Morning Joe’s panel scoffed at former Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday for insisting that the confiscation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server was a "good thing" for the candidate.
Dean concluded the FBI’s possession of the server Clinton initially said she would not turn over is far better than it being in the hands of Rep. Trey Gowdy’s (R., S.C.) Benghazi committee.
"It’s pretty clear to me, I think this is a good thing," Dean said to the groans of the panel.
"I think you are literally for the first time trying to avoid a true narrative here," co-host Mika Brzezinski said in disbelief.
Dean, who is familiar with struggling campaigns after running a failed bid for the White House in 2004, maintained Clinton never knew there was classified material on her server and therefore she will be exonerated from any wrongdoing.
"I don’t know how it goes away, because it’s going to take a long time," MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said.
Co-host Willie Geist asserted Dean’s opinion might be blinded by his support for Clinton’s candidacy, which Dean denied. Brzezinski seconded Geist’s statement later in the segment, saying "you would not be this way if it was like Dick Cheney or Paul Wolfowitz or Donald Rumsfeld."
Dean, with a grin, responded by saying Clinton did not start a war, to which former Bush administration official Nicolle Wallace rolled her eyes. Brzezinski pushed Dean to admit Clinton violated the Obama administration’s transparency and security rules, if not the law, with her conduct.
"It’s not clear that I agree with that, there’s a lot of back and forth about this," Dean said back to a sighing Brzezinski. "You know my position on this hasn’t changed."
"Your partisan whatever is oozing, it’s right there," Brzezinski said. "It’s just very awkward on the set."