Curious offshoot from Political topics - what is BleachBit and how is it used?

It is just a computer program. Skimming the web page, it's a secure file deleter and free space wiper akin to the venerable Sysinternals sdelete, but it adds a GUI and support for a lot of application-specific wiping features. I don't see that there's anything novel about it; it's just a current implementation of established ideas.

Note that if you're using an SSD in an OS that supports TRIM, deleting a file means it's gone, if not immediately then in a little while. "Securely deleting" a file on an SSD by overwriting the blocks it occupied is a fool's errand, because the drive controller will see to it that you're writing to different physical blocks than you intended.

As for the politicians' "plugs," you're right; they're exaggerating concerning things they don't remotely understand.

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My understanding is that you need to write over files saved to a HD in order to permanently delete them

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That's what it is. In old people terms, think of it like the bumps on a vinyl that allow you to hear music. What it does is write new bumps over them in patterns that make you unable to hear the original music. There are a few programs that do it to this level, but it takes very long

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Maybe someone charged her an exorbitant amount of money to do this

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Might have cost more for Hillary since she knew it was illegal. Gotta pay a little extra for people to keep their mouth shut.