The words of the day at Morning Joe today were "rigged, rigged, rigged, rigged." The reference was to the delegate selection process in both parties and the FBI investigation/Justice Department decision-making process regarding Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information on her private server.
While the panel discussed problems in the Republican process, the most glaring example given of a rigged system was the situation in Wyoming, where over the weekend Bernie Sanders scored a double-digit win among actual voters over Hillary Clinton . . . but came away with fewer delegates. As to the email scandal, clips were played from President Obama's Fox News interview with Chris Wallace, in which the president claimed that he did not communicate with the Attorney General or FBI Director. But as an agitated Joe Scarborough pointed out, by going on TV and declaring that Hillary hadn't compromised national security, he communicated loudly with both, rigging the system by letting the world know he had concluded there was no security breach.
Note: Scarborough's outrage at Obama's non-communication communication with the AG and FBI Director was palpable. It was really as if Obama had said "“Hey AG Lynch and FBI Director Comey: I’m not communicating with you about Hillary. But be sure to tune into Fox News to find out that I’ve decided she hasn’t done anything wrong.”
JOE SCARBOROUGH: If you're driving in a car, we've been talking about rigged systems. We're putting up right now a graphic. Bernie Sanders wins 56% to 44% in Wyoming. The delegates rewarded: Hillary Clinton 11, Bernie Sanders 7. Why does the Democratic party even have voting booths? This system is so rigged.
. . .
BARACK OBAMA: Hillary Clinton was an outstanding Secretary of State. She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy . . . I continue to believe that she has not jeopardized America's national security . . . I do not talk to the Attorney General about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations. The -- we have a strict line and always have maintained it.
CHRIS WALLACE: So just to button this up --
OBAMA: I guarantee it. I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI, not just in this case but in any case. Full stop, period.
JOE: Wait! Can you guys believe what you just heard?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: He said "Believe me." Like someone else.
JOE: He said he wasn't going to talk to the Attorney General about the pending investigation, but he just did, as he did back in October when he said no national security issues here, nothing to see move along. The FBI complained, there was a New York Times article back in October saying the President of the United States should really let us finish our investigation before he starts drawing conclusions that we have scores of agents studying on. And he just did it again. And then in the same interview, Mark Halperin, said "But I'm not talking to my Attorney General about it." Talk about a rigged process!
. . .
MIKA: It plays into our theme today.
JOE: A rigged --
MARK HALPERIN: The people versus the powerful.
MIKA: The powerful will win.
JOE: This is a rigged system because if a reporter had done this, let's say, oh, I don't know, worked for the AP or worked somewhere else and had classified information like this and passed it along through a server that was not secured, that reporter would be in jail. Under this president, that reporter would be in jail.
MIKA: So the four words of the day are?
JOE: Rigged, rigged, rigged, rigged?
MIKA: The system is rigged.
