As news broke Tuesday that the State Department would not release Hillary Clinton's e-mails as secretary of state until January of 2016, all three network morning shows finally noticed the Democratic presidential candidate has refused to take questions from the press.
NBC's Today briefly raised the issue on Monday, with fill-in news anchor Tamron Hall noting "growing pressure" on Clinton to answer "tough questions." On Tuesday, during a full report on the latest details in the e-mail scandal and the Clintons' recent financial disclosures, White House correspondent Kristen Welker observed: "Clinton is keeping her distance from the press, avoiding questions for the past three weeks."
A soundbite followed of Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul declaring: "The question is about why Clinton doesn't take questions."
On CBS This Morning, correspondent Nancy Cordes spent much of her report hitting Clinton's media silence:
CORDES: She actually hasn't answered a question from a reporter in 28 days now. Despite the fact that she's followed by a pack of journalists everywhere she goes. And her opponents are starting to make an issue of it.
Clinton left a house party in Mason City Monday with a wave for the press but nothing more. Unlike her GOP opponents, Clinton hasn't done any interviews. And at events she's shielded from reporters by Secret Service and careful staging. The contrast hasn't gone unnoticed.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: How can you run for President of the United States and never be asked a question?
JEB BUSH: You can't script your way to the presidency.
CORDES: The strategy has enabled Clinton to side-step thorny topics like the State Department's new 2016 deadline for releasing her e-mails. Clinton's aides argue she is taking questions but from everyday Americans, not journalists.
On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host Robin Roberts explained that "the other big question seems to be, when Hillary Clinton will take questions from the press?" Correspondent Cecilia Vega replied:
That's right. We saw her out here yesterday in Iowa. We tried to ask some questions. She just waved to us from afar. 28 days, by our count, since she has taken a media question. Just nine questions so far Robin. Republicans having a field day with it. She's got another event today. We're going to try again, Robin.
Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos sat out the GMA coverage of Hillary Clinton's scandals.
Out of all the network coverage of the long delay in Clinton's e-mails being made public, only CBS This Morning made any mention of another major bombshell. Co-host Charlie informed viewers: "New information is raising more questions this morning over Hillary Clinton's use of private e-mail for government business. Reports say Clinton used a second e-mail address while she was Secretary of State."
Rose repeated the brief revelation at the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, but no further coverage was provided.
