Opening Tuesday’s “With All Due Respect,” Bloomberg Politics’ John Heilemann joined the party and blasted Hillary Clinton for her perceived missteps as secretary of state.
But for once over the past week, it was not because of the email situation.
Heilemann took issue with the donations accepted by the Clinton Foundation from Middle East nations that have brutually suppressed women’s rights, which led the “With All Due Respect” host to say Clinton is “a phony” on the women’s rights issue.
“I think the women who like Hillary Clinton will like Hillary Clinton no matter what,” Heilemann began. “But you look at this list. If you asked Hillary Clinton what she achieved as secretary of state, she can’t come up with a lot. She didn’t bring Middle East peace, she didn’t do something big.”
“What she generally says is that she was a champion for women and girls. You look at these donations. You look at the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria, Brunei. These are brutally oppressive regimes to women,” Heilemann told guest host Campbell Brown. “It makes her seem like a phony, even if it doesn’t cost her a single vote, it takes away the bragging rights, it seems to me, of being able to say, unambiguously, that she’s a big champion for feminist causes around the world.”
“And the Clinton Foundation’s donations in general are going to be an issue throughout,” Brown told Heilemann. “A huge issue.”
“It’s a rat’s nest,” Heilemann responded. “I totally agree with that. There will be a lot of digging into that.”
Heilemann’s comments come after a week of harsh remarks from his “With All Due Respect” co-host Mark Halperin, who panned Clinton’s EMILY’s List speech, during which he said he fell asleep twice. Halperin also told ABC News’ George Stephanopolous that Clinton is no longer the favorite for 2016 after the email situation erupted last week.