Hillary Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri struggled Sunday to defend her boss' claim that videos of Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric were being used as recruitment tools for the Islamic State.
Appearing on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Palmieri appeared uncomfortable backing Clinton's claim at Saturday's debate that fact-checkers from the New York Times and PolitiFact have debunked.
"Um, the uh, uh, you know, Donald Trump, I think, was talking--uh, you know, what Secretary Clinton was saying last night is that one of the many dangerous things about Donald Trump is that, uh, his hot rhetoric, saying we shouldn't allow Muslim refugees into the country, is being used, and this is something that [an international group] has, who monitors social media and uh, on ISIS, has said--" she said before Stephanopoulos cut in.
"But there have been no videos," Stephanopoulos said.
"Well, what they have said is that they are using him--he is being used in social media by ISIS as propaganda," Palmieri said, sounding almost out of breath. "She didn't have a particular video in mind, but he's being used in social media, and uh, you know, what they haven't found is the video Mr. Trump keeps talking about, this alleged mystery video of thousands of people in Jersey cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center. But it is true he is being used in social media by, um, ISIS, to, to help recruit and propaganda."
"But to be clear, you don't have a video, as she said--" Stephanopoulos said.
"She's not referring to a specific video," Palmieri said. "But he is being used in social media by ISIS as propaganda."
Palmieri has had other rough interviews while dealing with messy public relations moments for Clinton. During a Bloomberg interview over the summer, she was almost incoherent when asked about Bill Cosby's donations to the Clinton Foundation, and she gave a completely convoluted answer to a question about Clinton's campaign strategy to re-introduce herself to the country in June.