How can one lock up an interview with Hillary Clinton or one of her aides? Either provide her with the questions beforehand or promise to portray her in a favorable light, it seems.
A leaked email from an MSNBC producer to the Clinton campaign appears to show a promise to place Hillary Clinton in a favorable light in exchange for an interview appearance by a member of her team.
In the 2015 email from MSNBC producer Sheara Braun to Clinton campaign spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod, Braun discusses a segment on Clinton that’s intended to help her out with millennial voters, a demographic she’s struggled to win over.
Far from remaining neutral, however, Braun dismisses scandals linked to the Clintons as “crap and nonsense” and describes the former secretary of state as an “amazing, intelligent woman.”
"Hey Adrienne, Thanks for your help in getting Karen on with Chris the other night," writes Braun, editorial producer of “All in With Chris Hayes.”
"I have a question for you. As you guys have probably seen, we’ve been airing a ‘Hillary Clinton for Millennials’ segment on our program every night this past week. The point of the segment is basically to inform young people about all of the crap and nonsense that Sec. Clinton and President Clinton (but mostly Sec. Clinton) had to face back in the 90s when President Clinton was running for office," Braun continues, "...everything from cookie-gate to stand-by-your-man-gate to Hillarycare."
"The point isn’t to dwell on the past but the point is to talk about this amazing, intelligent woman who probably faced more nonsense back in the day because she is a woman...and she continues to have to face it," continues Braun in her pitch to book one of Clinton’s aides for an interview on the show.
"She is smarter than most men and more qualified than most men to be president."
The email, which was obtained by DCLeaks, was then forwarded to Capricia Marsha, one of Clinton’s insiders, to see if she’d be willing to appear on the show.
The exchange continues to shine light on the relationship between Team Clinton and the mainstream media. Earlier this week leaked memos revealed Clinton’s staff worked with Steve Harvey on the structure of their interview, even giving her the exact questions ahead of time.