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CNN Slams Clinton, Obama for Staying Quiet on Weinstein Allegations: 'This Is Just Unconscionable'

October 10, 2017

A CNN panel on Tuesday slammed two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for not condemning Hollywood mogul and Democratic mega-donor Harvey Weinstein after the New York Times reported last week that he had settled sexual harassment claims with at least eight different women.

Co-host Alisyn Camerota said that Clinton spoke for 90 minutes at a book tour event Monday night in California and that she discussed the NFL protests of the national anthem, but never mentioned the Weinstein scandal.

She then played a clip of an earlier interview that she conducted with Clinton's 2016 running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.), who said Clinton should speak out against Weinstein after saying that he is "nobody's press secretary."

CNN political director David Chalian said that it was "unconscionable" to him that Clinton and former President Barack Obama would stay silent and not condemn Weinstein's actions.

"Tim Kaine is right. Hillary Clinton does have a record of her career speaking out against violence against women, so while there is a complicated history at home no doubt, I don't think it's complicated for her to come out and condemn somebody who gave her political donations simply for that fact alone," Chalian said, referencing pass sexual harassment allegations against Bill Clinton.

"Barack Obama also—this is just unconscionable to me that people with huge megaphones, even more important because they did receive his donations and had been patronized by him, do not come out and speak against this," Chalian added.

Co-host Chris Cuomo noted the adage that people do not criticize those who are close to them like the people who are not close to them, before noting how quiet Clinton has been on the scandal.

He then asked CNN political analyst David Gregory what Clinton's defense will be about delaying her response to Weinstein's allegations.

"I don't think there is one," the former "Meet the Press" host said. "You are at least a hypocrite if you're going to really step out and speak about people who are in the middle of all this. If you're Hillary Clinton, what have you also got to lose? Is somebody going to criticize her? What is there left to be said about Hillary Clinton critically?"

"I think she can go out and even if she wants to defend her relationship with him and talk about mistakes he's made, but I think she no doubt has to be on the record about this as other leaders have to be, because we are living through a time where we have seen this kind of action before and people do need to speak out about it," Gregory added.

Cuomo said that Clinton will not call Weinstein's behavior a "mistake" because "there is nothing mistaken" about his pattern of conduct.

"She has to speak out forcefully about it even if she wants to stand behind her friendship," Gregory concluded.

Weinstein has donated nearly $600,000 to Democratic politicians, including Clinton and Obama, since the early 2000s. Some Democrats who received campaign contributions from Weinstein told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday that they would donate that money to a nonprofit organization that fights domestic sexual violence.