Should a special prosecutor not be impaneled to investigate this week’s revealed nexus between the operations of the U.S. Department of State and the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary, the phrase “conflict of interest” will have been rendered meaningless.

Simply put, top officials of the philanthropic foundation sought favored access to the State Department. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign dismisses the notion of any conflict, parsing the facts. Any interplay is dismissed as “communications between her aides” — two top aides, by the way — and former President Bill Clinton’s “personal aide.”

As The Wall Street Journal noted, “So the emails involve her husband, her family foundation, and employees who worked for her at the State Department, but we are supposed to believe they have nothing to do with her or her former job as secretary of State?”

As the Republican National Committee noted, it appears that “the Clinton Foundation was calling in favors barely three months into Hillary Clinton’s tenure” at State.

Supposed “firewalls” established to prevent this kind of thing scorched, the suggestion of pay to play (once known as bribery) looms large. And it is that mere suggestion, now established by emails obtained and made public by Judicial Watch, that demands further and extensive investigation.

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