After part one of Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd’s interview with Hillary Clinton aired on Sunday’s show, parts two and three premiered on the debut edition of MSNBC’s MTP Daily and while the discussion on foreign policy included time on Libya, Todd neglected to even mention in his questioning the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi that has embroiled Clinton in scandal.
In part two, the subject was confined to foreign policy as Todd first pushed her on how a Clinton presidency would address the situation in Syria and dictator Bashar al-Assad before probing Clinton about her criticism of the Obama administration in 2014.
For that question, Todd alluded to what she was reported to have said before wondering what her “organizing principle” is on foreign policy:
You said in an interview about a year ago, don't do stupid stuff is not a organizing principle for foreign policy and I know I became a tiff between the administration and you and you claimed it wasn’t about that, so let me ask you this: What is your organizing principle when it comes to American foreign policy?
Todd briefly returned to Syria and the failed policy of training rebel forces, but did turn to Libya and went after Clinton for joking to CBS News on October 20, 2011 that “[w]e came, we saw, he died” when it came to the U.S. intervention into Libya and toppling dictator Muammar Gaddafi: “I'm guessing that's not something you wanted to see out in public when it was done, but you were celebrating then. Is it still something worth celebrating, considering where Libya is today? Was that actually the right call?”
In his only other question to Clinton on Libya, he simply posed to her the premise that the country’s entrance into Libya was “a mistake” with no acknowledgment of the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others dead: “What was the mistake now? Was it a mistake? Should we have had somebody, boots on the ground, to sort of build a post-Gadhafi Libya?”
Later, Todd aired part three with an emphasis on domestic issues as he asked Clinton about the Keystone XL oil pipeline, trade, abortion, what role Bill Clinton would have in a Hillary White House, and where she differs from President Obama on domestic issues.
Todd was able to work in a question on the upcoming resignation of House Speaker John Boehner and frame it by inquiring about how she’d deal with a GOP Congress considering “[t]his has been a challenge for this President”:
I thought I was going to make that the last question, but I forgot to ask you about Speaker Boehner. This has been a challenge for this President, working with Republicans in Congress. Why do you think you'll have better luck?
The relevant portions of the transcript from the debut of MSNBC’s MTP Daily on September 28 can be found below.
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
September 28, 2015
5:16 p.m. Eastern
CHUCK TODD: Let's start with foreign affairs here and Syria and obviously, there's a lot going on, including this week at the United Nations about what to do with Syria. Can you defeat ISIS if Assad is still running Syria?
(....)
TODD: What does a President Clinton prioritize? Do you prioritize ousting Assad?
CLINTON: I would prioritize both. You can't really do one without the other, but ousting Assad has to be a political process.
TODD: I was just going to say, is it only a political process? You can't make it a military process?
(....)
TODD: You said in an interview about a year ago, don't do stupid stuff is not a organizing principle for foreign policy and I know I became a tiff between the administration and you and you claimed it wasn’t about that, so let me ask you this: What is your organizing principle when it comes to American foreign policy?
(....)
TODD: Let me go back to Syria. You were an advocate – a stronger advocate than others in the administration of training some rebels to fight Assad and ISIS on the ground. We got a report this week that was startling. There are four or five, not 400, or 500, four or five rebels that we have trained with American military help and American might that are still there fighting the fight.
CLINTON: Yeah.
TODD: This is a failure of policy, isn't it?
(....)
TODD: Let move to Libya. Let me play something that you were caught on camera saying after Gadhafi was killed.
CLINTON [on 10/20/11]: We came, we saw, he died.
TODD: I'm guessing that's not something you wanted to see out in public when it was done, but you were celebrating then. Is it still something worth celebrating, considering where Libya is today? Was that actually the right call?
(....)
TODD: He also was somebody that the Bush administration negotiated with and convinced to stop a nuclear program.
(....)
TODD: What was the mistake now? Was it a mistake? Should we have had somebody, boots on the ground, to sort of build a post-Gadhafi Libya?
(....)
TODD: You said that in 2007 you that would have roles, you had roles in mind for your husband if you got elected. What roles do you have in mind for him?
(....)
TODD: He'll have a West Wing office if you get there?
TODD: Well, he's a busy guy. I don't know anything like that, but I'm not counting my chickens before my hatch. I just want to be sure we get the chance to earn the votes of the American people and to win the White House.
(....)
TODD: I thought I was going to make that the last question, but I forgot to ask you about Speaker Boehner. This has been a challenge for this President, working with Republicans in Congress. Why do you think you'll have better luck?
