Interim Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile struggled to answer Fox News host Megyn Kelly's questions Wednesday night about a video showing Democratic activists discussing how to incite violence at Donald Trump rallies and whether she tipped off the Clinton campaign to a question before a CNN town hall.
Kelly started the interview by asking Brazile about the recent Project Veritas video, which shows Scott Foval, a Democratic organizer, discussing how planted party activists instigated fights at a Trump rally in Chicago earlier this year. The other person in the video is Bob Creamer, a long time Chicago-based Democratic operative who had been contracted by the DNC for the 2016 election.
Brazile told Kelly that the contract between the DNC and Creamer's group was not signed until June 2016 and then tried to discredit James O'Keefe, the man who made and distributed the video.
"When you have a convicted criminal sneaking around your office with imposters that try to—" Brazile said before Kelly cut her off.
"Are you referring to Bob Creamer, the head of Democracy Partners?" Kelly asked.
Brazile said she was referring to O'Keefe. Kelly then informed the viewers of Creamer's conviction of fraud and also his relationship with the White House, which he has visited upwards of 300 times since Obama came to office. Creamer has announced his resignation from Democracy Partners after the video was released.
Brazile appeared visibly uncomfortable with the conversation and pivoted to Hillary Clinton's performance in Wednesday night's debate. She then accused Kelly of "feeling strongly" about the O'Keefe video, to which Kelly said that she "had said nothing about her feelings."
Kelly then asked Brazile whether she could verify the veracity of the video, but the DNC chair claimed the videos are doctored.
"You're dodging," Kelly interjected.
"I'm not dodging. I don't play dodgeball. I play basketball," Brazile responded.
Kelly moved on and brought up the revelation from the hacked WikiLeaks emails that Brazile passed along a question to the Clinton campaign before a CNN town hall in which Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) also participated.
"How did you get that question, Donna?" Kelly asked.
Brazile claimed that she "did not get any questions from CNN."
"Where did you get it?" Kelly asked.
"As a Christian woman I understand persecution, but I will not sit here and be persecuted. Your information is totally false," Brazile said. She would not verify the content of the email and instead pointed out that the emails were stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
Kelly did not let Brazile ignore the question and proceeded to read off a statement from CNN's Jake Tapper in which he said that passing along the town hall question was unethical and upsetting.
"Who gave you that question?" Kelly again asked.
"I am not going to validate falsified information," Brazile answered. "I have my documents. I have my files. Thank God I have not had my personal emails ripped off from me."
"In my 14 years at CNN I have never received anything," Brazile later asserted. "I never get documents from CNN."
Kelly pressed her repeatedly about why the email shows her passing along the question.
"When you said from time to time I get the questions in advance what were you referring to? Because in that email you offered the exact question that one of the moderators, Roland Martin, asked the next day," Kelly asked, quoting the email.
"A lot of those emails I would not give the time of day. I have seen so many doctored emails," Brazile said. "If there is anything I have I will share."