In her soon-to-be-released book “What Happened” about the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton revealed she was “ticked off” at NBC’s Matt Lauer for pressing her about the email scandal during the network’s “Commander-in-Chief Forum” last September.
“You’re communicating on highly sensitive topics. Why wasn’t it more than a mistake? Why wasn’t it disqualifying?” Lauer asked Clinton.
“Now I was ticked off,” the former secretary of state wrote. “NBC knew exactly what it was doing here. The network was treating this like an episode of 'The Apprentice,' in which Trump stars and ratings soar. Lauer had turned what should have been a serious discussion into a pointless ambush. What a waste of time," Clinton wrote.
“I can’t say I didn’t fantasize about shaking some sense into Lauer while I was out there,” she added.
Clinton also accused Lauer of giving Trump a “soft-pedal” interview during his 30 minutes on stage.
He also asked about her 2002 Senate vote: “How do you think these people feel when the person running to be their commander in chief says her vote to go to war in Iraq was a mistake?”
However, when Trump repeated his claim to have opposed the Iraq war before it started, the newsman failed to follow up on that point, resulting in criticism. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza tweeted that Lauer was tougher on fallen Olympian Ryan Lochte. (Fox News)
“I was almost physically sick,” Clinton said.
The former Democratic presidential nominee blamed a number of people for contributing to her stunning loss to Trump, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, former FBI Director James Comey, and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The book will be released Sept. 12.