Media, Politics, Uncategorized

After Months of False Denials, Brazile Admits That She Broke Campaign Rules In Revealing Questions To The Clinton Campaign

220px-donna_brazile_1We discussed earlier how Donna Brazile, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee and CNN commentator, denied the legitimacy of emails that showed her leaking a question to Hillary Clinton that would be asked verbatim at the CNN downhill event. I was highly critical of the failure of the media to investigate the claim, including confirming the receipt of the earlier emails from Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri. Brazile stuck by her false statements even after additional emails allegedly showed Brazile secretly feeding information to the Clinton campaign. Again, there was relatively little media attention to the story and CNN initially issued a remarkably weak response that it was “uncomfortable” with the new disclosures on Brazile’s actions while a CNN commentator. While CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker later called Brazile’s actions “disgusting” and others have denounced her actions and later contradictions, the DNC stuck with Brazile — even praising her post-scandal appearance before staffers (with one notable exception). Then, the declassified intelligence report directly disputed what Brazile has said.  Yet media remained relatively passive and again failed to press Palmieri on the issue.  Now, Brazile has admitted that she gave the questions to the Clinton campaign in a Time magazine essay.  She simply says it was a “mistake” but does not address her lying to the media.  Again, the coverage is quite limited and no one has asked Palmieri how she remained silent despite knowing that Brazile was lying and misleading the public. Palmieri is now a regular guest on various news outlets.

Of course, during her long denials, Brazile insisted that the story was not only false but that she was being persecuted by media even asking her such a question:

“I did not receive any questions from CNN . . . As a Christian woman I understand persecution, but I will not stand here and be persecuted because your information is totally false. Podesta’s emails were stolen. You’re so interested in talking about stolen material; you’re like a thief that wants to bring into the night the things that you found that was in the gutter.”

Brazile buries her admission in a piece in Time magazine complaining about Russian hacking.  Here is her full statement:

Then in October, a subsequent release of emails revealed that among the many things I did in my role as a Democratic operative and D.N.C. Vice Chair prior to assuming the interim D.N.C. Chair position was to share potential town hall topics with the Clinton campaign. I had been working behind the scenes to add more town hall events and debates to the primary calendar, and I helped ensure those events included diverse moderators and addressed topics vital to minority communities. My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.
 You will note that the statement omits a few things. First, she does not apologize for lying to the national media repeatedly and stating that her emails were somehow altered.  Second, she does not address how she allowed other people to be fingered for the leak until it came out that it was her doing.  Third, she does not address how she waited months as evidence mounted that she knowingly lied.  She just says it was a mistake to reveal the questions and not to lie to the media for whom she once worked. Nevertheless, she is still being given media opportunities at Time and the media is not crying foul.  Why?
The same question is relevant for the complete failure of the media to ask Palmieri how she could allow denials of this violation of campaign rules for months without revealing that she did receive the questions. She is not being asked how she could remain silent for months as Brazile lied to the media.  This was during a campaign when the Sanders camp was alleging collusion and both Brazile and Palmieri did not reveal the truth that the emails were not altered as Brazile suggested.  Indeed, Palmieri has not been confronted on her role or her long silence.  Why?
The Brazile column is entitled “Russian DNC Narrative Played Out Exactly As They Hoped.”  No, Donna, it was much much better than anyone could have hoped because your first response and position for months was to lie to the media including the cable news network that you worked for.  What hacker could have hoped for that type of windfall?
As the White House complains about slanted coverage, the failure of the media to push aggressively on the Brazile/Palmieri story is support for that view.  Seriously, could you imagine if Reince Priebus was accused of violating campaign rules, lying about to the media repeatedly, continuing the lie as head of the RNC, and maintaining the lie in the face of opposing findings and reports?  In this case, Brazile kept the issue in denial as Sanders sought to show collusion and unfair bias by the DNC. Then Brazile replaced Debbie Wasserman-Schultz who lost her position due to collusion with the Clinton camp against Sanders. Brazile took the job knowing that she was guilty of the same offense and misled the media as to validity of the emails.  Even now, her greatest complaint appears that she primarily wishes that she was better on her security not her veracity.  Brazile insists “Let me be clear: This is not just the price of politics. This is not normal. We cannot let this stand.”  She is not talking about her lying or her sharing the questions with Clinton.  The problem is not the content of the emails but the fact that anyone found out about them.
I have repeatedly criticized President Trump and the Administration for their attacks on the media. I believe that the media is right to aggressively pursue issues like the wiretapping allegation. However, it should also aggressively pursue stories like this one.
The Time column appears an effort to move beyond the scandal with a very limited apology.  Given the subdued media coverage, she may succeed in that strategy.

