In her third interview in the past week, Hillary Clinton sat down Tuesday with ABC’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir and while Muir pressed her on the e-mail scandal, Muir concluded part one of the discussion with gooey questions about if she ponders why she’s running for president “in your most private of moments” and whether she hears “your mother’s voice in your ear.”
Muir began the newscast by promising that there were “no question off-limits,” but teased the there was “a very candid moment” in which “we ask: Does she ever quietly wonder, why go through all of this again?”
The questioning kicked off with a nod to a recent poll where voters responded that the words “liar,” “dishonest,” and “untrustworthy” were the first ones that came to mind when describing Clinton:
When voters were asked, what is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Hillary Clinton, words like liar, dishonest, untrustworthy were at the top of the list. Does this tell you that your original explanation about the private server, that you did it to carry one phone, out of convenience, that this didn't sit well with the American people?
In her first canned answer, Clinton admitted that she didn’t “like hearing that” before elaborating on the overdue self-assessment that “I could have and should have done a better job answering questions” about her e-mail scandal sooner:
I really didn't, perhaps appreciate the need to do that. What I had done was allowed. It was above board, but in retrospect, certainly, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts, one for personal, one for work-related e-mails. That was a mistake. I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility[.]
The ABC anchor followed up by wondering if she’d admit to having “made a mistake” since she “wrote in your own memoir last year just how important using the word ‘mistake’ is in politics.” Staying on that theme, he firmly pushed Clinton on a news report earlier in the day that two of her e-mails have been deemed by a government inspector general to have been top secret from when the originated.
Referencing her campaign supporters, Muir later asked her what he did Clinton correspondent Cecilia Vega on September 3's WNT if she can “survive” the constantly growing scandal:
Let's go bigger picture here for a moment because many who, quite frankly, wanted to support you, have now learned of this FBI investigation, have learned of the IT guy that helped set up the server planning to plead the Fifth and many who have said to themselves, you know, Hillary Clinton, of all people, have been in the public eye for so long, that she should have known, and perhaps the more important question they're asking is can Hillary Clinton survive this? Can you?
In the final moments of part one (with more to come on other ABC News programs, beginning with early Wednesday morning’s Nightline), Muir’s line of inquisition went predictably soft with the penultimate question being about whether she believes a second campaign is worth it:
Americans have watched you as First Lady, they watched you run for Senate, they watched you run for president the first time, you served as secretary of state. I want to know, in your most private of moments, is there ever an instance when you ask yourself, why am I doing this again?
When Clinton emphasized that “it really is hard” across all facets of her life to do this, her voice began to crack as she added that’s worthwhile since: “I cherish and love this country. It gave me, you know, opportunities far beyond anything my mother or my father could have had.”
With Hillary in tears, Muir served up an even bigger softball that permitted the former Secretary of State to become even more emotional for the viewing audience: “Is your mother's voice in your ear and give me one line that you repeat to yourself?”
This was far from the first instance in which Clinton’s mother was mentioned by the liberal media. The July 13 edition of The Washington Post ran a front-page piece attempting to boost her image with stories about the late Rodham and how she told a young Hillary to punch one of her peers if they bullied her.
As part of her 2014 memoir Hard Choice’s release, CBS This Morning pushed stories from it about Clinton’s mother with co-host Gayle King gushed about passages referencing “Dorothy Rodham and the lessons that she learned.”
Prior to her speaking with the Associated Press over the weekend, NBC correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell had her opportunity with the former First Lady on Friday. As the MRC’s Kyle Drennen wrote, however, Clinton did not apologize for using a private e-mail server or any of her conduct concerning it besides stating that it “was not the best choice.”
The relevant portions of the interview from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on September 8 can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
September 8, 2015
6:31 p.m. Eastern
DAVID MUIR: As America goes back to work, back to school, for Hillary Clinton, it is back to a new reality. Her poll numbers sinking fast and tonight, she is talking exclusively with us. Saying, “I'm sorry,” and not just once. Tonight here, no question off-limits. The private server. What was she thinking? Can she survive this? And the new headline tonight that at least two e-mails reviewed are top secret. And in a very candid moment, we ask: Does she ever quietly wonder, why go through all of this again?
(....)
