CBS's Greenfield Recalls Clinton Scandals Long-forgotten by Media

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Prompted by Hillary Clinton's dissembling answer during Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate about why her White House records have not been released, CBS political correspondent Jeff Greenfield uniquely reminded "CBS Evening News" viewers on Wednesday night of her scandals not mentioned by the media in years. Greenfield outlined why Hillary Clinton, contrary to her claim the National Archives is delaying the release when, in fact, President Clinton asked communication between him and the First Lady be withheld until 2012, wants to keep secret her papers from the White House years:

The notion that there's stuff that's being restricted potentially opens the door to asking questions about, well, the travel office where the independent counsel said she had been factually false. How did her brothers get pardons for two felons after being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars? How did she raise $100,000 trading cattle futures? This stuff hasn't come up in the campaign...

And it hasn't come up in the mainstream media which, until Tim Russert's question at the debate about the suppression of her records, has so far shown little interest in “asking questions” about the 1990s Clinton era scandals.

ABC, CBS and NBC on Wednesday night all ran stories on how other candidates at the MSNBC debate took on Mrs. Clinton over her stands on Iraq and Iran and the inconsistency of her position on New York's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. ABC's David Wright didn't touch on the hidden records and NBC's Andrea Mitchell gave the subject just a brief mention as she noted how Clinton was “blaming the National Archives for sealing her White House papers when this letter from Bill Clinton shows he asked that they be sealed for 12 years.”

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the exchange, between Greenfield and anchor Katie Couric, which followed a debate report from Jim Axelrod on the October 31 "CBS Evening News:"

KATIE COURIC: Jeff, as we saw, Senator Clinton hit some rough patches last night. Let's talk about what happened when she was asked about immigration.

JEFF GREENFIELD: She began by dealing with a complex substantive matter, one that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush thought, you know, maybe we should have driver's licenses for illegals, maybe it makes us all safer. And I think she, I think what happened was her radar said "Whoops, general election mine field. Republicans, immigration, hot button." And those two clashed.

COURIC: But she is in a bit of a conundrum, is she not, because she doesn't want to stake out positions that may haunt her later on if, in fact, she gets the nomination, you know? And at the same time, she risks coming across as if she has no core values or beliefs.

GREENFIELD: And we have learned that if you are labeled a waffler or a flip-flopper in a campaign, that can prove to be very, very damaging.

COURIC: There was another mine field when she was asked about records of the Clinton presidency being kept by the National Archives.

GREENFIELD: Well, there's a mountain of stuff from those eight Clinton years, and the President, President Clinton, told the National Archives, look, any material relating to communications between the First Lady and the President, restrict them until 2012, well after this election. The problem, of course, is this is no ordinary First Lady. She was a key policy advisor, office in the West Wing, ran the health care initiative. And historians, and, yes, political opponents, would love to look through that to see if there are any contradictions or interesting political issues to raise.

COURIC: All right, let's look at what happened when she was asked about these records.

GREENFIELD: Absolutely. Very uncomfortable for her. Let's take a look.

TIM RUSSERT, DEBATE MODERATOR, MSNBC DEBATE: But there was a letter written by President Clinton specifically asking that any communication between you and the President not be made available to the public until 2012. Would you lift that ban?

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, that's not my decision to make, and I don't believe that any President or First Lady ever has. But certainly we'll move as quickly as our circumstances and the processes of the National Archives permits.

BARACK OBAMA: I'm glad that Hillary took the phrase "turn the page." It's a good one. But this is an example of not turning the page.

GREENFIELD: And here's the problem, Katie. The Clinton campaign has been very successful in not going back to any of that turmoil of the '90s. The notion that there's stuff that's being restricted potentially opens the door to asking questions about, well, the travel office where the independent counsel said she had been factually false. How did her brothers get pardons for two felons after being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars? How did she raise $100,000 trading cattle futures? This stuff hasn't come up in the campaign, but you could almost hear the opponents beginning to chomp at the bit, waiting to ask, "What is she hiding?" There's the potential problem, I think.