Fretting over Hillary Clinton’s ongoing e-mail scandal on Tuesday, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell wondered when the story would end: “Are we ever going to get out of this cycle? Is she ever going to get out of this cycle?”
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza bemoaned: “...when the federal judge ordered the release of these things at pretty regular intervals....this was the worst outcome for her presidential hopes....We're not talking about her plan for college affordability. We're not talking about energy. We're not talking about income inequality.”
Mitchell similarly expressed her disappointment at not being able to promote Clinton’s liberal agenda: “And last month, when it was released on a Friday afternoon, it stepped all over her rolling out the new Cuba policy. We were all down in Florida. So the policy issues are getting overwhelmed by it.”
Earlier in the exchange, Mitchell argued that while there was no “smoking gun” in the latest batch of Clinton e-mails, “it's certainly a distraction from the message that they would want to be putting out day after day.”
The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein excused the former Secretary of State’s private server:
She wanted to talk politics and stay in touch with what was going on, both in the White House and more broadly in the political landscape, and a private account was probably the easiest way to do it because of all the complications that come with talking politics on a public account....And it reminds you that she is inherently political. It's not a bad thing. She's a politician.
At the top of the show, The Atlantic magazine editor Steve Clemons told Mitchell: “...this was an act of defensiveness to try and protect some bit of their terrain from enemies that I think they feel are embedded all around them.”
Here is a transcript of Mitchell’s September 1 exchange with Stein and Cillizza:
12:33 PM ET
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ANDREA MITCHELL: Sam Stein, let me ask you about the Hillary Clinton e-mails because when you go through these e-mails – and we've been up all night going through these e-mails, more than 4,000 e-mails, more than 7,000 pages – there isn't anything that seems to be what you would call, you know, a smoking gun. Yet she’s certainly – it's certainly a distraction from the message that they would want to be putting out day after day.
SAM STEIN [HUFFINGTON POST]: Yeah. Well, you know, it seems to me, having gone through them and read all about Gefilte fish and such, was she set up this private account for one of two reason. Perhaps both. The first was she wanted to talk shop. She wanted to talk politics and stay in touch with what was going on, both in the White House and more broadly in the political landscape, and a private account was probably the easiest way to do it because of all the complications that come with talking politics on a public account.
And the second thing was she probably wanted to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests. Now that clearly has backfired because she’s releasing all these e-mails. But that's what I was sort of reminded of when I was reading through these e-mails, is that so much politics, so much dishing, so many articles passed about what was happening in the White House. And it reminds you that she is inherently political. It's not a bad thing. She's a politician. But, you know, she took that political psyche to her – to the State Department. That said, there was also a lot of work being done at late hours of the night. So those are my main take-aways.
MITCHELL: Are we ever going to get out of this cycle? Is she ever going to get out of this cycle? Chris Cillizza?
CHRIS CILLIZZA [WASHINGTON POST]: Well, look, this is – when we talked about this when the federal judge ordered the release of these things at pretty regular intervals, Andrea – I think we’re talking about roughly 30,000 pages of e-mails – this was the worst outcome for her presidential hopes because it's exactly what you said and exactly what Sam talked about, which is we’re talking about this, right? We're not talking about her plan for college affordability. We're not talking about energy. We're not talking about income inequality. This will continue to come up because these things are going to be released in these groups, you know, of 7,000 pages or so, throughout the next several months.
So it's – I think one big unload of all of them would have been her best. Well, maybe her best would be no release. But one big unload of all of them would have been her best. This sort of drip, drip, drip, even if there is no smoking gun – which I agree with you, I don't think that there is – it just keeps the story churning, keeps the story churning. And that's not good for her.
MITCHELL: And, in fact, the next release is going to be – I mean, the final release won't be until January, we're told. That's the pace that they are on according to the court order. And last month, when it was released on a Friday afternoon, it stepped all over her rolling out the new Cuba policy. We were all down in Florida. So the policy issues are getting overwhelmed by it.
Thank you both very much, Sam Stein and, of course, Chris Cillizza.
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