Atlantic magazine editor Steve Clemons spun Hillary Clinton's use of a private, unsecured e-mail server as the natural, "defensive" reaction to being "under political assault" by people like Ken Starr. On Tuesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports, the MSNBC contributor exonerated, "We don't know exactly what the rationale is, but there was a certain defensiveness that makes a lot of sense when you look back at how under assault the Clintons have been."
Clemons allowed, "This is a family, you know, a franchise, if you will, that has been under political assault for a very long time." The journalist insisted that in the wake of the Clintons's battle with Ken Starr, with Whitewater and the "constant conspiratorial atmosphere around them," using a separate e-mail server "was an act of defensiveness to try and protect some bit of their terrain from enemies that I think they feel are embedded all around them."
Mitchell began the discussion by reading an involved series of exchanges between Clinton and aide Huma Abedin. Government tech officials were confused as to what Clinton's actual e-mail address was. Making an actually salient point, the Andrea Mitchell Reports anchor opined, "So, Steve, her original explanation was this was convenient. This hardly seems convenient."
Further justifying, Clemons insisted that the then-Secretary of State was "dealing with lots of people who had come just out of the Bush administration."
A transcript of the exchange is below:
12:03
ANDREA MITCHELL: Now, Huma Abedin, the closest aide of course and long time assistant and moving up the ranks with Hillary Clinton. At one point, she's e-mailing with Clinton, "do you know what this is?" And Abedin, says, "your e-mail must be back up. What happened is Judith sent you an e-mail. It bounced back. She called the e-mail help desk at State, I guess assuming you had State e-mail and told them that. They had no idea it was you, just some random address. So they e-mailed. Sorry about that. But, regardless, means your e-mail must be back. Are you getting other messages?" So, Steve, her original explanation was this was convenient. This hardly seems convenient.
STEVE CLEMONS (MSNBC contributor): This is a family, you know, a franchise, if you will, that has been under political assault for a very long time. And after things like Ken Starr and his investigation, Whitewater and the constant conspiratorial atmosphere around them, this was an act of defensiveness to try and protect some bit of their terrain from enemies that I think they feel are embedded all around them.
MITCHELL: The enemies being --
CLEMONS: You never know.
MITCHELL: Congress, the press?
CLEMONS: It could be someone who could tear her down. It could be people working in the government. When you're working in a State Department, you're dealing with lots of people who had come just out of the Bush administration. We saw the politicization of appointments and what not there. You know, we don't know exactly what the rational is, but there was a certain defensiveness that makes a lot of sense when you look back at how under assault the Clintons have been.
