Longtime MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell was bullied on her own show by Democratic strategist Bob Shrum for asking questions Tuesday about the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s health, striking a deferential tone to Shrum berating media coverage of the Democratic nominee.
Mitchell reassured Shrum during the interview that she was reporting health questions about Clinton with skepticism and sounded almost apologetic for having to ask continued questions about pay-for-play allegations connecting the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
At one point, Shrum told Mitchell, "I love you" and "I respect you immensely," but the Clinton issues were of no interest to the American people.
Shrum said the email issue was dead to voters, and there was no way to know if the Clinton Foundation was being probed by the FBI. Mitchell said they would revisit the issue, guessing the FBI was in fact looking into the group, and she was right. She then delved into Clinton’s response to Donald Trump’s allegations about her possible health problems.
Shrum said the Trump campaign was throwing everything it could at the wall because of its "deep trouble" in battleground states.
"There is absolutely no evidence for these health allegations ... I just think we’re going to see more and more of this," Shrum said. "I think Trump is going to sink deeper and deeper into the mud. I don’t think it’s going to rescue him. I don’t think attacking emails, health, the Clinton Foundation, I don’t think any of that’s going anywhere."
Mitchell pushed back that MSNBC’s own reporting showed the FBI had not "closed the book on the Clinton Foundation."
"That was my point," Shrum aid. "There is no evidence that the FBI thinks that legally there is anything to move forward on here. I think the press is making a big mistake; it’s taking the bait, and I think the reason is they want a race. I love you, I respect you immensely, but I don’t think that this is what the American people want to talk about. They want to talk about jobs. They want to talk about health care ... We’re still on this same old story."
Mitchell did not reply to the Democratic strategist expressing open affection for her on the air, but she had an apologetic tone for the continued inquisition about the Clinton Foundation.
"Let me just say for the record that sometimes our job is to look at things that may not be what the public wants to know about, but that if the Clinton Foundation, if the Clintons had been more transparent all along ... this would not be an issue," Mitchell said.
Shrum said he agreed but again lectured Mitchell to report differently.
"Donald Trump has taken us down this road, because he has nowhere else to go," Shrum said. "I understand that you have to report it, but I think it ought to be reported with skepticism. People ought to say these are outrageous health claims, unsubstantiated and no evidence."
Mitchell quickly reassured him.
"In our case, we have," she said. "We certainly have, most recently this morning on the Today program and last week on Nightly News, so we have certainly made this point. But this has been a good conversation, Bob. It’s always fun."
Shrum wasn’t done telling Mitchell how she should report. He dismissed Clinton’s meeting during her tenure as secretary of state with the Clinton Foundation mega-donor crown prince of Bahrain, which was set up through a foundation official, as showing no evidence of corruption.
Mitchell did not push back against Shrum.
She did not mention that the Clinton Foundation has already announced it will cease accepting foreign donations if Hillary Clinton becomes president, implicitly admitting the impropriety of getting such monies when Clinton was at the State Department. She also did not mention the Bahrain prince pledged $32 million to the foundation, or that his meeting with Clinton was set up by top aide Huma Abedin within 48 hours of her receiving an email from a foundation official calling the prince a "good friend of ours."
But she did say, "I understand. Thank you very much, Bob Shrum. Point taken."