The latest network blackout concerning one of the Clinton scandals came to an end on NBC Thursday as a segment on Today by correspondent Andrea Mitchell mentioned an Associated Press story from two days before exposing what appears to be a shell company run by former President Bill Clinton.
While NBC broke its silence on the shell corporation story, ABC and CBS continued their streaks of ignoring it with all three having yet to utter a word about an International Business Times article explaining how Clinton Foundation donors received weapons deals with the State Department while Hillary Clinton was overseeing the agency.
In a segment that surprisingly wondered aloud if the wealth of the Clinton family is an issue for Hillary on the campaign trail, co-host Matt Lauer began by starting that the Democratic presidential candidate “kicks off a fundraising swing through Florida today while facing some new scrutiny over her own personal wealth.”
Mitchell picked up from there and wondered aloud if “all the talk about the Clinton money” could “get in the way of her populist message” and her plan to attract “middle class voters with economic policies aimed at the Democratic base.”
Instead of continuing to openly worry about this, Mitchell began building the argument for why it’s indeed an issue by first referencing the millions Bill and Hillary Clinton have made in paid speeches:
But both Hillary and Bill Clinton are being trailed by questions over money, including foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and their own finances, after raking in $25 million in paid speeches since the beginning of 2014.
On that topic, Mitchell became the first network reporter across the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC to bring up the shell company: “Fueling the controversy, recent revelations from the AP that Bill Clinton had a shell company, “WJC, LLC,” in which money could pass unreported.”
The NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host then added how socialist and fellow Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been “going after her high-dollar speeches” and played a soundbite of Sanders discussing the issue with CNBC’s John Harwood.
Along with these stories that are being unearthed by various news outlets, Mitchell mentioned that the Clinton’s have done little to push back as they “have stumbled over questions about their wealth” and, specifically, Hillary’s “dead broke” comments to ABC’s Diane Sawyer in June 2014 and Bill telling NBC’s Cynthia McFadden in a May 4 interview that he will continue giving speeches because “I got to pay our bills.”
Later in the program, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd appeared on the Today set and remarked that many of the questions concerning the wealth of the Clintons could go away if Jeb Bush were the 2016 GOP presidential nominee. Speaking with co-host Savannah Guthrie, Todd stated that Bush’s wealth “neutralizes that issue” when pitted head-to-head against Clinton.
The relevant portions of the transcript from NBC’s Today on May 28 can be found below.
NBC’s Today
May 28, 2015
7:11 a.m. Eastern
MATT LAUER: Alright, let’s turn to politics now, the presidential race and the issue of money facing Hillary Clinton. She kicks off a fundraising swing through Florida today while facing some new scrutiny over her own personal wealth. NBC's Andrea Mitchell has more on that. Andrea, good morning to you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Hillary Clinton’s “Romney” Problem; Under Fire Over Immense Family Wealth]
ANDREA MITCHELL: Good morning, Matt. Hillary Clinton is appealing to middle class voters with economic policies aimed at the Democratic base. But could all the talk about the Clinton money get in the way of her populist message? Hillary Clinton in South Carolina Wednesday, campaigning as a champion of everyday people.(....)
MITCHELL: But both Hillary and Bill Clinton are being trailed by questions over money, including foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and their own finances, after raking in $25 million in paid speeches since the beginning of 2014. Fueling the controversy, recent revelations from the AP that Bill Clinton had a shell company, “WJC, LLC,” in which money could pass unreported. Hillary Clinton is taking heat from the only Republican woman in the race, Carly Fiorina, who showed up outside Clinton’s event.
(...)
MITCHELL: Clinton's sole Democratic challenger so far, Senator Bernie Sanders, is going after her high-dollar speeches, telling CNBC's John Harwood...
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): When you hustle money like that, you don’t sit in restaurants like this. You sit in restaurants where you spend – I don’t know what they spend – hundreds of dollars for dinner and so forth.
MITCHELL: The Clintons have stumbled over questions about their wealth.
CLINTON [TO DIANE SAWYER, June 2014]: We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Will you continue to give speeches?
BILL CLINTON: Oh, yeah. I got to pay our bills.
MITCHELL: With the elections still more than a year away, Hillary Clinton is trying to avoid making her wealth a liability, like Mitt Romney in 2012. Still, with voters like these southern women, Clinton is down home, trying to motivate her base. The questions about the Clinton's wealth come amidst the continuing controversy over Hillary Clinton's private e-mails. In the wake of a judge's ruling, the State Department now has to turn over those e-mails on an accelerated timetable, once a month, faster than the State Department had planned.
