MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski went through the key points of Hillary Clinton’s totally avoidable email fiasco, noting that she said that having a private email system was allowed (it wasn’t), and responding to a question from a reporter last year about whether she wiped the server clean, which she flippantly answered, “like with a cloth.”
After the State Inspector General report noted that Clinton violated the Federal Records Act by deleting what she considered private emails, which numbered around 30,000—and that all emails should’ve been turned over to State when she left government service. The Clinton campaign, of course, says she didn’t do anything wrong.
“I really don’t want to be the one delivering this, but I got to tell you, this is really hard to believe," said Brzezinski. "It feels like she’s lying straight out." Andrea Mitchell, who was interviewed on the show, was asked point blank “is she lying?”
“I can’t say that…I mean, I would let the viewer. I would let the voter make those determinations, but it doesn’t hold up. There’s so many inconsistencies,” she said.
Mitchell did note correctly that the more the Clinton camp fights this, the more it remains in the news cycle. She added that pushing a non-credible argument on Clinton’s behalf isn’t the way to handle this situation that has been marinating for over a year. If Clinton had admitted to wrongdoing, and said it was a lack of judgment (which she somewhat alluded to, but then backtracked), then conventional wisdom is that most of the outrage would have blown over months ago. Yet, we then get into the national security aspect of it, where classified emails were sent unsecured, classified markers were removed (a federal crime) on those communications, and hackers were able to penetrate inside the system. The question of her having good judgment comes into play, which is something she does not want to fight Donald Trump on in a debate. At the same time, it’s probably going to happen anyway, though the best option for the Clinton camp, in their mind, is to avoid the press and fight this narrative with the typical “everyone is out to get me” talking point. That’s fine. But the wounds of this will continue to fester—and the notions of her being dishonest, untrustworthy, and non-transparent will also continue to permeate the electorate. It already has. On the Republican side, it’s the emails; for Sanders’ people, it’s probably more of her refusal to release her transcripts of her speeches to Wall Street banks. Both point and feed into Trump’s “Crooked Hillary” attacks. Yet, if it wasn’t emails, it was going to be something else since she’s a terrible candidate.
Oh, and the huge California primary that’s to be held on June 7 has Clinton and Sanders in a dead-heat.
Mitchell added that Clinton is going to clinch the nomination, but she wanted to win California and end her primary season on a high note. She’s not going to get that now.
“Bernie Sanders is giving her a huge challenge out here, I can tell you from just looking at the campaigning this week,” she said.