed on a private server while she was secretary of state, raising questions about whether classified information was mishandled. The Democratic presidential front-runner has steadfastly denied the unsecure server was ever used to send or receive such sensitive information. The server is now in the hands of government investigators.
Yarmuth, the last surviving Democrat in Kentucky’s congressional delegation, says that if Clinton is being truthful the matter will “boil over.”
“But, I still think there is a chance this could upend her campaign,” he added. Yarmuth told the station he expected Clinton to be the Democratic nominee.
Up until now, public expressions of concern over Clinton’s emails have largely been limited to Democratic operatives. Other prominent Democrats have generally preferred to fret to reporters about the political fallout over the emails anonymously.
While Clinton said Tuesday that only the media cares about the email controversy and longtime confidantes like James Carville have insisted she will be “just fine,” we now have at least one Democratic congressman who says he is worried it will derail her campaign.
