A longtime adviser to Hillary Clinton is urging her to hire outside legal counsel and look into cutting a deal over the email scandal currently dogging her presidential campaign,
Ed Klein reports.
Klein said the adviser told him that Clinton needs to act quickly because, contrary to reports that the FBI probe into her use of a private email server may drag on for months, the investigation may actually wrap up by year's end.
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The New York Times is reporting that Clinton
received top-secret emails on her unsecured, privately maintained server she used as secretary of state. She has repeatedly said she did not send or receive classified material, though she later amended that material that was "marked" classified.
"Hillary needs counsel to let Congress, the Justice Department, the FBI, and all the authorities involved know that she's taking this very seriously," the adviser told Klein. "And she needs to get some discovery as to where the investigation is going so that she can make plans how to deal with it."
Joking about her email problem and acting as though it is a conspiracy by her political enemies is hurting her with prosecutors, the adviser said.
The adviser said he pointed out that former CIA directors David Petraeus and John Deutch each avoided criminal charges by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor for mishandling classified material. But Hillary Clinton responded that neither of them was running for president. She fears any admission of guilt would kill her chances of being elected.
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The adviser told Clinton it was a chance she had to take because investigators smell "blood in the water," Klein reported.
Bryan Pagliano, a State Department IT professional hired privately by Clinton to set up her private server, has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before Congress, and Klein said Pagliano could end up being the key to forcing Clinton to make a plea deal.
Pagliano is not a member of the Clinton's inner circle and won't be as willing to fall on the sword for her as someone such as her aides Cheryl Mills or Huma Abedin, Klein told Hannity.
Klein said he expects Clinton to make a plea deal and quit the race, leaving space for Vice President Joe Biden, who is considering a run.
Though Biden has said he isn't sure he has the emotional energy to run following the death in May of his son, Beau, Klein said Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett is putting Biden in touch with psychotherapists in an effort to get him in the mental space to run.
"The Joe Biden previous to his son's death was a laughingstock among many, many people" because of his frequent gaffes, Klein said. "Now, suddenly there's a huge outpouring of sympathy for the guy while Hillary is going down, down, down."
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