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Mook Can't Say for Sure That Clinton Didn't Receive Debate Questions in Advance

November 3, 2016

Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook could not flatly deny Thursday whether Clinton received debate questions in advance from former CNN contributor Donna Brazile, the current interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

Hacked emails released by WikiLeaks revealed Brazile sharing a question Clinton would be asked at a March debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) about helping the people of Flint, Michigan. Another message in March showed Brazile sending a question about the death penalty to the Clinton team that was almost identical to the one she was asked at the next day's CNN town hall.

Asked by The View panelist Jedediah Bila if he could "unequivocally" state that Clinton did not receive the questions in advance from Brazile, Mook hedged, saying he had not seen the "emails in question."

"These emails were stolen by the Russians, given to WikiLeaks, and they're dumping them out every day, thousands of them," he said. "I haven't been taking my time up every day to look at them. Here's what I do know is that Bernie Sanders' senior adviser said that he was in constant communication with Donna Brazile as well, that he wouldn't like those emails to be out there. So, I mean—"

"Is that an 'I don't know?'" Bila asked. "I don't know if she saw the questions in advance?"

"I am not aware of any questions getting fed in," Mook said. "Look, here's the other thing I'll say. Hillary Clinton is tough. She can take on Bernie Sanders. She can take on Donald Trump. She doesn't need to be fed anything."

CNN officially severed ties with Brazile over the revelations, saying it was "completely uncomfortable" about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a contributor.

Brazile denied feeding a question to the Clinton campaign during a feisty interview with Fox News host Megyn Kelly in October, saying Kelly's accusations were "false" and she would not "be persecuted."