For the second day in a row, CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King on Friday touted the most innocent explanation for a secret meeting between Bill Clinton and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, despite the fact that the AG is in the middle of an FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton. Not seeing the problem, King sputtered, “It's like this is being treated like this is a House of Cards scene.”
Offering talking points, she continued, “If it was going to be something that is so secretive, they wouldn't have done it in such a public place is what some people are saying.” She hopefully wondered, “Can we take them to their word? ‘Listen, we are talking about our grand kids and he is asking me about my husband.’ Could that possibly be true?”
Face the Nation anchor John Dickerson talked King down from this conclusion. He reasoned, “It might be true, but why have the meeting at all? She [Lynch] is investigating his wife and she [Clinton] is in the middle of a political campaign.”
On Thursday, King defended, “They are at the airport at the same time....Why can't he just go over and say hello?”
While appearing on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert on June 10, King gushed over Hillary Clinton “What she has accomplished is amazing and I do celebrate that.” King is also a donor to Barack Obama.
A transcript of the segment is below:
CBS This Morning
7/1/16
7:08:10 to 7:11:28CHARLIE ROSE: Let us begin with the Democrats. How much damage is done here and, two, can she recover the whole controversy about this by simply saying, “I will not make the final decision?”
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, the damage here is in the short-term. This puts a bright light on a bad story for Hillary Clinton. And that story is bad because the Inspector General and the State Department said she didn't operate within the spirit and letter of the law. Recent AP reporting has shown both that the reasons Hillary Clinton is given for her e-mail server aren't exactly in reality what she has said. They have shown there was an e-mail sent worrying about this private server that she set up which was an extraordinary system that was deleted and not turned over. And also the problem, so the general problem for her is puts light on a story where a big distance between what Hillary Clinton has said and what we have come to know. The long-term problem is that this shines a problem — shines a light on her big problem which is the trust instinct. Voters are going to make a determination which candidate is going to do the right thing when no one is looking and what the e-mail story shows she didn't bend over backwards to operate within the lines and this meeting Bill Clinton had echoes that, which is that he decided to have a
meeting that at the very least looks very bad. This recusal is helpful for the moment but doesn't mean this is going away.NORAH O’DONNELL: John, but it's sort of — she's not removing herself from the case. The Attorney General is not removing herself from the case. She says she will accept the recommendation of the career prosecutors. Why not just do away once again, with the appearance of any conflict and say I'm recusing myself?
DICKERSON: Well, it's a good question. And whether that really matters in the end, I mean, if the FBI decides to go forward with some kind of action against Hillary Clinton, then it won't really matter. But in the end if the findings are not harmful to Hillary Clinton there will always be this question that will be raised.
ROSE: I would assume that, perhaps, there’s a fear that if she removed themselves they want to appoint a special counsel and not what they want.
DICKERSON: That might be so.
GAYLE KING: But John, it's almost being treated like this is a House of Cards scene. If it was going to be something that is so secretive, they wouldn't have done it in such a public place is what some people are saying. And can we take them to their word? “Listen, we are talking about our grand kids and he is asking me about my husband.” Could that possibly be true?
DICKERSON: It might be true, but why have the meeting at all? She is investigating his wife and she is in the middle of a political campaign. The questions from voters is what will the instinct be by the Clinton family when things like this come up if she is president? And a lot of her critics talk about the drama of the Clintons. This was not a compulsory meeting. It was a totally optional meeting. Given the heightened meeting, why have it at all? Why bother —
KING: So, does this raise questions about Bill Clinton, his judgment and the role he will play in this campaign?
DICKERSON: Well, he is an ex-president. He is going to do what he is going to do and there will be these little eruptions so something that voters will keep in mind when they look at the two candidates, which of the two candidates will have a sort of sense of drama around them that might get in the way of their ability to govern the country and they’ll have to add Bill Clinton into the mix as the voters make the determination between the two candidates.
