The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC combined to ignore the latest in the Hillary Clinton e-mail on Tuesday night after news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the State Department had no record of the former Secretary of State having signed a separation agreement to turn over all documents related to her work in the federal government.
This latest blackout of coverage regarding both the e-mail scandal and the questions surrounding the Clinton Foundation serves as yet another sign that the network evening newscasts could be slowly moving on from these scandals ahead of Clinton’s likely announcement of a presidential campaign.
While the networks neglected to cover this development, the Fox News Channel’s Special Report devoted a full report to the matter from chief White House correspondent Ed Henry that lasted two minutes and 48 seconds. Setting up Henry’s report, host Bret Baier served as the initial bearer of the big news regarding Clinton’s non-signature:
Now to our other big story tonight, one major question in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal has been answered. The State Department says Clinton did not sign a separation agreement when she left, which brings us to the next big question, why not?
Picking up from there, Henry explained how State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki finally answered the question of whether or not Clinton had signed a separation agreement (known as a OF-109 form) after having refused to answer three times over the past week. Henry also provided some further context to why this was such crucial news :
That revelation instantly raised another question for Clinton as she prepares to embark on a second presidential campaign as early as next month. Did she purposely avoid signing the separation statement, declaring that an employee has accounted for all records under the penalty of perjury, to keep under wraps the fact that she was using personal e-mail server outside the lines of the Federal Records Act and Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA?
Even though Psaki attempted to deflect attention towards to Clinton not signing the form by pointing to there being no record of signatures from her previous predecessors during the Bush administration, Henry refuted that argument with an assist from “the State Department’s own manual,” which “declares the document needs to be, quote, ‘executed for each departing employee and forwarded to the Bureau of Human Resources.’”
Adding further insult to injury for the State Department was a soundbite from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest who, in the words of Henry, “appeared to contradict Psaki” on the policy of employees signing separation agreements.
As a reference for when each network evening newscast last covered either one of the Clinton scandals, the most recent time that ABC’s World News Tonight mentioned one of them was on Sunday when chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl reported on congressional investigations into Clinton’s e-mails. Over on the CBS Evening News, the Monday edition of the show featured a report by correspondent Julianna Goldman on the questionable donations by foreigners to the Clinton Foundation.
Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News has not devoted airtime to the dual scandals since Saturday when the e-mail scandal was highlighted in a report by White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on March 17 are transcribed below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
March 17, 2015
6:05 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Separation Anxiety]
BAIER: Now to our other big story tonight, one major question in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal has been answered. The State Department says Clinton did not sign a separation agreement when she left, which brings us to the next big question, why not? Chief White House correspondent Ed Henry has details.
ED HENRY: The fourth time was the charm on the question of whether Hillary Clinton signed a key document as Jen Psaki finally answered after ducking it three times over the last week at the State Department.
STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN JEN PSAKI: We have reviewed Secretary Clinton’s official personnel file and administrative files and do not have record of her signing the OF-109.
HENRY: That revelation instantly raised another question for Clinton as she prepares to embark on a second presidential campaign as early as next month. Did she purposely avoid signing the separation statement, declaring that an employee has accounted for all records under the penalty of perjury, to keep under wraps the fact that she was using personal e-mail server outside the lines of the Federal Records Act and Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA? With Dan Metcalf, who oversaw FOIA throughout the executive branch from 1981 to 2007, writing today in Politico, quote, “[w]hat Secretary Clinton arranged to do and what she now has said about that are, to put it most charitably, not what either the law or anything close to candor requires.”
(....)
HENRY: And Psaki, who took several days to find out whether Clinton signed the separation document, was quickly able to rattle off information suggesting Republican Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condi Rice did not sign the document either.
PSAKI: We did not locate document of either of her immediate predecessors signing the form. It’s not clear that this form is used part of a standard part of checkout across the federal government.
HENRY: Except the State Department’s own manual declares the document needs to be, quote, “executed for each departing employee and forwarded to the Bureau of Human Resources” and even White House Spokesman Josh Earnest appeared to contradict Psaki.
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN JOSH EARNEST: My understanding at the White House is that applies to everybody that serves at the White House. I don't know whether it applies to the President and the Vice President, I guess, but in terms of staff who work here, I know they have to sign those kinds of agreements.
HENRY: Josh Earnest did stress the policy will vary by agency and he was not familiar with the State Department's approach. As for Secretary Clinton, we tried to get comment and her camp did not get back to us.
