In what may be the beginning of a move by networks to bury Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir ignored the story in its Wednesday night broadcast with the CBS Evening News following close behind with only a 20-second news brief.
Over on NBC Nightly News, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell updated viewers on the scandal in a full segment, including news of a report by the State Department’s Inspector General (IG) that revealed droves of e-mails from State Department employees were not properly archived (and thus not saved).
CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley read the following brief that failed to mention the IG report, but did bring up the newly-filed lawsuit by the Associated Press (AP):
Today, the Associated Press filed suit against the State Department, claiming the Department is withholding documents that should be made public. This comes a day after Hillary Clinton explained why she used private e-mail while Secretary of State, bypassing the Department's record-keeping system. Clinton said she did it for convenience.
While NBC neglected to mention the AP suit, its two-minute-and-14-second segment outlined the details of the IG report and how that stands in contradiction with what Hillary Clinton told reporters on Tuesday. Early on in the segment, Mitchell explained the IG report in detail:
A new State Department inspector general's report says for the past five years, most important State Department e-mails for all of the State Department were not properly archived. The report says a computer upgrade in 2009 when Clinton took office failed to preserve thousands of key policy e-mails. For example, in 2011, employees archived only 61,156 e-mails out of more than a billion sent. Why? Inspectors found employees did not receive adequate training. The computer system kept breaking down and some employees deliberately avoided creating computerized records that could be searched later.
Mitchell added that the former Secretary of State “is also being challenged for her claim that she never sent a classified e-mail” and fretted (again) that “Republicans were skeptical” of her responses with “even the White House” declining to “rush to her defense.”
>> Read our full coverage of the Hillary Clinton email scandal here<<
The NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host concluded with this admission concerning Clinton’s possible presidential campaign: “Clinton stumbles over how she's handled this controversy have in fact persuaded advisers she needs to speed up her campaign launch, now likely in just a few weeks.”
The transcript of the brief that aired on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on March 11 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
March 11, 20156:35 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Clinton Emails]
SCOTT PELLEY: Today, the Associated Press filed suit against the State Department, claiming the Department is withholding documents that should be made public. This comes a day after Hillary Clinton explained why she used private e-mail while Secretary of State, bypassing the Department's record-keeping system. Clinton said she did it for convenience.
The relevant portions of the segment from March 11's NBC Nightly News are transcribed below.
NBC Nightly News
March 11, 20157:09 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Clinton Emails]
LESTER HOLT: New developments to report tonight in the controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail account for government business. The State Department's watchdog said today that many e-mails by Mrs. Clinton and other officials may not have been saved automatically as Clinton claimed.
(....)
MITCHELL: But only 24 hours later, a new State Department inspector general's report says for the past five years, most important State Department e-mails for all of the State Department were not properly archived. The report says a computer upgrade in 2009 when Clinton took office failed to preserve thousands of key policy e-mails. For example, in 2011, employees archived only 61,156 e-mails out of more than a billion sent. Why? Inspectors found employees did not receive adequate training. The computer system kept breaking down and some employees deliberately avoided creating computerized records that could be searched later.
NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE’s TOM BLANTON: The State Department just wasn't saving its e-mails. Not Mrs. Clinton's, not the emails of all those responsible people for our foreign policy.
MITCHELL: Clinton is also being challenged for her claim that she never sent a classified e-mail.
CLINTON: I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone my e-mail. There is no classified material.
MITCHELL: Republicans were skeptical and even the White House didn't rush to her defense.
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST: Ultimately, I think it will be up to all of you to make your own determinations about sort of how Secretary Clinton has resolved this matter.
MITCHELL: Clinton stumbles over how she's handled this controversy have in fact persuaded advisers she needs to speed up her campaign launch, now likely in just a few weeks.
