Robby Mook: 'I'm not aware of any questions getting fed in'

Tuesday I wrote about the scandal of Donna Brazile passing questions to the Clinton campaign and noted that, so far, the media hadn’t seemed particularly interested in investigating the other half of this transaction, i.e. what happened to the questions after the Clinton camp received them. Today, someone finally asked the question directly to Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook and he refused to give a direct answer.

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“CNN just parted ways with Donna Brazile, reportedly for giving the Clinton campaign questions ahead of time, ahead of her debate with Bernie Sanders,” View co-host Jedediah Bila said. “You’re the campaign manager, you know the inner workings of this campaign, you’re aware of everything, can you unequivocally tell us that Hillary Clinton did not see those questions in advance?” Bila asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen the emails in question,” Mook replied, citing the now-standard Clinton campaign refusal to confirm the authenticity of emails leaked by Wikileaks. “I’ll be honest with you, they’re dumping out— these emails were stolen by the Russians, given to Wikileaks and they’re dumping them out every day, thousands of them,” Mook continued.

“I haven’t been, you know, taking my time up everyday to look them,” Mook said. “Here’s what I do know is that Bernie Sanders senior adviser said that he was in constant communication with Donna Brazile as well, that he wouldn’t like those emails to be out there,” Mood added.

“Is that an ‘I don’t know’? I don’t know if she saw the questions in advance?” Bila pressed.

“I am not aware of any questions getting fed in…that’s, look. Here’s the other thing I’ll say. Hillary Clinton is tough. She can take on Bernie Sanders. She can take on Donald Trump. I don’t…she doesn’t need to be fed anything,” Mook replied.

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You’ll notice what is missing from Mook’s long answer. He never does deny, unequivocally, that Hillary saw the questions in advance. He actually offers four different answers, none of which are a denial.

  1. He hasn’t “seen the emails” being put out by Wikileaks.
  2. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager was also in contact with Brazile.
  3. He’s “not aware of” any questions being “fed in.”
  4. Hillary doesn’t need questions in advance.

As far as point #1, Clinton’s campaign manager is certainly aware of the emails regarding advance questions from Brazile. He has no doubt been part of internal discussions about how to respond to the very question he was just asked should it arise. The fact that he had a string of talking points ready, albeit not very good ones, shows this is the case.

Point #2 is another dodge which amounts to ‘well, Bernie did it too…maybe.” It’s true that a senior campaign aide to Sanders said last week that Brazile had reached out to the Sanders campaign as well. Tad Devine also said he didn’t think Brazile had done anything wrong. The problem is that Brazile clearly did do something wrong which is why CNN later dumped her. Also, the fact that Mook is suggesting the Sanders camp got information in advance from Brazile is almost the opposite of a denial. He’s not saying it didn’t happen, he’s saying it balanced out.

Point #3 is the moment where Mook could have just said it didn’t happen. Instead he says he’s “not aware” of it happening. This is not an unequivocal denial.

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Point #4 is another dodge akin to ‘why would she cheat?’ Here’s a reason: She’s a secretive, dishonest person who thinks the rules don’t apply to her and she wants to win the White House. She had the opportunity to cheat and all the motivation in the world to do so.

Finally, you also have to take into account Mook’s shifty presentation. The raised eyebrows, the hand-waving, the weasel words and offering of alternative explanations all add up to a sense that he’s not giving a straight answer. He’s tap-dancing, albeit not very well.

Mook clearly came prepared with a list of talking points but he couldn’t really say this didn’t happen. As with Hillary’s shifting explanations for her private server, team Clinton needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. Kudos to Jedediah Bila for finally making the campaign offer this shifty explanation.

 

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