At the top of Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer eagerly promoted the possibility of Chelsea Clinton, currently an NBC News special correspondent, one day running for office: "Following in the footsteps? Chelsea Clinton opens up in a rare interview about her mom's presidential ambitions, while leaving the door open for her own run for office."
In the later report, designed to increase buzz about Hillary Clinton's possible 2016 run, correspondent John Yang heralded: "Chelsea Clinton is stepping out....For the first time taking a leading role with her father at CGIU, the Clinton Global Initiative's meeting for college students, and appearing on the cover of Parade magazine. In a rare TV interview...[she] gives her unique perspective on the clamor for her mother to get into the 2016 White House race....And she's leaving the door open to a candidacy of her own."
In a fawning panel discussion at the top of the 9 a.m. ET hour, news reader Natalie Morales noted how Clinton "left the door perhaps open a little bit there" for a political run in the future.
In response, guest and HuffPost Live anchor Abby Huntsman, daughter of former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, gave a ringing endorsement: "Public service, I think, Chelsea has shown a great example....She's someone that regardless of what she does, she wants to do good, she wants to make this country a little bit better....She'd be phenomenal if she decided to run, absolutely."
Huntsman gave a similar endorsement to Hillary Clinton earlier in that same discussion.
Here is a full transcript of Yang's April 8 report:
7:00AM ET TEASE:
MATT LAUER: Following in the footsteps? Chelsea Clinton opens up in a rare interview about her mom's presidential ambitions, while leaving the door open for her own run for office.
7:31AM ET SEGMENT:
HODA KOTB: Let's begin this half hour with Chelsea Clinton, after years of avoiding the spotlight, she is raising her profile. She sat down with NBC's John Yang to talk about her dad's initiative, her mom's political future, and her own aspirations.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New Details; Chelsea Lately; Clinton Daughter on Hillary 2016 & Her Own Future]
JOHN YANG: Chelsea Clinton is stepping out.
CHELSEA CLINTON: I'm Chelsea.
YANG: For the first time taking a leading role with her father at CGIU, the Clinton Global Initiative's meeting for college students, and appearing on the cover of Parade magazine. In a rare TV interview, Clinton, who's an NBC News special correspondent, gives her unique perspective on the clamor for her mother to get into the 2016 White House race.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN [CHANTING]: 2016!
CROWD RESPONDING: Hillary!
CHELSEA CLINTON: I deeply respect and appreciate all of the admiration and respect and gratitude for my mother's service. As a daughter, I very much want her to make the right choice for herself. I know that will be the right choice for our country, and I'll support her in whatever she chooses to do.
YANG: And she's leaving the door open to a candidacy of her own.
CLINTON: And right now I'm grateful to live in a city and state and a country where I strongly support my mayor and my governor and my president and my senators and my representative. If at some point that weren't true and I thought I could make a meaningful and measurably greater impact, you know, I'd have to ask and answer that question.
CLINTON [AT CGIU]: How do we do what needs to happen?
YANG: This weekend she hosted sessions and moderated panels as she emerges to push issues ranging from human trafficking to childhood mortality. She says it's something her grandmother, Hillary Clinton's mother who died in 2011, pressed her to do.
CLINTON: She probably didn't think of it as urging. She definitely thought of it as sort of, you know, grandmotherly nagging, and she exercised that prerogative often.
YANG: Clinton says that whatever she does in life, it will involve service for others.
CLINTON: Good luck next year.
YANG: For Today, John Yang, NBC News, St. Louis.
KOTB: And to learn more about the Clinton Global Initiative, you can check out our website, that is at today.com.
