MSNBC reacted with an almost unprecedented amount of defensiveness in its coverage of Hillary Clinton's fainting spell at the 9/11 memorial on Sunday.
Clinton had to leave the World Trade Center memorial early, initially for unknown reasons that left her campaign's reporters confused. Her campaign wound up announcing she had felt overheated and went to her daughter Chelsea's apartment to recuperate.
Everything from the "horrible weather," which was in the high 70s and low 80s with some humidity, her attire and even coffee was blamed for Clinton's medical episode in the left-leaning MSNBC's coverage.
Reporter Andrea Mitchell insisted over the phone that she had seen nothing wrong with Clinton during her coverage on the campaign trail, saying it was "rumor and speculation driven, really, by her opponents."
Anchor Alex Witt's coverage was especially defensive on behalf of Clinton, as she constantly referred to the weather as "humid," "horrible," "ridiculously awful," and "horrific," and said Clinton's attire was clearly "horribly uncomfortable" for the heat.
"I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt when I came in earlier this morning. It was that horrible, the weather," Witt said.
Witt got Kristen Welker in on it during their interview about Clinton's fainting spell, as the NBC reporter also discussed the heat.
In another instance, Witt discussed how Clinton could have had too much coffee and not eaten enough that day.
Also, she repeatedly mentioned Clinton had walked out of her daughter Chelsea's apartment unassisted and remarked she seemed "robust."
When she narrated Clinton nearly collapsing as she got into her van, surrounded by security detail, she said the Democrat seemed "a little wobbly."