Number of Hillary emails flagged for 'potentially' classified material jumps to 305

Earlier today, Dan discussed how 60 of Hillary's secret emails have been released after being heavily redacted to weed out classified material. 6 of them contained highly sensitive material, while the rest fell under the somewhat less hush-hush categories of "secret" or "sensitive." Those emails are part of an ongoing search through the archive of 30,000 messages that Mrs. Clinton decided not to delete from her infamous private server.

They're also just the tip of the iceberg. As the Washington Times reported today, the number of emails flagged for containing potentially classified material has ballooned to over 300.

More than 300 of former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton’s emails — or 5.1 percent of those processed so far — have been flagged for potential secret information, the State Department reported to a federal court Monday. Officials insisted, however, that the screening process is running smoothly and they are back on track after falling behind a judge’s schedule for making all of the emails public. The reviewers have screened about 20 percent of the 30,000 emails Mrs. Clinton returned to the department, which means if the rate of potentially secret information remains steady, more than 1,500 messages will have to be sent to intelligence community agencies, known in government as “IC,” to screen out classified information. “Out of a sample of approximately 20% of the Clinton emails, the IC reviewers have only recommended 305 documents — approximately 5.1% — for referral to their agencies for consultation,” the Obama administration said in new court papers.

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In other words, these 300 emails will be sent to a variety of intelligence agencies. They'll decide how sensitive the material is, redact them, and then, almost assuredly, they'll join to the 60 we already have. There are two ways you can look at this. The first is that Hillary's well-documented hubris is on full display. If she's ever charged with anything, it looks as though prosecutors will have ample evidence against her. As Dan admitted this morning, this is fairly unlikely, given the power and money behind the Clintons. Add in "the way Washington works" and she's probably going to skate. The second is that the rate at which these emails are being reviewed suggests that she's going to be dealing with more and more of these revelations and investigations all the way through the primaries and into the general election. If Democrats are worried now, just wait until they're faced with a thousand of these emails. As Chris Cillizza wrote for the WaPo today, it's too late to shift gears:

Dear Democrats: It’s too late to start over. As in, there’s no replacing Hillary Rodham Clinton as your party’s front-runner for the presidential nomination. Not with Vice President Biden — even if he runs. Not with former vice president Al Gore. (I mean, come on.) Not with your ideal rich-person-with-no-record-and-a-fresh-faced-appeal.

So how will the Hillary email scandal do lasting damage? In a word: enthusiasm. Republicans have a lot of recent experience with a party that runs candidates the base doesn't support. To varying degrees, you could say that about every GOP candidate since Reagan. Well, don't look now, DNC, but you're about to run your very own John McCain. Every speech she gives and every media report of her arrogant, willful, refusal to follow the rules will make the situation worse. Your voters are telling you they'd prefer just about anyone else but you're still pretending they're "ready for Hillary." Have fun with that.