Donald Trump needs to make sure it is. Forced off script by the massacre, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee ditched a promised speech on “Crooked Hillary” and instead delivered one on terrorism, immigration, and guns. It didn’t go well. His shallow, divisive remarks fired up President Obama and disturbed leaders of the Republican Party.

And not just about signals that might have been missed regarding Omar Mateen, the shooter who mowed down scores of patrons at an Orlando nightclub after declaring his allegiance to ISIS. What about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server? After Orlando, does it remain an FBI priority?


Trump’s braying for a ban on all Muslim immigrants also allowed Clinton to work the welcome turf of policy and issues like “common-sense” gun control. If only the debate could stay there.

According to a national Bloomberg poll, Clinton leads Trump by 12 points. An earlier NBC tracking poll gave her a 7-point lead, with growing support from men and white voters.

In Hillary they trust? Trump can’t have that. He’s working hard to pivot back to his assault on Clinton’s character. If he loses the trust issue to his opponent, he loses a lot.

Appearing Tuesday night on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, Trump called upon Clinton to return money he said she accepted from countries that oppress women. “Here’s a woman that takes all of this money from these countries and then she says she loves women,” Trump told Hannity. “They actually throw gays off buildings and she’s taking money, and I’m calling for her to give back all of the money she’s taken from these countries.”

As Trump refocuses his message on Clinton’s ethics, the massacre in Orlando has overshadowed what might have been banner news a week ago. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordered the deposition of a former State Department staffer who helped set up Clinton’s private e-mail server “to go forward and to be videotaped.” The judge denied a request by lawyers for IT specialist Bryan Pagliano to bar the recording of the deposition before lawyers representing the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch. Pagliano has been granted limited immunity by federal prosecutors, the Post reported last March. His lawyers — backed up by Justice Department lawyers — asked to disclose details of the immunity agreement in a sealed filing open only to the judge.


In granting that request, Sullivan stated that the “privacy interests at stake are high because the government’s criminal investigation” is ongoing and confidential — with his language confirming a label Clinton has tried to duck.

But now the criminal probe of a presumptive presidential nominee plays out against the still unfolding story of mass murder committed by a man once scrutizined by the FBI. Agents launched two separate investigations of the shooter, but concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to back up concerns about alleged terrorist connections. Now the FBI is trying to piece together the path from its initial findings to Mateen’s rampage, which killed 49 and wounded several dozen more.

After Orlando, some argue that the FBI lacks adequate resources to pursue active investigations and monitor the more than 40,000 people already on the agency’s terror “watch list.” Meanwhile, in March, the Post reported that FBI Director James Comey told an unnamed member of Congress that 147 agents were working on the Clinton probe. The Post subsequently corrected the number of assigned FBI personnel in that case to “fewer than 50.” That’s still a lot.

Partisans still care about Clinton’s e-mail trail. But after Orlando, the country may care more about a terrorist’s trail.


Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Joan_Vennochi.