Jon Stewart tried really hard to downplay the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton and her private e-mail account on “The Daily Show” Wednesday night.
“It seems less of a scandal and more of like a nerd snap,” Stewart said.
“What’s the big deal about not having an e-mail account? Like, ‘Oh, she so old she doesn’t even have an official e-mail account!'” he said, mimicking a “nerd snap.”
However, the comedian did spotlight the issue that, when turning over Clinton’s e-mails to the State Department for record-keeping purposes, her aides had control of which e-mails were released.
“The concern there is that the aides are the ones who get to decide which e-mails are appropriate to be shared as opposed to an independent arbiter,” said Stewart. “That’s why Doritos doesn’t get to decide which ingredients consumers need to know about. Or why you don’t get to tell the cops which pockets to search.”
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He also spotlighted the fact that there is no way for the State Department to know whether the 55,000 e-mails released by Clinton’s aides comprise all of Hillary’s inbox during her stint as secretary of State, but he eventually downplayed the scandal.
“It appears that Secretary Clinton did bend a regulation,” Stewart admitted in reference to the Federal Records Act, a law that Clinton may have broken by exclusively using her personal account and not a government one.
Of course, Stewart insisted that the controversy has no chance of hurting Clinton’s eventual bid for president in 2016.
“How?! What? Do you think wrong-email-address-ghazi will be a big boost for her Democratic primary rival TBD?” Stewart exclaimed, adding that the issue would not affect the former secretary of State in the general election against a Republican foe.
“Personally, I think her e-mail trouble helps sow up the senior vote,” said the comedian. “You know, they can relate.”
After such a full-throated defense of Clinton, Jon Stewart might have a job with her presidential campaign following his retirement from “The Daily Show.”