167 thoughts on “After Months of False Denials, Brazile Admits That She Broke Campaign Rules In Revealing Questions To The Clinton Campaign”

  1. Pingback: Jonathan Turley on the DNC | lawpowerandjusticesite

  2. College professors are now part of the working class, as determined by both political parties. Like Donna Brazile’s ruse, the short-lived Democrats for Public Education, which was created as a political gambit to counter the unpopular hedge funds of DFER (DFER registered for fundraising at Act Blue, DFPE never did), there’s the new bi-partisan, give away, of college control to the oligarchy.
    Marco Rubio’s proposed legislation (March 2017) is remarkably similar to the plan from the Center for American Progress (Nov. 18, 2016, Forbes, “It’s time for a quality alternative to college accreditation”). The CAP staffer, who takes co-credit for the plan, was formerly employed by the Gates-funded New America. The Gates Foundation gave $2.2 mil. in ed. grants to CAP from 2013-2015.
    The fact that 90% of Americans likely oppose the plan, is as irrelevant as the “busiest 3 days in Capitol switchboard history” that were associated with constituent opposition to the DeVos appointment, because she is a public school privatizer.

    1. websterisback – the current WH is being repaired and upgraded, no one will live there for at least a year. If there is a wet spot, it is the carpet cleaners.

    3. What an utterly asinine comment to make “webstersiback”. You are a vile troll.

  8. One thing this sorry sage shows is the MSM is completely corrupt. They exist to serve the oligarchy. Reporters do not seek answers, they seek their master’s orders and become the transmission belt. This is disgusting.

    Even a short investigation into the matter would have shown Donna was lying. It didn’t take a brain truster to figure that out. Further, she was given the opportunity to call herself a “persecuted” Christian woman–talk about a dog whistle! A real reporter would have asked her to explain exactly how 1. lying and 2. lying about lying has anything to do with being a persecuted Christian. This is a simple, logical question. She wasn’t asked this and she isn’t asked it now. No profile in courage awards to be found.

    Just as the MSM never called Obama, Bush or Clinton to account, they really aren’t calling Trump to account. And no, I”m not referring to PUTIN. I’m talking about his killing people in Yemen, his other wars (those started and those planned to start), his spying, his bankster handlers, his cutting of social programs, his hatred of nature–real stuff, things that matter to people and the survival of our planet. Don’t think for a moment that Dims (and govt. propagandists) aren’t distracting themselves with PUTIN, PUTIN, PUTIN. That’s keeping the “resistance” real busy and real stupid. It works!

    I recommend helping the MSM die and early death. Watch out also for the govt. infiltration into alt right and alt left sites. If you see something stupid, say it’s stupid. Donna is one more bad person out for power and money. She’s most certainly not the only one, but she is one. Although the press gives these people a free pass, the rest of us don’t have to!

    1. Yep. There are other, more important arguments to be having. But the strategy you outline above is sooooooo effective. Just look at anon. Works for him. I hope he checks his closet and under his bed… Putin IS watching him…

      1. Not concerned about Putin watching me through my microwave but I am not so naive as to think Putin’s CIA equivalent, Guciffer, could not hack me.

