On Tuesday’s CBS This Morning, Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson touted Hillary Clinton’s new campaign ad which blasts House Republicans investigating the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack.
After House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued last week that the committee's discovery of Hillary’s private e-mail server had caused her poll numbers to rapidly decline, Dickerson touted the “political gift” the Republican had given to the Democratic presidential front-runner.
In his introduction of Dickerson, co-host Charlie Rose teased how “Hillary Clinton's campaign start running an attack ad today. It targets the Benghazi investigation lead by House Republicans” which gave his CBS colleague the opportunity to promote Hillary’s attack on the GOP:
[S]he’s showing off that gift, wants everybody to see it because for so long the Clintons have been trying to argue that this Benghazi investigation and the e-mail investigation that grew out of it was politically motivated.
While the CBS News Political Director conceded the “legitimate investigations” going on surrounding Benghazi, he continued to highlight how Hillary’s campaign ad “give a little evidence to her underlying claim” that the committee was purely political “and so she wants everybody to see it.”
Not to be outdone, Dickerson stressed that Clinton “wants everybody to see that testimony in a highly partisan light. everybody to see that testimony in a highly partisan light” before he noted that despite Chairman Trey Gowdy’s best efforts, McCarthy’s comments could diminish the committee’s credibility:
Of course Trey Gowdy, who’s running the committee for the Republicans, has been bending over backwards trying to say, no, this is not partisan because he knows that if it's seen as partisan going forward, nothing that happens in the investigation will get listened to.
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
October 6, 2015
GAYLE KING: This morning, Vice President Joe Biden may be moving up his decision on running for president. Politico reporter Mike Allen says it could happen as soon as this weekend. As we reported on Monday, sources tell CBS News the announcement could be less than ten days away.
CHARLIE ROSE: Hillary Clinton's campaign start running an attack ad today. It targets the Benghazi investigation lead by House Republicans. CBS News political director and Face the Nation moderator, John Dickerson, is with us. Good morning.
JOHN DICKERSON: Good morning Charlie.
ROSE: So, what could be the impact of this campaign by the Clinton campaign?
DICKERSON: Well, she got a political gift by Kevin McCarthy, the Majority Leader of the House, when he suggested the Benghazi committee had driven down her poll numbers. And so she’s showing off that gift, wants everybody to see it because for so long the Clintons have been trying to argue that this Benghazi
investigation and the e-mail investigation that grew out of it was politically motivated. But there are legitimate investigations going on which makes it hard for her to say that. But now this clip seems to suggest, give a little evidence to her underlying claim and so she wants everybody to see it.
NORAH O’DONNELL: It's a national television ad campaign?
DICKERSON: Yeah, and so this is in advance of also her testimony on the 22nd of October. She wants everybody to see that testimony in a highly partisan light. Of course Trey Gowdy, who’s running the committee for the Republicans, has been bending over backwards trying to say, no, this is not partisan because he knows that if it's seen as partisan going forward, nothing that happens in the investigation will get listened to.
