The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all mentioned on Tuesday evening Hillary Clinton’s decision to take questions from the press in Nevada concerning her e-mail server scandal and, as usual, they parroted Clinton campaign talking points in touting how Clinton “vigorously defended herself” in the press conference concerning what’s become a “stubborn political issue.”
Reporting on the presser for the CBS Evening News, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes lectured that “Clinton vigorously defended herself at a press conference in Las Vegas, saying she was far from the only government official who used a private e-mail account.”
Prior to a soundbite from Clinton, Cordes also put forth Clinton’s argument “that some of her e-mails are retroactively being classified as State Department releases them to the public would probably be happening whether she used a private account or a government one.”
Cordes followed up the clip with the lone network mention of how the former secretary of state joked to reporter about “wiping” her server clean “with a cloth.” Based on that bit, Cordes concluded “there are clearly some aspects of this issue she is still not willing to discuss.”
NBC Nightly News dedicated far and away the most time to the Clinton scandal late Tuesday with a two-minute-and-16-second report on it from Justice correspondent Pete Williams. Anchor Lester Holt provided a lead in that told viewers how:
NBC News has learned the FBI has begun its analysis of the private e-mail server she used while serving as secretary of state and we've also learned this week, a federal judge in Washington is set to hold a hearing on another issue touching on this e-mail controversy surrounding a well-known member of Clinton's inner circle.
Williams then cited sources within the FBI concerning their investigation into Clinton’s server (which was housed in a bathroom at a Denver IT firm):
Two sources familiar with the process say analysts are optimistic they can recover at least some data even though they've determined as was previously disclosed it was wiped clean when the account was deactivated. The FBI is examining whether any government secrets were improperly sent or received on the private server which was not a classified system.
While NBC was the only network to highlight how a federal judge will hold a hearing on Thursday concerning Judicial Watch’s lawsuit involving Clinton aide and confidant Huma Abedin, Williams downplayed this growing scandal as “a stubborn political issue” that’s become “a nearly daily distraction” for Clinton.
Spending the least amount of the time on the press conference was ABC’s World News Tonight as anchor David Muir marked only 33 seconds of the newscast for a brief on how it ended when she was asked a series of questions by “a reporter from Fox News.” That reporter, Muir should have mentioned, was none other than chief White House correspondent Ed Henry.
In the network’s full segment on the 2016 campaign, correspondent Tom Llamas eagerly promoted instead how black lives matter protesters have attempted to confront the 2016 candidates with their latest interaction being a private meeting (recorded on video) with Clinton.
