The 2016 US presidential election has taken an unprecedented turn following disclosure of findings by the Inspector General of the Department of State on use of email on personal server by Hillary Clinton, now presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, as Secretary of State. Similarly, presumptive candidate of the Republican Party Donald Trump is likely to face a criminal case by a group of students of the Donald Trump University on a charge of cheating.
The Inspector General's findings allege that Hillary Clinton's emails broke the Department's rules by setting up her own email server while she failed to report hacking attempts and waved off warning. The report also indicated that Hillary Clinton did not seek approval for her odd email arrangement. These appear to be a violation of federal laws. On the other hand, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also conducting a probe into her use of emails on personal server.
The former Secretary of State has become first female candidate of one of the major US political parties to clinch presidential nomination. She secured support of 2,777 delegates, including 577 super-delegates, following six primary elections, including the biggest states of California and New Jersey, on June 07.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has congratulated Hillary Clinton for being all set to be nominee of the Democratic Party. He has also talked to Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been contesting against Hillary Clinton for Democratic Party's presidential nomination. After an hour-long meeting with Obama, Sanders told reporters at the White House that he is looking forward to working with Clinton to defeat Trump in the fall. He added that he would do everything to make sure that Trump does not become President of the United States. During his hour-long meeting with the President, he discussed major issues that the country and the people are confronted with. He also had conversation with the Democratic Party's minority leader in Senate Senator Harry M.Reid who has sought to play the role of a peace broker between Sanders and Clinton.
With the primary season of presidential election about to end soon, campaign conducted by Senator Sanders for Democratic Party lost its bite. He was relatively unknown in the US political arena until he joined the presidential campaign last year. He had made grassroots campaign raising impressive amounts of funds from the downtrodden people. He received valedictory praise for his courage to stand against millionaires and billionaires who dictate elections in the US. Sanders has succeeded in bringing younger generation, both men and women, into the fold of his campaign. Senator Sanders received positive media coverage while Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, got negative and sceptical news coverage.
Republican presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing a serious problem because a growing number within the party fears that his hostile remarks about minorities, including the Muslim population, would derail him from presidency. Donald wants to ban most foreign Muslims from entering the country. He wants to restrain US district court judge Gonzalo Curiel from presiding over fraud lawsuits against the Donald Trump University because the judge is a Mexican. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, who both agreed to support Trump, have criticised those comments of Trump. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a supporter, was critical of Trump by saying, "This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made, and I think it's inexcusable."
Democrat Representative Filemon Vela of Texas called Trump a racist. Being of Mexican ancestry, Vela noted, "My great-grandfather came to this country in 1857 well before grandfather of Donald Trump."
Trump has now vociferously begun criticising Hillary Clinton whom he called 'crooked Hillary' and said no one wanted four more years of Obama.
Trump was recently under attack by news media because reporters had been pressing the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party to account for the whereabouts of $6.0 million in donations Donald Trump claimed to have raised for veterans during a splashy telethon fundraiser in Iowa in January. Having being criticised by news media, he sent $ 1.9 million, including his personal $1.0 million to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation after a story about missing donations appeared in the Washington Post in the first week of June.
It is hoped that Democrats will succeed in unifying the party to win presidential election in November and a woman would become the President of America for the first time in the history of the country.
The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh.
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