On Tuesday’s Hardball, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush happily speculated that the idea of the Trump administration being hit by a special prosecutor (regarding the Mike Flynn fallout) would be “one of the richest ironies and perhaps the biggest consolation prize for the Clintons” following the 1990s and 2016.
Matthews turned to Thrush by touting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plea for the Justice Department to investigate the Trump White House but not “Jeff Sessions doing it so you have one of these recusal kinda things.”
“Is that the strongest danger to this White House? It’s done as a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Is that the thing that would really scare them,” Matthews wondered.
Thrush immediately responded that “it would scare the hell out of them” before moving onto noting how many of people who helped elect Trump were “Clinton hungers from the 1990s and so they understand the danger of appointing a special prosecutor better than anybody.”
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In between giggles, Thrush swooned: “It would be, I should say, because we’re not up the road yet, one of the richest ironies and perhaps the biggest consolation prize for the Clintons if it moved into the direction of a special prosecutor.”
Matthews agreed, citing a tweet from former Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines taunting the Trump administration. Matthews added that “[b]asically, what goes around comes around, an old Washington expression” and so “[t]he Hillary people are actually...thrilled with this stuff and maybe they should be.”
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on February 14:
MSNBC’s Hardball
February 14, 2017
7:14 p.m. EasternCHRIS MATTHEWS: Chuck Schumer came out today and Chuck Schumer — we should a bit of it coming out — and said we want Justice Department to do this but we don’t want the — we don’t want Jeff Sessions doing it so you have one of these recusal kinda things. Is that the strongest danger to this White House? It’s done as a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Is that the thing that would really scare them?
GLENN THRUSH: Oh, I think it would scare the hell out of them. You know, I also think — remember, this entire crew that got Donald Trump elected. When you go to Kellyanne Conway, Dave Bossie — this entire group of people — Bannon, they’re Clinton hunters from the 1990s and so they understand the danger of appointing a special prosecutor better than anybody. It is — it would be, I should say, because we’re not up the road yet, one of the richest ironies and perhaps the biggest consolation prize for the Clintons if it moved into the direction of a special prosecutor.
MATTHEWS: And they all remember — Philippe Reines, who’s the press guy for Hillary Clinton. He’s already put out his tweet — you know — because he’s — you know — you got what you paid for. Basically, what goes around comes around, an old Washington expression. The Hillary people are actually — I’m not knocking ‘em. They’re thrilled with this stuff and maybe they should be.
