Though MNSBC gives ample airtime to Hillary Clinton’s many surrogates, the network isn’t exactly in the tank for the 2016 Democratic front-runner.
The latest example of a Clinton supporter meeting tough pushback from MSNBC personalities comes this week from Steven Rattner’s appearance on Morning Joe. Rattner, who served previously as President Obama’s “car czar,” tried Thursday morning to downplay the scandal surrounding her unauthorized, private email server that she used while at State.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a criminal probe into whether Clinton and her team sent or received classified state secrets during her tenure at State. Still, Rattner charged that the Select Committee on Benghazi, which is investigating Clinton’s involvement in the deadly events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in Libya, is little more than a political witch-hunt.
But the hosts and guests of MSNBC’s Morning Joe didn’t let his characterization slide, as their protestation at one point left Rattner feeling “rattled.”
“Now you’ve got me confused and rattled like you like to do,” Rattner said.
He repeated that he thinks special committee is nothing but a political sideshow, claiming also that Clinton has complied by turning over all her private server emails.
“But [federal investigators] don’t have the [emails] they want,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said.
Host Joe Scarborough also noted there are at least two months worth of emails missing from the stash that Clinton’s team turned over the State Department.
“We all know Gen. Petraeus was emailing Hillary Clinton about yoga classes,” Scarborough said jokingly. “Oh wait, no he wasn’t. This was information that’s dripped and dripped and dripped out.”
Rattner conceded, “The first two months of emails may or may not be recoverable. They may or may not exist.”
The Clinton surrogate also claimed that GOP lawmakers on the Benghazi committee have so far turned up no new information from their investigation.
This claim is not true, as the committee is responsible for uncovering not only hundreds of previously missing State Department communications, but also the extent to which longtime Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal, who was barred by the Obama administration from taking a job at State, influenced the former secretary.
Scarborough added that Clinton’s team can’t exactly claim that there’s “no there there,” considering that they haven’t turned over all requested documents.
“As we sit here today the Clintons have not complied with the subpoenas,” Scarborough said. “Turn all the documents over and then we can pass judgment.”
Guest contributor Nicole Wallace added, “People don’t believe her because, in part, she doesn’t turn over things.”
A rattled Rattner eventually admitted, “Look, it was handled badly. Everybody happy now?”
(h/t WFB)
