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White House: Brazile Is a 'Person of Integrity'

October 31, 2016

Fox News correspondent Kevin Corke asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday about the recent WikiLeaks emails that show interim Democratic National Committee chair and former CNN commentator Donna Brazile feeding debate questions to Hillary Clinton campaign officials ahead of time.

Corke asked if Brazile should step down from her position at the DNC.

"No, the president believes that she has done a fine job of stepping in at a very difficult situation to lead the Democratic Party," Earnest said. "Those of us who have know Donna a long time know that she is a person of integrity and a person of high character. She is a true professional, who is a tenacious and effective advocate for Democrats."

In an email from WikiLeaks dated March 5, 2016, the day before a CNN Democratic presidential primary debate, Brazile emailed Clinton campaign chair John Podesta and communications director Jennifer Palmieri advising the campaign that Clinton would be asked a question by a woman with a rash from lead poisoning about what she would do within her first hundred days to address the lead problem in Flint, Michigan,

A previous WikiLeaks dump showed that Brazile, then a CNN commentator, had provided questions to the Clinton campaign before another CNN town hall.

CNN severed ties with Brazile over reports of her sharing questions with the Clinton campaign before the events, Politico reported Monday. Brazile had turned in a resignation letter earlier this month that CNN accepted, the network said in a statement.

Corke also asked Earnest if Brazile had helped tipped the scale in favor of Clinton during the Democratic primary. Earnest said that Brazile was not in leadership of the DNC at the time the emails were sent, although she was vice chair of the committee.

Brazile took over as interim chair in July 2016.