Surging Trump says Clinton email saga 'devastating'

Washington, Aug 20: Fast closing the gap with Hillary Clinton, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says the controversy surrounding his Democratic rival's use of a private server for official emails is "devastating." "I think it's devastating for the election, but I think her bigger problem is not the election. I think her bigger problem is going to be the criminal (problem)," he said after a CNN/ORC poll showed him within striking distance of the former secretary of state. Trump, who has quickly leapt to the top of the crowded Republican field, told CNN that it's not surprising that he came within 6 points of the leading Democrat (45 percent to 51 percent) in a head-to-head polling match-up for the 2016 race for the White House. Clinton is not his "focus right now," he said, but predicted she would struggle to get over the bad headlines generated by the investigation into her private server and the possible transmission of classified information in her private email. Even the money she has raked in for speeches since leaving office in 2013, he said. "I think that Hillary's going to have a hard time being in the election based on what's going on with the emails, the servers, maybe even the speeches," Trump said. "I think it's going to be a very hard thing for her to overcome." Trump compared Clinton's situation to that of Gen. David Petraeus, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who pleaded guilty to giving some classified information to his biographer and lover.