Following Tuesday night’s Democratic debate, all three of Wednesday’s network morning shows seized on Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders demanding the media stop asking about Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal. During fawning coverage on NBC’s Today, correspondent Peter Alexander proclaimed: “When it came to Hillary Clinton's e-mail scandal, it was her chief rival Bernie Sanders who sent a message loud and clear.”
A clip played of Sanders ranting: “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails!” Alexander later added that Clinton received “a big gift” from her opponent.
In a discussion with Republican strategist and MSNBC contributor Nicolle Wallace, co-host Savannah Guthrie gushed: “[Clinton] unexpectedly got a humongous assist from none other than her rival in the campaign, Bernie Sanders, who decided to come to her defense on the e-mails, saying everybody is sick of talking about it. She clearly ate that up and loved that.”
Wallace declared:
You know, it was one of my two favorite moments of the whole night, because it was just this rare moment of civility. Everyone’s so hungry for civility in politics and you see that the result was that they both benefitted. She got a little political boost from him. He got a big fundraising boost by being the statesman...
On CBS This Morning, co-host Norah O’Donnell announced: “Sanders also gave his rival a boost arguing that voters don't care about her e-mails.” In the report that followed, correspondent Nancy Cordes called the moment “the surprise of the night.”
Later, fellow co-host Gayle King labeled it “the line of the night” and asked Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson if it was a “gift” for Clinton. Dickerson responded:
Yeah, it takes a village and she got an assist there from Bernie Sanders. I think it helped within the moment, in the context of the debate, which is what she needed....among Democratic voters she certainly got basically her talking point which is they don't care about it and was ratified by one of her opponents.
Finally, fill-in co-host Anthony Mason remarked to Bloomberg Politics editor John Heilemann: “Let’s talk about the moment when Bernie Sanders let Clinton off the hook about her damn e-mails.” Heilemann observed: “I think it was a win/win. Certainly like a political in-kind contribution to Hillary Clinton but I think it actually did Sanders a little bit of good. It was the best moment for him last night.”
Amid praise for Clinton’s performance on ABC’s Good Morning America, correspondent Cecilia Vega noted: “Hillary Clinton center stage but when it came to being on the hot seat over those e-mails....Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the opponent chipping away at her lead, coming to her defense.”
Later, co-host George Stephanopoulos turned to political analyst Matthew Dowd and wondered: “Did he put the e-mail issue away at least for the primaries?” Dowd replied: “I think he did. I don't think it really existed in the primary. I think that he did that.”
None of the hosts or correspondents bothered to actually fact-check anything that Clinton actually said about the scandal on the debate stage.
The Associated Press scrutinized Clinton on her e-mail claims:
CLINTON on her email practices: "I have been as transparent as I know to be. ... I said I have answered all the questions."
THE FACTS: Clinton has yet to explain how the server was set up and serviced, whether she informed the State Department about her decision to use the private system and, most important, how it was protected from hacking attempts.
Russia-based hackers tried at least five times to trick her into infecting her computer system with malware in 2011, The Associated Press learned, and her server was hit by attempted cyber intrusions in 2014 from China, South Korea and Germany.
Her server also was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers. But her campaign has repeatedly declined to address these details.