        1. anon,

          True enough. The CIA lost control over all their electronic surveillance methods, so even Putin and Guciffer could hack you. However, the CIA and it’s owner corporations such as Google have already been there, done that!

  9. She makes me SICK! What a pompus ASS she is and so aloof about being a Christian and knowing what prosecution is! Really?? Now we know what a LYING Christian she is… Which we knew all along. I think she should be ostracized by the media and reporters and anyone who could help her “get ahead”… She’s despicable.

    1. She is dispicable. She is an ass. She is a disgrace. She is without conscience or ethical standards or integrity. Therefore, she is a Democrat. Enough said. And she will be gainfully employed again soon.

  10. Why does it seem that the Twitter in Chief breathing is a lie in and a lie out. He repeats often as necessary. You know when you tell one lie and are not apologizing for it, you have the tell Another one just to cover the first one. I bet Trump would never get out of a confessional booth. As soon as he breathes a lie is made.

    1. OMG man. ALL politicians lie. Every last one of them. The Left, the Democrats lie in the worst way. All the time. The media lie. How? By editorializing. By editorial decisions on what stories to cover, how to cover them, what page to print them on, how to slant the narrative, how to edit to leave out damaging info, how to manipulate the masses to their way of thinking about a “news” story. You are being lied to all the time. Trump is just playing the game on their playing field and calling them out. Get it?

  11. It’s revealing that you would comment on this problem while ignoring the elephant in the room, Comey’s testimony today. Not surprising the Republicans keep calling on your “expertise.”

  12. Back to Lying Donna Brazile. I wonder if she has read Al Franken’s book? And I wonder if now is a good time to publish a new version that takes a “Fair and Balanced Look” at the Lying Liars of the Left since it seems there are far more of them to fill the pages of a new book? (ie Obama, Clinton, Clapper, Podesta, Brazile, Wasserman-Schultz, Reid, Pelosi, Holder, etc, etc….)

    Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right Paperback – July 27, 2004
    by Al Franken

    1. Long live the lies. Why is the former DNCs conduct more important than a present liar? She lied, I get it. Now time to move on. I have never seen a worse winning President in my life he lies. It is crazy what he is doing. I feel like I am getting Tourette’s by shaking my head so much.

      1. OMG. You say that as if the Democrats do not lie ALL THE TIME! Trump has to fight fire with fire. Trump has to be on offense all the time. They lie. He has to play their game. Get it? There is NO evidence against Trump and all of the assertions that he is colluding with the Russians to work against America. Do you hear how ridiculous that statement is? Trump is working with the Russians against America. What??!!! It doesn’t even make sense. There is NO evidence of anything. There is, however, a LOT of evidence against Hillary and Bill, Obama, Podesta, etc, etc, etc. Wake up and smell the deception and the lies and propaganda of the Left!

          1. anon – the DrudgeReport has the comeback for Comey. It appears Comey is not digging into all the agencies. The NSA has been keep tabs on Trump at all of his residences and also many of his staff.

              1. Yeah, so? And why was this NOT a widely circulated story?:

                “Three brothers who managed office information technology for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers were abruptly relieved of their duties on suspicion that they accessed congressional computers without permission.

                Brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.

                Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis. The two committees deal with many of the nation’s most sensitive issues and documents, including those related to the war on terrorism.

                Also among those whose computer systems may have been compromised is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida Democrat who was previously the target of a disastrous email hack when she served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.

                The brothers are suspected of serious violations, including accessing members’ computer networks without their knowledge and stealing equipment from Congress.

                Jamal handled IT for Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who serves on both the intelligence and foreign affairs panels.

                “As of 2/2, his employment with our office has been terminated,” Castro spokeswoman Erin Hatch told TheDCNF Friday.

                Jamal also worked for Louisiana Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond, who is on the Committee on Homeland Security.

