After CBS was caught editing footage of Bill Clinton saying Hillary Clinton “frequently” suffered from fainting spells, the network was back at it on Wednesday, again censoring unflattering news for the Democratic couple. While reporting on leaked e-mails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday’s CBS This Morning, co-host Gayle King conveniently stopped reading from one correspondence just before Powell referred to Bill Clinton’s sex scandals.
In a news brief at the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, King told viewers: “In a leaked e-mail, he wrote, quote, ‘I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect.’ He calls Hillary Clinton, quote, ‘A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational...’” A graphic appeared on screen displaying the truncated quote.
Later Wedenesday afternoon, CBS News digital politics editor Will Rahn tweeted out the full e-mail: “I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect. A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP).” Shortly after, CBSNews.com published the e-mail.
Somehow Powell’s colorful reference to the former president’s extramarital affairs was left on the cutting room floor for the morning show, despite King reciting the rest of that particular e-mail word for word.
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This Morning, along with NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America all led with the headline of Powell calling Donald Trump a “national disgrace,” but not one of the network broadcasts mentioned him slamming Clinton in such a personal way. However, NBC and ABC didn’t read from the specific e-mail in question.
Earlier on the CBS program, USA Today’s Susan Page argued that the Powell e-mails were only damaging to Trump:
Well, he doesn't seem to be likely to endorse Donald Trump, whom he calls “a national disgrace and an international pariah.” And do you know what makes these e-mails so powerful? Is that he’s a Republican talking about a Republican candidate. And also that these are his private thoughts, he didn't call a press conference to announce this. This is what he apparently really thinks. And while he’s not happy with Hillary Clinton, it is impossible to imagine him now endorsing Donald Trump after these – after his characterization of Trump in these e-mails.
And this is important because Colin Powell is a highly respected figure, very experienced, retired general, former Secretary of State, and a Republican. So when you look at the biggest swing group in this election, which are white college-educated voters, his views could matter with them.
King replied: “He has a lot of credibility on both sides.” Page agreed: “Yes.”
One would assume that “credibility” extends to Powell’s thoughts on the Clintons as well.
Here is a transcript of the September 14 coverage on CBS:
7:03 AM ET
(...)
NORAH O’DONNELL: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is suddenly at the center of the presidential campaign because of a batch of stolen e-mails. CBS News has confirmed the e-mails are from his account. They show Powell has issues with both major candidates. The Republican retired general told a former aide that Donald Trump is a “national disgrace and an international pariah.”
GAYLE KING: The General also wrote that the “birther movement was racist,” referring to Trump questioning if President Obama was born here in the United States. And Powell reacted to a Trump prediction by writing “95% of blacks voting for him is schizo fantasy.” But the leaked e-mails also show Powell sharply criticizing Hillary Clinton and her campaign for using him to justify her use of private e-mail servers at the State Department. We’ve asked for a comment from General Powell, we are waiting to hear his response. Nancy Cordes is in Chappaqua, New York, where Clinton is still recovering from pneumonia. Nancy, good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. These e-mails are from Powell's G-Mail account and they were posted by an anonymously-run website called DCLeaks, that is suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence. His e-mails to friends, colleague, and reporters show that he was deeply resentful that Clinton and her supporters were comparing her use of a private account as Secretary of State to his.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Powell’s Emails Exposed; Leak Reveals Tension With Clinton]
The hacked e-mails reveal deep tensions between Powell and the Clinton campaign. In them, Powell says he met with Clinton's advisers in August to discuss “burying the e-mail flap.” “Sad thing,” Powell writes, “Clinton could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me to it. I told her staff three times not to try that gambit. I had to throw a mini tantrum at a Hampton's party to get their attention.”
In another e-mail from a year earlier, Powell tells a business associate, “I told you about the speaking gig that I lost at a university because she so overcharged them.” Adding, “Everything HRC touches, she kind of screws up with hubris.”
(...)
7:10 AM
GAYLE KING: Let's talk about the leaked Colin Powell e-mails. He seems to indicate that he has a problem really with both candidates. But what is the significance of an endorsement from him? When he was on our show on Monday, Susan, he said he hadn't decided yet which candidate he was going to endorse, he was going to wait until after the debates. Well clearly when you look at those e-mails, he seems to be unhappy with them both.
SUSAN PAGE [USA TODAY]: Well, he doesn't seem to be likely to endorse Donald Trump, whom he calls “a national disgrace and an international pariah.” And do you know what makes these e-mails so powerful? Is that he’s a Republican talking about a Republican candidate. And also that these are his private thoughts, he didn't call a press conference to announce this. This is what he apparently really thinks. And while he’s not happy with Hillary Clinton, it is impossible to imagine him now endorsing Donald Trump after these – after his characterization of Trump in these e-mails.
And this is important because Colin Powell is a highly respected figure, very experienced, retired general, former Secretary of State, and a Republican. So when you look at the biggest swing group in this election, which are white college-educated voters, his views could matter with them.
KING: He has a lot of credibility on both sides.
PAGE: Yes.
(...)
8:02 AM
O’DONNELL: E-mails stolen from former Secretary of State Colin Powell's account show him urging Hillary Clinton's campaign to keep him out of her e-mail controversy. Powell’s spokesman confirms to CBS News that the e-mails on the website DCLeaks.com are from the retired general's account. In one of them, Powell wrote, “Sad thing is that HRC could have killed this two years ago by merely telling everyone honestly what she had done and not tie me into it. She keeps tripping into these ‘character’ minefields.”
KING: Powell also dismissed Donald Trump's claim that 95% of blacks would vote for him by 2020 as, quote, “schizo fantasy.” Powell wrote, “He takes us for idiots. He can never overcome what he tried to do to Obama with his search for the birth certificate. The whole birther movement was racist.” Powell talked about intolerance in his own party when we spoke to him on Monday at the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture.
COLIN POWELL: I never use the term racism in describing anything because you immediately shut down conversation. “Yes, I am. No, I'm not. Yes, I am. No, I'm not.” What I have said over time is that there are elements in my party, the Republican Party, that show some level of intolerance that I don't think is worthwhile for the party to demonstrate.
KING: General Powell told us he would not publicly support a candidate until he had seen at least one debate. In a leaked e-mail, he wrote, quote, “I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect.” He calls Hillary Clinton, quote, “A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational...”
(...)
