The Clintons have been associated with a long history of political scandals, thus I was hardly surprised that they had found themselves tangled up in yet another one. News was released in February that Hillary Clinton refused to use a regulated state.gov email address, had gone against the Federal Regulations Act while she was serving as U.S. Secretary of State. This lack of transparency is not only a classic act by the Clintons, but could be dangerous considering the important information pertaining to national security and foreign relations received by Clinton while she was Secretary of State.

The Federal Regulations Act was set up in order to increase transparency within the government and keep records of all important information. Although President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and hundreds of Congressmen have complied with the act, the Clintons decided to play by their own rules. Although Clinton encouraged officials in the State Department to use government emails in 2011, she did not lead by example, using only a private email address, with a private domain, in her own private home. Storing top secret information on a private server is a threat to national security; it is much easier for foreign or domestic entities to hack into private email accounts.

The primary concern of Clinton’s email scandal is emails related to the 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of four Americans, including a U.S. ambassador. While Clinton handed over 300 emails to a special House Committee that was set up to investigate the scandal, (and as she is the arbiter of which emails are considered private and which are important to the investigation,) it is suspected that she may not have handed over everything. It is worrisome that top secret information regarding the attack is stored on a personal server that the government does not have access to and cannot make record of.

Hillary Clinton loves to be in control and has continued to exert control over her own federal investigation. After turning over 30,000 emails for investigation, Clinton revealed that she had deleted 32,000 emails that were private or personal—which seems like a slippery slope. It’s a bad idea to let the person being investigated control the investigation; it stands to reason that they’re only looking out for their own best interests. One reason for deleting 32,000 emails may regard the many foreigners and countries that made donations to the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was Secretary of State. Some of the donors include Germany, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few. While the Clinton Foundation does participate in philanthropy, it is also linked to Clinton Inc., which has been gearing up for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the 2016 presidential election.

Although it is illegal for foreign governments and individuals to give money to U.S. political candidates (to avoid outside influence over national leaders), Hillary Clinton found a backdoor to accept millions of dollars in donations. While Clinton claims that the donations are going to charitable efforts within the Clinton Foundation, these monetary gifts have also given donors an opportunity to gain favor with Clinton. Some of these donations came from countries with complicated military, economic and diplomatic relations with the U.S. such as Kuwait, Qatar and Oman, making for a particularly problematic situation.

This scandal is worrisome considering that Hillary Clinton is the favored democratic nomination for the 2016 Presidential Election. In a press conference, Clinton merely brushed off the issue of her email scandal, stating that it was for “matters of convenience,” a response that 74 percent of Democrats found dishonest. While Clinton may not have done anything illegal by using her own email address, it is clear that trends of dishonesty and scandal continue to surround the Clinton family.

The Clintons have continually demonstrated their unequivocal desire to break the rules and have on several accounts chosen their own gains over the benefits of the nation. It is clear our nation needs a strong and trustworthy leader now more than ever. As the White House works vigorously to combat ISIS, form nuclear resolutions with Iran and strengthen immigration policies, the last thing the nation needs is another political scandal serving as a distraction from far more pertinent issues. The Clintons have gained the nation’s forgiveness time and time again and continued to prove to us why we shouldn’t have granted it in the first place—let’s not make the same mistake in 2016.