During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday, ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts rushed to the defense of Hillary Clinton after the New York Times revealed that a congressional committee had asked Clinton about her use of a private e-mail account while at the State Department more than two years ago.
In response to Mika Brzezinski asking if Clinton must address this issue, Roberts insisted that this doesn’t do “anything beyond what we already have. I mean, the people who are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton based on e-mails are already not going to vote for Hillary Clinton based on e-mails, which is about three people.”
After Roberts maintained that those who would never vote for Clinton because of the e-mail scandal would never vote for her to begin with, co-host Joe Scarborough pointed out that “based on the Bloomberg polls that have been coming out in the past couple of days, it does seem to have a pretty big impact.”
The ABC News political commentator went on to deflect from the substance of Clinton’s e-mail problem and argued that it merely “plays into that whole storyline of can you trust her? And can you trust the Clintons?” For her part, liberal MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski pushed back and wondered if other Secretaries of State would blatantly ignore a congressional inquiry in the same way as Mrs. Clinton:
How big a story is this? I mean if Colin Powell or someone else or John Kerry got an e-mail from Darrell Issa asking that question, would they feel compelled to answer? Do they have to?
Once again, Roberts eagerly played defense for Mrs. Clinton and insisted that other secretaries would not have to comply with such a congressional inquiry: “No is the answer. I mean there is always an executive branch resistance as you know well from your days in the House to those kind of requests.”
While Roberts was quick to downplay the significance of Hillary’s sole use of a personal e-mail account to conduct official government business as Secretary of State, Joe Scarborough refused to accept such spin:
At the same time, though, I would venture to say Colin Powell would not just ignore a Democratic request from an Oversight Committee and then when it is under subpoena erase the server. He just wouldn’t. And if there are examples of Colin Powell doing that, I would like people to let me know.
As of late, Roberts has done her best to provide cover for Mrs. Clinton amidst the growing controversies surrounding her candidacy. On Tuesday, the ABC News analyst argued that sexism played a major role in the American public disliking her.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
April 15, 2015
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Let's start with politics this hour, shall we? We begin with a new report this morning that claims Hillary Clinton was questioned more than two years ago about using a personal e-mail account when she was Secretary of State. According to the New York Times, Congressman Darrell Issa, the then chairman of the House Oversight Committee, was investigating the possible use of personal e-mail by Obama administration officials. One of the questions from the December 2012 letter to Clinton asks “have you or any senior agency official ever used a personal e-mail account to conduct official business. If so, please identify the account.”
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Okay, well, you know that question was just so general. You could drive a Mack truck. Oh wait a second, no, it wasn't. It was dead to center.
BRZEZINSKI: So Clinton did not reply.
SCARBOROUGH: Was dead to center.
BRZEZINSKI: Clinton did not reply to this letter.
SCARBOROUGH: Of course she didn’t.
BRZEZINSKI: And she resigned as Secretary of State seven weeks later The State Department did respond with a summary of its e-mail policies but failed to include an answer to that question. Yesterday, a Clinton aide said, in part, “her usage was widely known to the over 100 department and U.S. government colleagues that she e-mailed as her address was invisible on every e-mail she sent. I asked Joe this earlier can I ask the same question to Cokie?
SCARBOROUGH: You are allowed, I think there’s a new rule, you are allowed to ask the same question twice.
BRZEZINSKI: I can, really?
SCARBOROUGH: I do it all the time.
BRZEZINSKI: I can see it's repetitive and interrupting.
COKIE ROBERTS: Three times however is a lot.
BRZEZINSKI: All right. Cokie, does she have to answer?
ROBERTS: She has to have some kind of answer.
BRZEZINSKI: But does she have to answer that question, is it a big deal that she didn't answer that question?
ROBERTS: I don't think it does anything beyond what we already have. I mean, the people who are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton based on e-mails are already not going to vote for Hillary Clinton based on e-mails, which is about three people.
SCARBOROUGH: But based on the Bloomberg polls that have been coming out in the past couple of days, it does seem to have a pretty big impact.
ROBERTS: It has an impact on people's attitudes.
SCARBOROUGH: Do you trust her? Is she trustworthy, should she have done this? The numbers keep breaking against her.
ROBERTS: But it plays into that whole--that’s what I--Voters vs. Attitudes.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
ROBERTS: And it plays into that whole storyline of can you trust her? And can you trust the Clintons?
SCARBOROUGH: Exactly.
BRZEZINSKI: How big a story is this? I mean if Colin Powell or someone else or John Kerry got an e-mail from Darrell Issa asking that question, would they feel compelled to answer? Do they have to?
ROBERTS: No is the answer. I mean there is always an executive branch resistance as you know well from your days in the House to those kind of requests.
SCARBOROUGH: At the same time, though, I would venture to say Colin Powell would not just ignore a Democratic request from an Oversight Committee and then when it is under subpoena erase the server. He just wouldn’t. And if there are examples of Colin Powell doing that, I would like people to let me know.