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ABC News Exclusive; Clinton: “Sorry” for Email “Mistake”]
MUIR: When voters were asked, what is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Hillary Clinton, words like liar, dishonest, untrustworthy were at the top of the list. Does this tell you that your original explanation about the private server, that you did it to carry one phone, out of convenience, that this didn't sit well with the American people?
CLINTON: Well, David, obviously, I don't like hearing that. I am confident by the end of this campaign, people will know they can trust me and that I will be on their side and will fight for them and their families, but I do think I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier. I really didn't, perhaps appreciate the need to do that. What I had done was allowed. It was above board, but in retrospect, certainly, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts, one for personal, one for work-related e-mails. That was a mistake. I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility and I'm trying to be as transparent as I possibly can to not only release 55,000 pages of my e-mails, turn over my server, but I am looking forward, finally, to testifying before Congress, something I've been asking for for nearly a year.
MUIR: But I did hear a word in there just a moment ago and I'm curious. Would you acknowledge that you made a mistake here? Because you wrote in your own memoir last year, just how important using the word mistake is in politics.
CLINTON: Right.
MUIR: You wrote, “in our political culture, saying you made a mistake is often taken as weakness when it can be a sign of strength and growth.” And so, as you sit here, millions watching tonight, did you make a mistake?
CLINTON: I did. I did. As I said, it was allowed and there was no hiding it, it was totally above board. Everybody in the government I communicated with, and that was a lot of people, knew I was using a personal e-mail, but I'm sorry that it has, you know, raised all of these questions. I do take responsibility for having made what is clearly not the best decision.
(....)
MUIR: The intelligence community’s inspector general telling ABC today that after reviewing those e-mails, that two of the e-mails carry the classification of top secret, That both e-mails were classified when they were created and remain classified now. One was about drones. One was about North Korea's nuclear program and I’m curious, does this mean that classified information passed through your private server?
CLINTON: Well, there still is a dispute. The State Department disputes that. I understand why different agencies have different views. And I respect that. It does not change the fact that I did not send or receive any information that was marked classified at the time.
MUIR: At the time marked classified, but let me ask you, for the rest of us, the average voter and average viewer out there –
CLINTON: Right.
MUIR: – who might wonder, how can some of these e-mails be classified and labeled as top secret today – what changed in them so significantly that you wouldn't have seen red flags even just a couple of years ago as secretary of state, that you of all people would have known.
CLINTON: That's a very fair question, and I think there are a couple of answers. One, sometimes events do proceed in a way that maybe there's a case being brought against somebody, maybe even a terrorist, and all of a sudden, everything is classified.
MUIR: But North Korea's nuclear program, wouldn't that be classified?
CLINTON: There's a lot of public information about their nuclear program. I don't know the specifics about the one that they are claiming is classified.
MUIR: Let's go bigger picture here for a moment because many who, quite frankly, wanted to support you, have now learned of this FBI investigation, have learned of the IT guy that helped set up the server planning to plead the Fifth and many who have said to themselves, you know, Hillary Clinton, of all people, have been in the public eye for so long, that she should have known, and perhaps the more important question they're asking is can Hillary Clinton survive this? Can you?
CLINTON: Yes, of course I can. I, as you might guess, have been around awhile, and there have been lots of, you know, attacks and counterattacks and questions raised and I can survive it, because I think I'm running to be president to do what the country needs done and I believe the American people will respond to that.
(....)
MUIR: Americans have watched you as First Lady, they watched you run for Senate, they watched you run for president the first time, you served as secretary of state. I want to know, in your most private of moments, is there ever an instance when you ask yourself, why am I doing this again?
CLINTON: Yes, of course, because it really is hard and it's something that – you know, just demands everything. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. It is just 24/7. I cherish and love this country. It gave me, you know, opportunities far beyond anything my mother or my father could have had.
MUIR: Is your mother's voice in your ear and give me one line that you repeat to yourself?
CLINTON: You know, as you probably know, my mother had a terrible childhood. She was abandoned by her parents, she was rejected bill her grandparents. She was literally working as a house maid at the age of 14. And she told me every day, you've got to get up and fight for what you believe in, no matter how hard it is. And I think about her a lot. I miss her a lot. I wish she were here with me and I remember that and I don't want to just fight for me. I don't – I mean, I can have a perfectly fine life not being president. I want to fight for all the people like my mother who needs somebody in their corner, and they need a leader who cares about them again. So, that's what I'm going to try to do.
