Instead of reporting the findings of a Politico investigation which found that Bill Clinton had abused a federal program to supplement the Clinton Foundation, CBS chose to tout the campaign efforts of Vice President Joe Biden and VP candidate Tim Kaine. “Hillary Clinton left it to a couple of high-ranking surrogates to attack Trump's immigration position today,” reported fill-in anchor Maurice DuBois on CBS Evening News Thursday.
“Clinton was off the trail today, but her running mate was everywhere,” reported CBS’s Nancy Cordes, “Mocking the self-proclaimed dealmaker.” “He has been talking non-stop since the beginning of this campaign, “We're going to build a wall, we're going to make Mexico pay for it,”” mocked Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine, “But when he sat down and he looked President Pena Nieto in the eye, he didn't have the guts to bring that up.”
According to Cordes, Biden had a unique angle to attack Trump from, “In Ohio, Vice President Biden broadened the argument, accusing Trump of sending mixed messages to many U.S. allies.” Biden regaled the crowd with a tale of how Trump forced him to make a trip to Eastern Europe, “to hold the hands of three presidents from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and say, “no, no, no, no, no, he doesn't represent Republicans or Democrats on this.””
Cordes seemed to admit that she and CBS were playing along with the Clinton campaign strategy, stating, “It's become a key part of the Clinton playbook. Keep the focus on Trump's troubles and off Clinton's.” The CBS reporter said something similar once before when she argued that Trump gives the media every excuse to not report about Clinton’s many scandals. And the fact that they didn’t report such a damaging story about Bill Clinton proves Cordes correct.
Wrapping up her report, Cordes distorted a well-known fact about Clinton’s lack of press conferences. “Actually, the last time Clinton answered even one question from her traveling press was two and a half weeks ago on August 16th,” Cordes claimed. But it has been well documented that Clinton’s last full scale press conference took place on December 5, 2015, which makes it 270 days not two and a half weeks.
Transcript below:
CBS
Evening News
September 1, 2016
6:37:08 PM EasternMAURICE DUBOIS: Hillary Clinton left it to a couple of high-ranking surrogates to attack Trump's immigration position today. Nancy Cordes has that.
[Cuts to video]
TIM KAINE: He kind of chickened out and choked when he got right to it.
NANCY CORDES: Clinton was off the trail today, but her running mate was everywhere.
KAINE: He folded under pressure. It was a diplomatic embarrassment.
CORDES: Mocking the self-proclaimed dealmaker.
KAINE: He has been talking non-stop since the beginning of this campaign, “We're going to build a wall, we're going to make Mexico pay for it.” But when he sat down and he looked President Pena Nieto in the eye, he didn't have the guts to bring that up.
CORDES: In Ohio, Vice President Biden broadened the argument, accusing Trump of sending mixed messages to many U.S. allies.
JOE BIDEN: The idea that I ever thought I'd get in my career I'd get in a plane to make— basically to make an emergency flight to hold the hands of three presidents from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and say, “no, no, no, no, no, he doesn't represent Republicans or Democrats on this.”
CORDES: It's become a key part of the Clinton playbook. Keep the focus on Trump's troubles and off Clinton's. Biden barely mentioned her today, and when he did, it was with caveats.
BIDEN: I know some of you are mad at Hillary. I know some of you look at her and say— Let me tell you something, man, she gets it. And she never yields. She does not break.
CORDES: On CBS This Morning Kaine insisted Clinton is not avoiding attention or the media.
KAINE: You see Hillary take questions from reporters every day. She does. She talks to the press everywhere she goes.
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: Actually, the last time Clinton answered even one question from her traveling press was two and a half weeks ago on August 16th. Her aides promise that will start to change this month when for the first time, Maurice, she will be sharing a plane with her press pack everywhere she goes.