                Imran worked for Reps. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, and Jackie Speier, a California Democrat. Both are members of the intelligence committee, and their spokesmen did not respond to TheDCNF’s requests for comment. Imran also worked for the House office of Wasserman Schultz.”

                http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/04/exclusive-house-intelligence-it-staffers-fired-in-computer-security-probe/#ixzz4Zr58G3rT

              2. Or this story?:

                “Yesterday, Politico reported that the Ukrainian Government worked to aid Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential elections. The actions taken by government officials included disseminating “documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers.”

                Those documents implicated Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who worked as an adviser for now-ousted Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovych. However, the concerns that the documents raised weren’t in fact over any quasi-Russian ties, though partisan reporting pushed his narrative. Rather, the documents raised the question of whether Manafort declared the income that he had received from the position. The Podesta Group, a lobbying firm co-founded by Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta, also conducted work for Yanukovych. However, the Manafort narrative not only painted Trump as pro-Russian, but also provided the Clinton campaign with a smear campaign while reaffirming its stance against Russia. It was in Ukraine’s best interest to tilt the election in support of Clinton, who strongly advocated for providing Ukraine with military aid and financial support in order to fight Russian separatists in the country.”

                http://observer.com/2017/01/ukraine-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-election

              3. Or this story?:

                “Since Donald Trump took office there has been ubiquitous media coverage of what can most properly be termed crap.

                There was the fake story about the bust of Martin Luther King that was supposedly removed from the Oval Office. There was the New York Times’ slanted report claiming contacts of some frequency between the Donald Trump campaign and The Russians! And more recently, there was the pitiful Associated Press piece screaming about the new administration’s plans to use the National Guard to deport illegal aliens. Those are just some highlights of what the president has taken to gleefully term “fake news” as he skewers the Democrat-leaning media.

                It’s not so surprising those outlets spend time on contrivances. Without The Russians! and those vaporous Trump abuses calling forth the echoes of Hitler and his brownshirts, airtime and column space might have to be devoted to other stories which would be less useful to the various narratives being concocted in New York and Washington editorial conference rooms.

                One such inconvenient story is that of the Awan brothers.

                Oh, you don’t know who the Awan brothers are? That’s also not surprising.

                Let’s go back three weeks, to a firing.”…..

                https://spectator.org/the-invisible-awan-brothers-scandal/

                1. Bob – thanks for the link to the article. Some of the letters were very funny. Article is scary.

                    7. If you are curious to see how the Left is organizing paid activists…..Check out some of the wording in the advertisements looking to hire paid activist protestors with rates up to $15k in the first month! —

                      “So you and your teammates have to figure out some way to scrape together enough time to make a splash.

                      That said, if you think you’d be good at this or you’d like to try, be in touch. We can give you $15,000 for one month. Interested? Sign up!

                      Often the best answer to the funding question is a personal one. If you’re young, maybe you can live for free or cheap by moving back home. If you’re in a highly paid profession, maybe you can cut your hours and still pay your basic bills. If you have savings, maybe you can cruise for a few months.

                      Maybe you’ve always wanted to check out Thailand, or India, or build a tiny house, or try some rural or urban lifestyle where you don’t really need that much money. You don’t have to be in Washington DC or even North America to work on US issues, though time zones are an important consideration. (For example, one of us lives in Brazil right now.)”

                      https://www.fightforthefuture.org/ateams/

                      ….seems to me that if you have to PAY activists to protest, then you are NOT on the RIGHT side of history. You are not on the right side of anything. You are simply paying the big bucks for bodies to show up and protest “as told.” What is wrong with this picture?

      2. Hillary is a liar. A world class liar. Her husband is a liar. Impeached for lying under oath. Eric Holder is a liar. Held in contempt of Congress for lying. Clapper is a liar. Lied to Congress. Pelosi is a liar. Reid is a slimy corrupt scumbag of a liar. Wasserman-Schultz is a liar. Donna Brazile/DNC is a liar. DNC is a corrupt/lying organization. Obama is a liar. Bush is a liar. Rumsfeld is a liar. Cheney is a liar. General Petraeus is a liar. Susan Rice is a liar. All of them are liars. Should I go on? How dumb do you think Americans are? Trump is fighting the establishment. Trump is fighting the oligarchy. Trump is fighting FOR the working man. What is the matter with you that you don’t see this?

