Rep. Xavier Becerra (D., Calif.) struggled to defend the latest deceitful statements from Hillary Clinton about her private email server during an interview on Fox News Sunday.
Clinton absurdly claimed in her interview with Chris Wallace a week earlier that FBI Director James Comey had said she had been "truthful" and her answers had been consistent with what she'd told the American people.
In reality, Clinton claimed numerous times she never sent nor received classified information on her private server, which is clearly false. Comey also said her conduct with her server was "extremely careless," while Clinton claimed repeatedly she took such material very seriously.
After being hammered by fact-checkers for that statement, including a "Pants On Fire" rating from PolitiFact, Clinton said she may have "short-circuited" with her remark and claimed she and Wallace talked "past each other."
Wallace didn't hold back as he pressed Becerra, a strong Clinton ally.
"But Congressman Becerra, she didn't short-circuit, and we didn't talk past each other," Wallace said. "The problem was that Clinton misrepresented what James Comey told the American people."
"Chris, what Director Comey told the American people was that after a thorough investigation by the FBI, that of the more than 30,000 emails that Hillary Clinton had provided for this investigation, that there was no wrongdoing," Becerra said.
"He didn't say that," Wallace said. "But that's not even what I'm talking about. What he said was there was not enough grounds to prosecute her. He did say that she had been extremely careless and negligent, but specifically what he said was that what she had told the American people over the course of the last year was wrong."
Indeed, Comey testified last month that Clinton's statements about not sending classified material on her server were untrue, as was her claim that nothing marked classified was on her server.
"Congressman, Comey directly contradicted what Clinton had been telling the American people or a year," Wallace said.
Becerra accused Wallace of not playing other clips of Comey's testimony that she had no knowledge of some emails being classified. However, Comey said clearly that emails that were marked classified were on Clinton's server.
"But she did not know it. Otherwise, if there had been the intention to send classified emails, then the FBI would have pursued this much further," Becerra said. "And so I think you're trying to make more out of this than what there is."
"She didn't say, 'I didn't intend to send classified material.' That isn't what she told the American people," Wallace said. "She said, 'there was no classified material.'"
Becerra said Clinton had been "very clear" but had never "intended" to send classified information.