Hillary Clinton has accumulated more bad press in Washington, D.C., than any other person or entity so far this year, according to the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza.
The Democratic presidential candidate has won Cillizza’s "worst week in Washington" title five times in 2015. The title started coming her way after news broke in March of Clinton’s exclusive use of a personal email system while working in the Obama administration.
Clinton eclipses all other 2015 recipients of the award—including truth-stretching Brian Williams, the questionably competent Secret Service, and accused aborted baby part vendor Planned Parenthood—when it comes to the frequency at which she has received it.
Clinton was bestowed with her first 2015 "worst week" prize on March 6, four days after the New York Times first reported that the former secretary of state exclusively used a personal email account, thereby acting against Obama administration rules. She experienced another "worst week" in the days preceding April 24, the week after she launched her presidential campaign.
Clinton’s final three awards were received on Aug. 14, Aug. 21, and Sept. 10, all of which she received for her handling of controversy surrounding the FBI investigation into her personal server. The latter represents the most recent "worst week" nod given to anyone by Cillizza.
"The problem for Clinton is that this email brouhaha is a self-inflicted wound," Cillizza wrote last week after Clinton caved to calls for an apology regarding her email use. "She never needed to use a private server. And once it was revealed that she had, she could have come out far earlier with an apology and deflected much of the damage."
The Washington Post scribe grants the prize to a person or entity that "stands out for all the wrong reasons" in D.C. that particular week. But it’s not only within the Beltway or among journalists that Clinton is receiving increased scrutiny for her email practices.
Clinton has seen her support among likely Democratic primary voters decline from 66 percent in March to 42 percent today, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday. A recent Washington Free Beacon analysis revealed that Clinton is losing nearly half a percentage point per day of support among Democrats.
Clinton’s plight in the polls indicates that the personal email scandal has prompted Americans to question the former secretary of state’s trustworthiness—and hence her viability as a candidate. In fact, the survey released Monday finds that 54 percent of U.S. adults believe Clinton tried to cover up the facts regarding her personal email system.
As a growing majority of U.S. voters view Clinton as untrustworthy, liberal voters flock to rallies for challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), while some wait for Vice President Joe Biden to jump into the White House race.
The email issue displays no signs of dissipating, as the FBI investigates Clinton’s server, which multiple intelligence agencies have confirmed held at least two emails containing "top secret" information. Several House and Senate committees are also probing Clinton’s use of private email at State.
Despite her recent apology, the Democratic presidential candidate has insisted she never used her personal email to send or receive material that was "marked classified." If found to have knowingly sent, stored, or received classified information in a location unauthorized by the government, Clinton could face prosecution.
Clinton is scheduled to testify before the House Select Committee on Benghazi Oct. 22 to address questions about her role as secretary of state at the time of the 2012 terror attacks and her use of personal email.
There are at least 15 more opportunities for Clinton to be slapped with a "worst week in Washington" title this year.
UPDATE 9:43 A.M., Tues., Sept. 15: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the number of times Hillary Clinton has won the "worst week in Washington" as four. Clinton also received the award a fifth time on Aug. 21, a post that appears to have been omitted from the Washington Post's archive.