Hillary Clinton’s top campaign official scolded CNBC reporter John Harwood for writing a column critical of what he said was the small amount of information her campaign released to the press.
Clinton staffers were aggrieved by the May 29, 2015 column Harwood authored, titled, “How’s Clinton doing? Wish we could tell you.” Harwood complained the campaign failed to provide the media with enough information at a recent press briefing, including dates for when she would hold press conferences or publish policy proposals.
A staffer sent the piece to campaign secretary Brian Fallon less than 30 minutes after its publication. Fallon subsequently forwarded it to communications director Jennifer Palmieri and campaign chairman John Podesta.
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Podesta made no effort to conceal the fact that campaign staff had noticed the piece, forwarding the uncensored thread of emails to Harwood just over an hour later. “Won’t waste your time again,” Podesta wrote.
“If you are not joking and actually have a problem with that little piece, pls call me,” Harwood responded, providing his phone number.
The exchange was included in the latest batch of emails obtained from Podesta and published by WikiLeaks. Earlier messages from the group revealed Harwood regularly praised Clinton in messages to Podesta, mostly dated between fall 2015 and spring 2016.
The newest release included at least one more instance of Harwood expressing confidence in Clinton. “Amazing that some people still think it’s worth burning so much interview time with person most likely to be next president on her emails,” he wrote to Podesta on Sept. 27, 2015.
Harwood moderated the third Republican primary debate the following month. The event was one of the most widely panned debates in campaign cycle, with Harwood’s performance coming under widespread criticicism for questions that included asking eventual nominee Donald Trump whether he was running a “comic book” version of a campaign.
