CNBC’s Kernen Jabs Clinton Campaign for ‘Choreographed’ Meeting with Girl

September 12th, 2016 4:48 PM

Squawk Box anchor Joe Kernen jabbed the Clinton campaign for staging a meeting between the Democratic presidential nominee and a little girl in New York City.

“It was so choreographed,” Kernen said on Sept. 12.

He told CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood that it was “weird” for Clinton to meet a little girl when she supposedly had pneumonia.  

Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post wrote that Clinton’s health became “a real issue” in the presidential race after she stumbled following a Sept. 11, commemoration service.

Writing “The Fix” blog for the Post, Cillizza said Clinton’s doctor diagnosed her with pneumonia two days earlier.

Despite her doctor’s diagnosis of a potentially contagious disease, Clinton hugged a little girl that same day.

“Whoever thought that up, I don’t know if they really thought that through,” Kernen remarked.

The 9/11 stumble forced Cillizza to eat his own words. He had hammered Matt Drudge on Sept. 6, for hyping Clinton’s health problems asking, “Can we just stop talking about Hillary Clinton’s health now?”  In that post, Cillizza argued that the issue of Clinton’s health was “a totally ridiculous” one.