Liberal Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski has been one of Hillary Clinton's staunchest critics over her email scandal, and she said Thursday it felt like Clinton had lied "straight out."
Brzezinski challenged reporter Andrea Mitchell as to whether Clinton was lying as well, but Mitchell said she couldn't say for sure. She acknowledged "there are so many inconsistencies."
A damning report from the State Department Inspector General Wednesday condemned Clinton's email practices as secretary of state, showing she violated clear rules about records-keeping. As MSNBC reported, the IG served to "directly contradict" repeated claims by Clinton that her email conduct was permitted and aboveboard.
"Here are the things that over time we remember here," Brzezinski said. "Her saying repeatedly it was allowed. A private server, set up in her home, by an IT guy who was given immunity and his emails are missing, and she even joked when she was asked, I think in a high school, did you wipe the server ... And she joked about it being with a cloth.
"I really don't want to be the one delivering this, but I've got to tell you, this is really hard to believe. It feels like she's lying straight out. Andrea Mitchell, is she lying?"
"I can't say that," Mitchell said. "I would let the viewer, I would let the voter make those determinations, but it doesn't hold up. There are so many inconsistencies, including their response yesterday."
Mitchell, as others have done, pointed to the Clinton campaign claiming that the report showed her server was not hacked. In reality, it confirmed there were hack attempts, but even the State Department spokesman on Wednesday could not definitively say none of them were successful.