Hillary Clinton on Friday night mocked interest in her use of a private email server, but a joke about Snapchat could invite more Republican ridicule and add greater focus to a controversy that is already dogging her campaign.
She told a 2,100-person audience at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding dinner here of her recently-created account on Snapchat, the popular picture and video app where users’ messages are automatically erased after they’re seen.
“I love it,” Clinton joked. “Those messages disappear all by themselves.”
The joke was well received in the room, as was her fiery 20-minute speech, during which she took aim at Republicans on issues ranging from education funding to equal pay for women. The entire 2016 Republican presidential field, Clinton said, was “just like (Donald) Trump without the pizzaz and the hair.”
But Clinton’s Snapchat line reflects a persistent problem she’s faced: On the subject of her emails, she can’t get out of her own way, even as her campaign flashes public signs of nervousness about the damage the issue is inflicting.
Again, she handed Republicans a way of highlighting something that has been a major drag on her poll numbers — with a clear majority of Americans saying that they don’t view Clinton as trustworthy.
Not that her GOP opponents needed it. Speaking to reporters in New Hampshire at nearly the same time Clinton was speaking, Trump, the front-runner in Republican presidential polls, said he doesn’t see how she can survive the email issue.
“There’s a lot of pressure on Hillary right now. It’s been brutal. It’s been brutal for Hillary. And I think at some point she’s perhaps not going to be able to run,” Trump said. “She’s going to have to end her campaign. That seems to be the thinking by so many.”
Trump also speculated that Clinton’s difficulties could lead to Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Al Gore entering the race.
Clinton’s use of a personal email address on a private server during her four years as America’s top diplomat was thrust back into the spotlight in recent days when, as a Justice Department probe into those emails expanded, Clinton’s campaign turned over her server to the FBI.
On Friday, Clinton attacked Republicans who have used congressional inquiries to draw attention to the issue, vowing to not “get down in the mud with them.”
But there’s little doubt her email usage has hurt her campaign in the five months since news of the server’s existence broke. The move to turn over the server was, in part, an acknowledgment that the issue has lessened Americans’ views of Clinton’s trustworthiness.
Both Clinton and Trump are in Des Moines on Saturday, where their paths could cross at the Iowa State Fair.