USA TODAY

Letters to the editor:

Hillary Clinton’s private email setup not only undermined the open-records act, but also compromised classified national security information — a fact that she and her supporters want to sweep under the rug (“Clinton’s penchant for secrecy: Our view”)

This is perhaps best evidenced by opposing view writer David Brock’s statement: “There was no security breach of Secretary Clinton’s email or server.” To assume that foreign intelligence would not collect and analyze unprotected classified State Department communications is wishful thinking, if not outright naive and absurd. Clinton’s mishandling of classified information put our nation at risk. As USA TODAY’s editorial suggested, the extent to which classified information rules or laws were violated “very quickly ... gets pretty arcane.” This is no excuse to disregard or downplay the seriousness of this issue.

Carl Helfeldt; Rockledge, Fla.

Policing the USA

It is clear that the so-called Republican establishment does not want its primary front-runner, Donald Trump, to win the nomination. If he is even one delegate short of the required delegates, they will steal it from him and from the voters at a brokered convention.

I want these elitist Republican leaders who think they are smarter and more empowered than their party’s voters to know that I will vote for Clinton before I vote for their choice, and I will not endorse their attempt to hijack the primary process.

Sometimes, you have to take a step back before you can move forward. So if the Republican Party needs four to eight more years of decreasing economic growth, expansion of our national debt, high unemployment, a shrinking middle class, higher taxes, attacks on our soil by Islamic terrorists, and the further division of our country along racial, gender, socioeconomic, political and class lines, then so be it. I and many more of my fellow conservatives will either stay home or vote for Hillary if you steal this nomination from us. Count on it.

Charles Michael Sitero; Ormond Beach, Fla.

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

This email mess is just a sideshow created by the Republicans and some news media outlets. From my understanding, some emails that she forwarded became classified after the fact. This has hurt her among voters because they believe that she is not trustworthy. She is human, just like the rest of us, and among these voters some of them are not trustworthy.

The Republicans are not going to do anything for the middle class and the poor, and if you fit one of these categories, you had better wake up before November comes, or you will be sorry.

— Cornell Davis

Transparency in government is a very serious issue, and Clinton has no regard for it whatsoever! That’s why no matter what, I will write in Bernie Sanders.

— Patty Jane

Investigation after investigation after investigation. It’s not a hunt for answers. It’s a way to beat the hell out of Hillary.

— Walter Lampton

Why use a personal email server if one believes in transparency? It certainly opens the door for scrutiny. Or she could be communicating with people she doesn’t want the government to know about. She wanted all the glory of a high-level office without the accountability.

— Michael Bassett

Many people miss the point that while using a personal email address might not be uncommon, hosting it on your own personal server is uncommon.

— Jeff Black