Trump blasts Hillary Clinton over e-mail scandal

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US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says bad stuff has to happen to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over her handling of government emails.

IOWA (REUTERS) - At a campaign stop in Iowa last Saturday (July 25), Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over the handling of government e-mails when she served as secretary of state.

Mrs Clinton used a private e-mail server instead of a government account. At least four e-mails out of some 30,000 from that private account contained classified information, according to a government inspector's letter to Congress this week.

The Justice department has not opened an investigation into the e-mails, but that didn't stop Mr Trump from telling a crowd of supporters in Oskaloosa that Mrs Clinton is officially in trouble.

"First of all, Hillary is now officially under investigation for the e-mails. Big, that's big. You know, if you look at it, look, I don't think anything is gonna happen to her, because it's all Democrats that are doing the investigation. That's the way it is, right?" he told hundreds of cheering supporters.

"If the prosecutors are honorable and they may be, if they're fair, if they're just, sadly, bad stuff has to happen because what she did is very criminal and very serious and it's too bad, it's too bad."

The accusations are part of a series of personal attacks Mr Trump has made on rivals for the Republican nomination. He mocked former Texas governor Rick Perry, saying he wore new glasses so that people would think he was smart, described Senator Lindsey Graham as an "idiot" who wouldn't be able to get a job in the private sector, and said former Florida governor Jeb Bush was "terrible". He even read out Mr Graham's cellphone number at a campaign rally.

Despite - or because of - his unprecedented actions, Mr Trump remains effectively tied with Mr Bush for the lead with 16 per cent of the vote, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll updated on Thursday (July 23).

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