On Thursday, the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley and NBC Nightly News showed no interest in informing their viewers that the State Department will soon be releasing the first batch of e-mails that Hillary Clinton turned over following the uncovering of her private e-mail server.
Purportedly to be 850 pages in size, the first batch will include correspondences Clinton had in the days leading up to and after the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, but none that contain classified information.
While CBS and NBC punted on this revelation, ABC’s World News Tonight covered Clinton’s e-mails and surprisingly offered a full report on them. Anchor David Muir declared that Clinton is “facing new questions about those 55,000 pages of e-mails” with word that “the first batch [is] coming soon, including hundreds from the single most controversial chapter from her time at the State Department, Benghazi.”
Reporting from outside Clinton’s campaign headquarters, Clinton campaign correspondent Cecilia Vega prefaced her report by reminding viewers that “[t]hese are the e-mails that Clinton and her team reviewed and handed over to the State Department.”
Vega cited The New York Times in explaining that the batch will include “e-mails sent in the days after the Benghazi attacks from Clinton's personal account and home server” but none that “disclose classified information, but do include intelligence marked ‘sensitive.’”
It was following this point that Vega finally referenced news from Monday that Clinton had conducted e-mail conversations with former Clinton administration official Sidney Blumenthal (who was banned from working at the State Department):
The trove also revealing the Secretary of State received back channel briefings from her longtime confidante, Sidney Blumenthal, a controversial former Bill Clinton aide. Blumenthal's memos then passed onto senior State Department staffers. It is just the first batch of many to come.
Despite the fact that some degree of kudos are in order for finally mentioning Blumenthal, Vega missed one crucial detail regarding Benghazi that Politico brought up in an article from Thursday morning:
In a second memo the next day, Blumenthal noted “sensitive sources” in Libya said Ansar al-Sharia, an Al Qaeda-backed terror group, had planned the attacks for a month and used the protest as a cover. That information contradicted the official White House narrative at the time about the attacks’ genesis.
“We should get this around asap,” Clinton wrote in an email to Sullivan.
Capping her report off, Vega touted the campaign’s announcement that June 13 will be the date of its first major campaign rally and speech by Clinton: “And Hillary Clinton now looking to turn a page. Late today, she announced her first big campaign rally. It will be in June. David, we expect to hear more about the policies that she'll be running on.”
On the top Spanish-language networks, the development was not covered on MundoFox and Univision but was mentioned on Telemundo.
The transcript of the segment from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on May 21 can be found below.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
May 21, 20156:41 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: Clinton Emails]
DAVID MUIR: Now, to the race for 2016. Hillary Clinton facing new questions about those 55,000 pages of e-mails, sent by the former secretary from her home server. Word tonight, the first batch coming soon, including hundreds from the single most controversial chapter from her time at the State Department, Benghazi. So, what do they reveal? ABC's Cecilia Vega outside Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn tonight. Cecilia?
CECILIA VEGA: David, good evening to you. These are the e-mails that Clinton and her team reviewed and handed over to the State Department, and now we finally get to see what some of them say.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Clinton Controversy; “Sensitive” Information in Some Emails]
HILLARY CLINTON: I have said repeatedly I want those e-mails out.
VEGA: And now, the State Department will release the first batch, some 850 pages. The New York Times reporting that e-mails sent in the days after the Benghazi attacks from Clinton's personal account and home server do not disclose classified information, but do include intelligence marked “sensitive,” like the location and travel plans of State Department officials in Libya. The trove also revealing the Secretary of State received back channel briefings from her longtime confidante, Sidney Blumenthal, a controversial former Bill Clinton aide. Blumenthal's memos then passed onto senior State Department staffers. It is just the first batch of many to come. Clinton saying, she’s ready.
CLINTON: Nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than I do.
VEGA: And Hillary Clinton now looking to turn a page. Late today, she announced her first big campaign rally. It will be in June. David, we expect to hear more about the policies that she'll be running on. David?
MUIR: Cecilia Vega, thank you.
