Russian roulette.

• Author: Emord, Jonathan W.
• Position: POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

THE WIKILEAKS releases of Hillary Clinton-related emails helped establish the existence of an extensive breach of national security and of malfeasance at the Democratic National Committee to further Clinton's presidential ambitions. For her own convenience, and to avoid Freedom of Information requests, Clinton violated State Department regulations and illegally moved all of her State Department correspondence, including all of her classified correspondence, to her private servers and devices. For that, she should have been prosecuted, as many others have been, and she should have served jail time. Instead, thanks to the erroneous legal position of FBI Director James Comey, she is free.

To secure her party's nomination and to exercise undue influence over the media, she worked with the DNC to derail the presidential ambitions of Sen. Bemie Sanders of Vermont and to plant questions for the presidential debates. Given that dishonorable history, Clinton now proceeds with considerable hubris when she contends, without the slightest evidence, that Donald Trump collaborated with the Russian government or was otherwise benefited by the Russian government in securing his Electoral College victory over her. Nothing could be further from the truth, but the hypocrisy is palpable. On the one hand, Clinton directly placed national security at risk by intentional acts in gross dereliction of her duty, the law, and the interests of our country and its intelligence operatives. On the other hand, without the slightest shame, she points the finger at Trump and accuses him of complicity in Russian influence in the election.

The first problem with Clinton and her campaign chairman John Podesta's argument is that it is factually bereft. While Russia--and indeed many of our nation's enemies--endeavor through direct action and indirect influence to interfere with the American electoral process, there is no proof that they did so specifically to favor Tramp's election. Even were some foreign or domestic hackers aiming to do that very thing, there is no proof that they influenced the casting of a single vote. Indeed, with the two candidates blasting one another and liberal and conservative talking heads filling the airwaves and the Internet with their views, it is impossible to prove that anyone voted for Trump because of what any enemy of the U.S. said.

Even were there proof of such efforts, how can we know whether individuals, in reaction to it, if they suspected...