Appearing on Sunday’s This Week, conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt maintained that the ongoing issues surrounding Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server were “more than a problem, it’s an indictment” of her.
Hewitt rejected Democratic strategist Donna Brazile’s assessment that Clinton’s e-mails were merely a “huge distraction” and called this a “very serious matter.”
The conservative radio host invoked Watergate and how Hillary “doesn’t have any explanation of her erasing 31,000 e-mails”:
And that’s not an 18-minute gap, that’s an 18,000-minute gap. So this is a criminal matter and Donald Trump called it that on my show this week.
After Brazile continued to defend Hillary for doing “nothing wrong” ABC’s Matthew Dowd informed the Democrat that even the “Hillary folks know this is a problem, you can tell by the tenure by which they're responding to this.”
Rather than accept Brazile’s liberal spin, Dowd stressed that Hillary has been hurt so much by this scandal, Democrats have been forced to look for an alternative candidate, such as Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden:
And we wouldn't be having a Biden conversation if Hillary was doing all great and everything was fine. Bernie Sanders, right now, is rising faster than anybody else. She's dropping. There's now a conversation about Joe Biden.
Unfortunately for Democrats, Dowd suggested that Hillary has such deep ties to the party that it may be too late for voters to find a replacement and will be stuck with a damaged candidate come 2016:
They have a problem but they may be so taken in the cake with Hillary Clinton they can’t get out of it. And they go into the general election with a wounded warrior which is a big problem.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
August 16, 2015
MARTHA RADDATZ: And let's talk about the Democrats for a minute here, how much do you think this e-mail server hurts Hillary Clinton and these classified e-mails?
DONNA BRAZILE: She has 1,306 precinct captains, she has one-third of the county chairs with her, she's organizing in this state as if that matters next year. This e-mail stuff is a huge distraction.
RADDATZ: It could be a distraction for a long time.
BRAZILE: She has 17 Republican candidates. She has four Democratic challengers. Yes, it's a perception problem. But is factually true? The committee that Trey Gowdy is overseeing, they’ve spent more than $4 million trying to tear down Hillary Clinton's character. I think she will come out of this okay, but it's going to be long battle.
HUGH HEWITT: It's more than a problem, it's an indictment. 18 USC 1924 is what lead to the indictment of General Petraeus, it lead to the indictment of Sandy Berger. It lead to the indictment of John Deutch, former CIA Director, mishandling classified information. And Matt’s had the clearances, I’ve had the clearances, you've had the clearances, is a very serious matter. She doesn't have any explanation of her erasing 31,000 e-mails. And that’s not an 18-minute gap, that’s an 18,000-minute gap. So this is a criminal matter and Donald Trump called it that on my show this week.
RADDATZ: Do the Democrats need a plan B, look you’ve got Joe Biden, right now, deciding whether he'll get into the race.
BRAZILE: First of all, this is not a criminal indictment and she did nothing wrong. The fact that they are now saying that some of the e-mails that have been released should have been classified. We could get into the legality of it.
RADDATZ: Let’s get into Joe Biden.
MATTHEW DOWD: The Hillary folks know this is a problem, you can tell by the tenure by which they're responding to this. They know this is a problem. And we wouldn't be having a Biden conversation if Hillary was doing all great and everything was fine. Bernie Sanders, right now, is rising faster than anybody else. She's dropping. There's now a conversation about Joe Biden. They have a problem but they may be so taken in the cake with Hillary Clinton they can’t get out of it. And they go into the general election with a wounded warrior which is a big problem.
