A tense exchange on CNBC suggested Joe Kernen might not trust his colleague John Harwood to ask tough questions when interviewing liberals.
Squawk Box co-host Kernen pressed Harwood, CNBC’s chief Washington correspondent, on whether or not he would ask Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tough questions during an interview.
Kernen implied on March 4, that Harwood might let Clinton’s campaign determine his line of questioning.
“You gonna talk about the elephant in the room, or you just gonna they gonna tell you what to talk about?” Kernen asked. He was likely referring to news that same day that regarding Clinton’s email scandal. The Justice Department had recently granted Clinton’s IT Director Bryan Pagliano immunity in their investigation into the former Secretary of State.
Clinton allegedly paid Pagliano to route her work emails onto a private server during her tenure at the State Department.
Harwood rebuffed the idea saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m gonna talk about what needs to be talked about,” Harwood added.
Kernen, clearly still concerned, pressed him: “Well, what you think needs to be talked about, or what someone else might think needs to be talked about?”
Earlier in the segment, Harwood admitted that the media determined what got exposed. “We in the media play some role in determining what gets air time and what gets exposed.”
Given Harwood’s record of liberal bias and pro-Hillary spin, he shouldn’t be taken aback by such concern. Back in March of 2015, Harwood acted as an apologist for Clinton utilizing a private server while she served as Secretary of State.
Back then, Harwood suggested on CNBC’s Closing Bell that Clinton’s boundaries on email use were confusing in part because “regulations have changed over time.” He also said Clinton may have used the server out of “excessive caution.”
