Appearing as a guest on Thursday's New Day to recount the top five examples of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton making untrue statements, PolitiFact editor Angie Holan dubiously claimed that it is "not right" to say that Clinton "broke the law" in the handling of her State Department email when asked by host Chris Cuomo about the subject.
The segment recalled three examples of Trump and two examples of Clinton making untrue statements that were checked by the group, and, after a "Pants on Fire" rating was assigned to Clinton's claim that FBI director James Comey had endorsed her public statements as "truthful," Cuomo followed up by asking about the issue of whether her actions were "illegal." Cuomo:
Now, the confusion we get into -- and I'm sure you do, too, on this -- is when people will say, "She did something illegal, it was illegal, she broke the law." How do you handle that claim?
As if a speeding driver who is pulled over by the police and let off with a warning somehow did not really break the law, Holan delivered a liberal spin similar to that previously pushed by Cuomo and fellow CNNers David Gregory and Don Lemon that it is "not right" to state that Clinton's actions were "illegal." Holan:
You know, she has not been -- the FBI declined to bring any case against her. So, as far as the legal system goes, that's -- that's not -- that's not right now, and, you know, there's some other sense that the experts we talked to say this was bad for archiving purposes, it was bad for transparency purposes, but illegal, mmmm, the government prosecutors didn't make that case.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, September 15, New Day on CNN:
6:53 a.m. ET
CHRIS CUOMO: All right, so now, Hillary Clinton. "FBI Director Comey called her comments about email 'truthful.'" Did he?
ANGIE HOLAN, POLITIFACT: We rated this one "Pants on Fire." Comey was very careful to steer away from any kind of endorsement like that. In fact, he said her actions were "careless." So this one not true. We rated it "Pants on Fire."
CUOMO: Now, the confusion we get into -- and I'm sure you do, too, on this -- is when people will say, "She did something illegal, it was illegal, she broke the law." How do you handle that claim?
NOLAN: You know, she has not been -- the FBI declined to bring any case against her. So, as far as the legal system goes, that's -- that's not -- that's not right now, and, you know, there's some other sense that the experts we talked to say this was bad for archiving purposes, it was bad for transparency purposes, but illegal, mmmm, the government prosecutors didn't make that case.
