On Thursday night, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News neglected to mention in their continuing coverage of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal video that had surfaced earlier in the day of Clinton attacking the Bush administration in 2007 over their supposed email practices.
Instead of mentioning this latest example of hypocrisy by a Clinton, CBS touted a Democratic Congressman who lamented that this story is merely “in the realm of presidential politics” while NBC’s Andrea Mitchell pushed a Clinton-camp talking point and dubbed the scandal as just “fuss.”
ABC’s World News Tonight did cover this angle of the growing story by airing the clip of Clinton from her first White House run when she said this: “Our constitution is being shredded. We know about the secret wiretaps, we know about the secret military tribunals, the secret White House email accounts.”
Anchor David Muir set up chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl’s segment by wondering “how long will” it “take” to release her emails and “the video tonight, now surfacing, shows Mrs. Clinton questioning the Bush administration's use of secret email accounts of their own.”
Karl went on to report how “ABC News has learned Hillary Clinton violated State Department email policy for all four years she served as Secretary of State” with a source saying that, “while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary, State Department employees were only allowed to use private email if they turned them over to be entered into government computers, and until they did that, they were in violation of the rules.”
With that in mind, Clinton did break the rules since she “did not turn over emails until late last year, nearly two years after she stepped down” from the top position at the State Department. Even though “[s]he has been silent on this controversy” besides the lone tweet from Wednesday night, Karl was quick to note that “back when she last ran for president, Mrs. Clinton was quite vocal on government officials who used private emails.”
>> Read the full coverage of the Hillary Clinton email scandal here<<
In contrast, the CBS Evening News only covered Clinton’s tweet and the subpoenas for Clinton’s emails with the latter already mentioned by Nancy Cordes in her story on Wednesday night. Along with the “scathing response” to Clinton’s tweet by Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy (S.C.), Cordes interviewed Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (Calif.), who said that “unfortunately, we're just in the realm of presidential politics.”
On NBC Nightly News, Mitchell reported the latest on the Clinton email scandal by bringing up current-Secretary of State John Kerry’s frustration when he addressed the story Thursday in Saudi Arabia. Prior to a clip of Kerry speaking, Mitchell described him as “sound[ing] impatient about the fuss.”
At the conclusion of her report, Mitchell chose to only summarize the concerns of Democrats and also pass along a Clinton-camp talking point:
Democratic strategists do worry that this feeds the unflattering narrative that the Clintons are too secretive. Advisers to them say the problem is her campaign hasn't launched yet and isn't set up to handle this kind of controversy.
The relevant portions of the segment from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on March 5 are transcribed below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
March 5, 2015
6:43 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Email Uproar
DAVID MUIR: And back here at home now and to the firestorm over Hillary Clinton. Opting for private email over a government account. The former Secretary of State now tweeting that she “wants the public to see” her email, but how long will that take, and did she break the rules after all? Plus, the video tonight, now surfacing, shows Mrs. Clinton questioning the Bush administration's use of secret email accounts of their own. ABC's chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Email Uproar; Did Hillary Clinton Break the Rules?]
JONATHAN KARL: Today, ABC News has learned Hillary Clinton violated State Department email policy for all four years she served as Secretary of State. A senior State Department official tells us, while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary, State Department employees were only allowed to use private email if they turned them over to be entered into government computers, and until they did that, they were in violation of the rules. Mrs. Clinton did not turn over emails until late last year, nearly two years after she stepped down as secretary. She has been silent on this controversy, but back when she last ran for president, Mrs. Clinton was quite vocal on government officials who used private emails.
HILLARY CLINTON [in 2007]: Our constitution is being shredded. We know about the secret wiretaps, we know about the secret military tribunals, the secret White House email accounts.
KARL: So far, the only comment directly from Mrs. Clinton was that tweet late last night, calling on the State Department to release publicly the emails she has turned over. At least one Democrat, the former chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, and a supporter of Vice President Biden, lashed out at Mrs. Clinton's email practices in about interview on CNN.
DICK HARPOOTLIAN [on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper]: Is that what we really want in a presidential candidate and is that really what we want in a president? Who the hell is running this campaign?
(....)
KARL: [T]he State Department told me today, it will take several months to release those emails and, remember, these are only the emails that Mrs. Clinton chose to send over to the State Department.
The relevant portions of the transcript from NBC Nightly News on March 5 can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
March 5, 2015
7:09 p.m. Eastern(....)
ANDREA MITCHELL: Hillary Clinton finally responded. In 140 characters. A tweet just before midnight saying, “I want the public to see my email. I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.” 55,000 pages of emails she turned over to the State Department last year, but officials say it could take months to decide what involves national security and what can be made public. In Saudi Arabia, John Kerry, who uses government email, sounded impatient about the fuss.
(....)
MITCHELL: But her desire for secrecy has sparked subpoenas from the Republican-led House committee investigating Benghazi and worries for Democrats.
THE WASHINGTON POST’s ANNE GEARAN: Some Democrats, including many who are big, big supporters of her, are worried that there might be something else.
(....)
MITCHELL: Democratic strategists do worry that this feeds the unflattering narrative that the Clintons are too secretive. Advisers to them say the problem is her campaign hasn't launched yet and isn't set up to handle this kind of controversy.
