Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon conducted a number of interviews on Wednesday in reaction to the State Department Inspector General’s scathing rebuke of Clinton’s private e-mail account and server, but none measured up to FNC’s Special Report host Bret Baier and his calm, thorough dismantling of Fallon.
Baier jumped right into the substance by showing video of Clinton repeatedly claiming her e-mail server was legal before noting that “[a]s you know, the Inspector General's report says something completely different” and providing an extensive quote from the IG about Clinton having failed to seek approval and notify the State Department.
Fallon went right into spin mode meandering about Clinton’s behavior being similar to her predecessors and so Baier was ready to strike back by pointing out that she was the only one to have “the personal server in her house” that was not “approved according to the State Department IG and they wouldn't have been approved, according to this statement based on security concerns.”
When Fallon attempted to argue that there’s “no evidence that this personal server of hers was ever breached successfully,” Baier offered a perturbed glare and told him to “hold on” and exclaimed:
FALLON: Well, there were attempted intrusions, but none of them were successful and that matches all of the —
BAIER: Well, you don’t know that. How do you know that?
FALLON: Well, there's been reporting out of the ongoing Justice Department review that they've looked at the logs, the security logs for that server and found no evidence of that.
BAIER: So this hacker, Guccifer, you don't buy that he got into the server?
FALLON: Actually we don't and there's no evidence to corroborate that.
BAIER: So, why do you think the Justice Department has cut him a deal?
Baier clearly had plenty of ammunition left in reserve as he unloaded this piece on Fallon’s dubious claim about Clinton’s server having never been breached:
In audit three of this report, “January 9, 2011, non-Departmental adviser to President Obama, who provided technical support to the Clinton email system, notified the Secretary's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations he had to shut down the server because he believed ‘someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in, I didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to.’ Later that day, the adviser wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for operations, ‘We were attacked again, so I shut [the server] down for a few min.’ On January 10th, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations emailed the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and instructed them not to email the secretary ‘anything sensitive’ and explained she could ‘explain more in person.’”
Before an audio malfunction with Fallon that caused a sudden commercial break, Baier hammered him on the former First Lady’s refusal to participate in the now-released IG report:
BAIER: Why didn't the secretary participate in this IG report? Why didn’t the Secretary sit down for an interview when Secretaries Kerry, Albright, Powell and Rice all sat down for interviews with the IG?
FALLON: Well, there's a multitude of entities that are investigating this email issue right now. Hillary Clinton has answered a lot of questions about it dating back to —
BAIER: But not to this IG.
FALLON: That's correct, but if you want to ask whether she is shirking questions or trying to avoid having to answer hard questions about why she made this decision, I don't think that that criticism is warranted[.]
The topic upon returning from commercial first centered around the Clinton campaign’s insistence that the State Department’s IG office is compromised even though it’s helmed by an Obama appointee, but Baier then steered it back to the scandal itself.
Similar to what he did numerous times, the FNC host read extensively from the IG report that rebutted Clinton’s emphasis that she’s turned over all the necessary e-mails to the State Department to then be made public.
Naturally, Fallon didn’t have a direct answer and Baier responded by again stating the record that there was a vast distinction to be made from Clinton and, say, Colin Powell did: “No other secretary had a personal server. We should make that clear, as we made it clear in the first party, but here's the question.”
Fallon snapped back that Baier’s argument was “beside the point” and in turn, Baier concluded:
Well, sure, but you're also dealing with classified emails that you all say were classified after the fact. I mean, they weren't marked. It really doesn't matter. The issue is the server. It was on the server, so handling classified material is another investigation but one in which we'll see what happens with the FBI.
The relevant portions of the transcript from FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on May 25 can be found below.
FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
May 25, 2016
6:28 p.m. EasternHILLARY CLINTON: My personal email use was fully above board. It was allowed by the State Department. As they have confirmed. [SCREEN WIPE] The truth is and the truth is, everything I did was permitted and I went above and beyond what anybody could have expected in making sure that if the state department didn't capture something, I made a real effort to get it to them. And I had no obligation to do any of that.
BRET BAIER: As you know, the Inspector General's report says something completely different. The Inspector General “found no evidence that the secretary says requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via personal account on her private server according to the current CIO and Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, Secretary Clinton had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business with their offices who in turn would have attempted to provide her where approved or secured means that met their business needs. However, according to officials, DS and IRM did not and would not approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business because of the restrictions in the F.A.M. And the security risk in doing so.” What about that, Brian?
(....)
FALLON: In fact, the report today by the IG found that some 90-plus different top-level officials in the State Department dating back to the Bush administration used personal email for work purposes, including Secretary Powell, including Secretary Kerry who followed Secretary Clinton. So there was a clear precedent set that it was acceptable to use personal email for work purposes.
BAIER: Sure, there's an email.
FALLON: I think that's what the secretary has been referring to.
BAIER: There's the email and the personal server in her house.
FALLON: Right.
BAIER: Neither of which were approved according to the State Department IG and they wouldn't have been approved, according to this statement based on security concerns.
(....)
FALLON: And what the section of that report said today was that there was no evidence that this personal server of hers was ever breached successfully.
BAIER: Hold on. About that —
FALLON: Well, there were attempted intrusions, but none of them were successful and that matches all of the —
BAIER: Well, you don’t know that. How do you know that?
FALLON: Well, there's been reporting out of the ongoing Justice Department review that they've looked at the logs, the security logs for that server and found no evidence of that.
BAIER: So this hacker, Guccifer, you don't buy that he got into the server?
FALLON: Actually we don't and there's no evidence to corroborate that.
BAIER: So, why do you think the Justice Department has cut him a deal?
FALLON: Well he's been extradited to the United States to face charges related to his confirmed hacking of other individuals.
BAIER: Sure including Sidney Blumenthal who had e-mails from Secretary Clinton.
(....)
BAIER: This inspector general for the State Department, Steve Linick, was appointed by President Obama in 2013. I heard you on another channel earlier today suggest there's some kind of anti-Clinton bias with this inspector general. An inspector general appointed by President Obama?
FALLON: Well, there were reports a few months back suggesting affirming the fact that one of the top individuals in that office, the number two official in that office, had a connection, had formally worked for Senator Grassley, who has been one of Secretary Clinton's chief antagonists on this issue and so, there were calls from various members of Congress for that official to at least recuse herself from this matter. That didn't happen, but yes, so —
BAIER: You're not suggesting this report is somehow flawed because of that tenuous connection on the number two person in that?
(....)
BAIER: You know, she said numerous times, Brian, she's turned everything over. Every single thing. The State Department said today that's not the case. The report itself said there were things that were not turned over right away, and in fact, one of the emails that did not come out publicly, in the tronches that given to reporter, was one that said that: “In November 2010, Secretary Clinton and her Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations discussed the fact that Secretary Clinton's emails to the Department employees were not being received. The Deputy Chief of Staff emailed the Secretary that ‘we should put you on state email or releasing your email address to the department so you're not going to spam.’ In response, the secretary wrote, ‘Let's get separate addresses or device but I don't want any risk of personal being accessible.’” That was never released to reporters.
(....)
BAIER: No other secretary had a personal server. We should make that clear, as we made it clear in the first party, but here's the question.
FALLON: But from a record-keeping perspective, Bret, that question is beside the point. You can retain the records whether your email system is on a server or through G-Mail.
BAIER: Well, sure, but you're also dealing with classified emails that you all say were classified after the fact. I mean, they weren't marked. It really doesn't matter. The issue is the server. It was on the server, so handling classified material is another investigation but one in which we'll see what happens with the FBI.
