On Tuesday's At This Hour, CNN's Bob Beckel did his best to spin the latest developments in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal, and likened the conservative boosters of the issue to those who doubt President Obama's natural-born citizenship: "Bill Clinton meeting with the attorney general at the airport....I don't agree with people about this being an unfortunate moment for Obama and Clinton. I think Obama could say all the people who said I wasn't born in the United States — the birther people — are going to continue to jump on Hillary Clinton...they're far out." [video below]
Anchor Kate Bolduan prompted Beckel to respond to Hillary Clinton supporter Hilary Rosen's own spin of FBI Director James Comey recommending that no charges be brought against the former secretary of state over her "extremely careless" handling of classified material. Rosen played up that Mrs. Clinton "has already apologized for the, sort of, the carelessness — the stuff that Comey was lecturing about. She's already apologized for that. She's owned it. She's admitted it. She's apologized a hundred times for it."
Rosen later asserted that "independent voters who are trying to decide what is true and what matters, in terms of judgment and honesty, will hear what the FBI said. She didn't intend to do this; and when it was discovered, she didn't hide anything. Those are two very transparent and important comments for Hillary Clinton's campaign."
Bolduan then pointed out that "Hillary Clinton herself has acknowledged in recent weeks that she has a trust issue with voters. And what is often lost in politics is nuance." She wondered, "Does Hillary Clinton still have a trust problem?" Beckel first replied that "of course, she's got a trust problem; but nuance is not something that the American electorate does much in the course of the day." He continued by noting the controversial recent meeting between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, and gave his likening between those who believe that Mrs. Clinton criminally mishandled her e-mails and "birthers."
The transcript of the relevant portion of the panel discussion from the July 5, 2016 edition of CNN's At This Hour with Berman and Bolduan:
JOHN BERMAN: You know, Hilary Rosen, the FBI director [James Comey] poked holes in the story that Hillary Clinton has been telling on the campaign trail for some time. She did send e-mails that were marked classified at the time — more than a hundred. She did send e-mails that were marked 'top secret' at the time — eight. This was not one mobile device; it was multiple devices on multiple servers. He told a different story than she has been telling on the campaign trail, didn't he?
[CNN Graphic: "Breaking News: FBI Not Recommending Charges Against Clinton"]
HILARY ROSEN, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, first of all, let's say that she said she didn't knowingly do it. And here's the most important thing that — that Director Comey said, and — and as Errol [Louis] said, the people who want to find reason to disbelieve her will — will disbelieve her. The most important piece, though, of — of this day is that Hillary Clinton has already apologized for the, sort of, the carelessness — the stuff that Comey was lecturing about. She's already apologized for that. She's owned it. She's admitted it. She's apologized a hundred times for it. But what he clearly said today was that there was no mal intent; that there was no desire; and they found no evidence that she did this to get around rules; that — and that, importantly, there was no attempt to cover anything up.
So what Susan just said about — that she lied about turning over all of the e-mails — what he specifically said was, she turned over all of the e-mails she had, but they found other e-mails that they didn't — that they probably didn't have. And so — but they found them other ways. And so—
SUSAN DEL PERCIO, FORMER GIULIANI ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And why didn't they have them, though?
BORIS EPSHTEYN, TRUMP SURROGATE: Because she deleted them—
DEL PERCIO: Because she deleted them. Come on!
ROSEN: No, no, no; no, no, no. Excuse me. They also found that there was no mal intent from the people who cleaned and evaluated her server and those e-mails; and if they thought that there was — if they agreed with what the — you know, the bull that Susan just said — they would have said that there was mal intent by those people who had evaluated those servers—
DEL PERCIO: Mal intent doesn't — [is] not the same thing, though—
ROSEN: And so, her — Hillary Clinton supporters — and, most importantly, independent voters who are trying to decide what is true and what matters, in terms of judgment and honesty, will hear what the FBI said. She didn't intend to do this; and when it was discovered, she didn't hide anything. Those are two very transparent and important comments for Hillary Clinton's campaign—
EPSHTEYN: It's incorrect—
DEL PERCIO: (laughs) It's laughable—
EPSHTEYN: It's just incorrect—
KATE BOLDUAN: I want to get — hang on, Hilary. I want to get Bob Beckel on — in on this. Hilary Rosen, Bob Beckel, thinks that if — if voters listen to what the FBI said, then they will go the side of Hillary Clinton. But we do know one thing: Hillary Clinton herself has acknowledged in recent weeks that she has a trust issue with voters. And what is often lost in politics is nuance. So if voters are needing to listen to the nuance that you're hearing from the FBI director — and, as Susan lays out, Republicans are just going to say, she lied; she lied; she lied. Does Hillary Clinton still have a trust problem?
BOB BECKEL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I mean, of course, she's got a trust problem; but nuance is not something that the American electorate does much in the course of the day. The other thing is, I think Donald Trump now needs to change his hashtag from 'crooked' Hillary to 'careless' Hillary.
And the other thing I'd say is ironically, Bill Clinton meeting with the attorney general at the airport caused such a furor; and yet, what caused the secretary — or the attorney general to say, all right. I'm going to take the FBI recommendations. Well, they got the recommendations today; and it's no prosecution. So, I think that's fine. And as far as — I don't agree with people about this being an unfortunate moment for Obama and Clinton. I think Obama could say all the people who said I wasn't born in the United States — the birther people — are going to continue to jump on Hillary Clinton; but it's not going to matter, because they're far out. And the last thing I'd say is to call the FBI director and his system rigged by Donald Trump is another example of what this guy — just is stone-cold blind when it comes to political nuance, if you will.