  13. “But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.”

    ************************

    A mistake is misusing “which” for “that”; “unethical,” is saying that by a witch. Easy rule to remember.

  14. Both parties lie, and are stupid. I think the Republicans lie much less, and do a poorer job of it when they do. Because they have a little more of a conscience than Democrats, who lie intentionally to get votes and promote their narrative. Because Democrats are like “bad wrestlers”, and they only care about winning, and not fighting fairly.

    The Republicans are very often very stupid, but they do feel bad when they get caught lying and will do silly stuff like resign from office, whereas Democrats dig in like ticks.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. I think both contemporary parties exist for the sole purpose of robbing the people blind. Granted, they have different personalities; both pretty awful, but at least different. Democrats are the purist of hypocrits, Republicans are honestly ruthless (or ruthlessly honest about being ruthless).

      They did not always have plunder as their single minded objective; for a brief period that overlapped but wasn’t exactly the same, Democrats once had the New Deal as the soul of their party and Republican’s, for a time, had the conservative merits of cautiousness, reserve and a certain decency at the heart of theirs (around the 1950’s). There were always warts such as the vile McCarthy years, but it would be a mistake to blame the whole party for the fanaticism of a small group.

      Going back to the 1870’s, however, they were both back at it working tirelessly and shamelessly for the Robber Barons, but they had vastly more limited resources technically and conceptually (the whole concept of the production line, automation, and labor as mere monetary units, were in the future) and a much smaller population to exploit.

      At present, the Democrat party is all but dead. The only thing missing is for people to take note of the fact. Republicans have some good looting left in them, but all things come to pass.

      Thank God.

  15. I think this election materially damaged our reputation, and voters’ trust, in our Republic and the democratic process. If we accept such behavior, then we deserve such behavior.

  17. Few if any are taking away any useful information whatsoever from these sacrificial events. They remain excuses for and examples of tribal allegiance; “their party” is worse than “my party”. . Or, Ok, X or Y or Z is wrong, but look what “their party” did. Or, This one instance of one individual proves “the other party” is the very root of all evil.

    Pfft.

    Both of our political parties, (giving the thinnest illusion of a Democracy, which, in reality, has morphed into an Empire run by an oligarchy), are Vampire institutions. Both of them are literally sucking the life blood out of the people they are supposed to be making life easier for, providing opportunities for, protecting from internal as well as external predators. Instead, the predators themselves are running the show and the two sham political parties are both competing to do the bidding of this oligarchy.

    And the only way they can get away with it is a malevolent form of tribal hypnosis (born of the duopoly but going far beyond anything it represents in reality) which posses it’s victims to swallow virtually any degree of propaganda, to agree to any degree of inhuman cruelty, any new low of degrading lynch mob mentality, as if each and every new descent was justified from the mouth of God.

    Donna Brazille is just another villin/victim of the process. She has been chosen as the latest sacrifice on the pyramid of American Exceptionalism in which individuals from the tribes compete for the honor of being the loyal, principles sacrificing scumbag du jour. All for the tribe.

    Of course Americans do everything by mass production, corruption is no exception, so those of us who can still elicit more than a yawn, take positive relish in picking apart each instance as if the he or she of the moment confirmed beyond any and all doubt the darkest horrors of “the other” party’s evil. Yet in the addictive, titillating, moral indignation surrounding the sacrifice, many onlookers looking down the barrel of their noses forget how quickly and selflessly they would leap to do exactly the same thing for their tribeif put in the same position.

    1. The long italic section is an error. Should have checked the html tags more carefully.

      1. I absolve you from the Sin of Open Brackets, which is only a Venereal Sin, more or less*.

        Squeeky Fromm
        Girl Reporter

        *Get it??? More or less. . . you know “>” and “<". . . you know like in math equations. . . Oh, never mind.

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