As if the exploding email scandal surrounding Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ascension to the Democratic party nomination wasn’t enough, tomorrow will reportedly see a preliminary hearing in Pennsylvania’s Fayette County for a now-former at-large Clinton delegate who stands charged with the attempted murder of her husband last week.
According to the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, Deanna Vicites of South Union faces the charge in connection with the shooting of her husband, Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Vicites. The incident occurred July 17.
Deanna Vicites was selected as an at-large delegate for Clinton last month by the Democratic State Committee, the newspaper reported. She resigned that post last week.
It’s just one more possible embarrassment for Clinton. She has made gun control a centerpiece of her campaign. She chose as a running mate Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who also supports gun control efforts.
News reports about the incident say Deanna changed her story. At first, according to WTAE News, she reportedly said at first she shot her husband because she was choking him. Then she said she had been trying to commit suicide but shot him accidentally.
District Attorney Richard Bower told reporters, “This is not an accident. It is absolutely not an accident.”
Making this more bizarre, WTAE reported that Deanna Vicites has a criminal record, having entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit burglary. As a result, she cannot legally possess a firearm.
Outside of the Pittsburgh area, this case really hasn’t made much news.
The bigger story, of course, is the email scandal. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is stepping down as DNC chair after this week’s convention. She is immediately stepping into something of a figurehead position as “honorary chair” of Clinton’s 50-state effort to “gain ground and elect Democrats in every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for (Clinton’s) campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states, according to a statement from Clinton Sunday.
Bernie Sanders supporters are furious and the party appears to be fracturing as Day One of the convention unfolds in Philadelphia. Wasserman Schultz was initially stripped of a speaking role after the email scandal broke, but then came the departure announcement.
For Clinton critics, the email revelation suggesting that DNC higher-ups “played favorites” when they were supposed to be neutral has Sanders backers in an uproar. Last week, Democrats were gleeful about what they saw as disarray in the Republican ranks between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, but this week they’re far more circumspect.
